Jayden Higgins Injury News Reveals Another Fantasy Football Sleeper In Texans WR Room

Going over the fantasy impact of the recent injury news of Houston Texans' WR Jayden Higgins.

Jan 18, 2026; Foxborough, MA, USA; Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins (81) warms up before an AFC Divisional Round game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Terrible news just came out of the Houston Texans' training camp as one of their most important players on offense, second-year WR Jayden Higgins, suffered an ACL tear. It took place in a joint practice against the Las Vegas Raiders.

 With this major injury, people will have to step up and fill the void left by losing Higgins for the foreseeable future, which will lead some players to have higher fantasy football ceilings this season. Here is a breakdown of the overall impact Higgins' injury will have fantasy-wise.

Fantasy Football Outlook: Xavier Hutchinson And Tank Dell

Higgins, now that his 2026 season is all likely over, did have great fantasy football promise going into this season. In his rookie season in 2025, he had 41 receptions, 525 receiving yards, and six TDs. A couple of Texans WRs who will now see a direct rise in their role with him out are WRs Tank Dell and Xavier Hutchinson.

Xavier Hutchinson

Aug 13, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson (19) runs with the ball during the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Reliant Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hutchinson is currently listed as the Texans' WR3, behind Higgins as their WR2. He is coming off the best statistical year of his career in 2025. He had 35 receptions, 428 receiving yards, and three TDs. Now entering 2026, he is set to have the biggest role of his young NFL career. 

For fantasy managers who already took Higgins in fantasy drafts, Hutchinson is not a bad player to directly replace him with on the waiver wire.

Tank Dell

Jun 10, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (1) participates during the team’s minicamp at Houston Methodist Training Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Dell at one point was looked at as a budding fantasy football star. However, that momentum was derailed due to his injury history. In Week 16 of the 2024 season, he suffered an extreme knee injury in which he tore his MCL, ACL, and LCL. That injury caused him to miss all of the 2025 season.

With the time Dell has missed on the field, he got a bit buried on the Texans WR depth chart. But now with Higgins out, he may be worth a late-round pick in fantasy football. He was one of CJ Stroud’s favorite targets in his memorable rookie season in 2023. That season, he had 47 receptions, 709 receiving yards, and seven TDs in 11 games.

Audibles For Jayden Higgins In Fantasy Drafts

For fantasy managers who have yet to have their fantasy football drafts their are several other good WR options near the ADP Higgins had. In 2026 PPR fantasy formats, ESPN had Higgins ranked as WR55. 

Jalen Nailor

Jun 9, 2026; Henderson, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders receiver Jalen Nailor (9) during minicamp at Intermountain Health Performance Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

WR for the Las Vegas Raiders, Jalen Nailor, who is ranked WR67 by ESPN in PPR formats, could have the best season of his career. He has been a player whose name has popped up routinely over training camp. Nailor has real potential to be the Raiders' WR1. The current WR1 in Las Vegas is Tre Tucker, who is coming off an underwhelming close to the 2025 season; he did not have a single outing where he had over 50 receiving yards in his final 11 games.

De'Zhaun Stribling

Aug 13, 2026; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver De'zhaun Stribling (15) sprints from the line of scrimmage in the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Levi's Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Another WR fantasy managers could take a chance on in the late round of fantasy drafts is San Francisco 49ers rookie WR De’Zhaun Stribling. He is ranked as WR54 in PPR formats by ESPN.

He has shown well in the lead-up to the regular season. In a preseason contest against the Tennessee Titans, he had seven receptions for 63 receiving yards. He will have a bigger role than he initially had after getting drafted, with WR Ricky Pearsall now out for the season.