Houston Texans News

The Houston Texans and All-Pro edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. agreed to a blockbuster three-year, $150 million contract extension on Friday, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. The deal includes $134 million guaranteed to make Anderson the league's highest-paid non-QB ever. The deal also includes a rare no-trade clause. The 24-year-old is one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL after he was taken third overall by Houston in the 2023 NFL draft out of Alabama. Anderson has had double-digit sacks in each of the last two seasons and finished last year with a career-high 54 tackles (35 solo), a career-high 12 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits, three pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries (one returned for a touchdown) in 17 regular-season starts. He was a big reason the Texans had the top-ranked defense in the NFL in 2025, and he finished as the No. 6 defensive lineman in IDP fantasy formats. Anderson finished second behind Myles Garrett in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2025.

Across 17 games in 2025, Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz recorded 82 receptions for 777 yards and three touchdowns on 106 targets. The 29-year-old's production surge came as a bit of a surprise, as he posted three consecutive seasons with fewer than 60 receptions and 90 targets from 2022 through 2024. Still, despite the bump in volume, Schultz's fantasy upside is limited by his lack of explosiveness. He averaged fewer than 10 yards per reception in 2025 and has never averaged more than 10.8 yards per catch in any of his eight NFL seasons. Schultz's 2025 production was also boosted by the absence of fellow Texans tight end Cade Stover, who missed eight games with a foot injury. Schultz maintains some fantasy value as a high-floor PPR streamer, but his dynasty upside remains capped heading into 2026.

Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (knee) has not played since suffering a brutal knee injury in Week 16 of the 2024 season, and general manager Nick Caserio said that the team expects to have a better read on what he'll be able to do going forward once the Texans are deeper into their offseason program. "With Tank, honestly, it's probably day to day," Caserio said. "We'll see where he is -- probably have a better idea as we get through the spring of what his availability is going to be in training camp. He's been here pretty religiously since he's been able to do more." The 26-year-old former third-rounder in 2023 out of Houston should remain stashed in all dynasty/keeper leagues, but he'll be a total wild card in redraft formats after a devastating knee injury that initially looked like it could end Dell's career. Dell had 98 catches for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns in 25 games in his first two NFL seasons, so he could be a difference-maker for this offense behind WR1 Nico Collins if he returns to pre-injury form. However, we're still waiting to see if Dell will even be ready for the start of the 2026 regular season in September.

Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins flashed upside during his rookie season in 2025, catching 41 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns. He opened the year third on the depth chart but ultimately surpassed Christian Kirk, settling into the No. 2 receiver role behind Nico Collins. The Texans' receiver room remains a bit crowded going forward, as Tank Dell (knee) should return to the mix next season, and Jaylin Noel is also trending up. However, Higgins' track record from his rookie campaign suggests that he could remain penciled into the No. 2 role behind Collins. He totaled nine targets, four catches, 111 yards, two touchdowns, and 27.1 full-PPR fantasy points over his final two games last season. Given the momentum that he had near the end of the season, he's trending up this offseason and is a real threat to break out in Year 2. At the moment, the Iowa State product ranks as the #45 wide receiver in RotoBaller's latest dynasty rankings.

Houston Texans running back Woody Marks handled more than 230 opportunities as a rookie, the third-highest total of any first-year player in his class, despite being the ninth running back selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. He flirted with low RB2 status over the second half of the season but got there on volume alone, as his efficiency numbers ranked near the bottom of the league. Marks could buck the trend, but historically, rookie running backs who receive that sort of workload after falling to the third day of the draft tend to get there because of a lack of surrounding talent, and that kind of situational success has been mostly unsustainable. In Marks' case, Houston has already added David Montgomery via trade, and he should be able to add the sort of between-the-tackles presence they may have thought they had in Nick Chubb last season. Marks is unlikely to see another 200 carries in year two, but where he could see a boost is through the passing game. He saw only a 6.7% target share after leaving USC as one of the most prolific pass-catching backs in college football history. With Montgomery in the fold to handle early down work, Marks could settle into his more natural role as a third down, change of pace back, offsetting some of his fantasy production as a receiver, even if his overall volume should drop.

The Houston Texans have exercised quarterback C.J. Stroud's fifth-year option for 2027. As a former first-round pick, Stroud's rookie contract came with a team option for a fifth year. He is now under contract for two more seasons and will make more than $25.9 million in 2027. Stroud was terrific as a rookie back in 2023, but he's coming off two relatively disappointing campaigns, as well as a six-quarter span in the 2025 playoffs during which he coughed up seven turnovers. Still, the low points haven't been bad enough for the Texans to begin searching for a new quarterback. They still view Stroud as a potential long-term solution, which is why they've committed to paying him through 2027. It will be interesting to see what happens after his rookie deal expires, though, as Stroud is currently scheduled to hit free agency prior to the 2028 season. His performance over the next two years will dictate how aggressive the Texans are in trying to extend him, as well as how much money he'll fetch in his next contract.

The Houston Texans exercised the 2027 fifth-year option on quarterback C.J. Stroud on Wednesday, a source told Field Yates of ESPN. Stroud is now due $25.904 million next season and is extension-eligible. Despite another disappointing season in 2025 in his third year in the league, the Texans remain committed to the former second overall pick in 2023 out of Ohio State. The 24-year-old signal-caller really impressed as a rookie, throwing for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only five interceptions in his 15 starts. However, he has come back down to Earth over the last two years, and Houston's porous offensive line hasn't helped his cause. In 14 regular-season starts in 2025, Stroud completed a career-high 64.5% of his pass attempts, but that led to a career-low 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight picks. Better offensive-line play and Year 2 leaps from wideouts Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel will be needed for Stroud to bounce back into QB1 territory for fantasy football purposes.

After being selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins experienced the rare third-year breakout in 2023, sandwiching two WR9 finishes around a 1,000-yard, seven-touchdown campaign in which he missed five games. Due to the late breakout, the 27-year-old Collins is slowly approaching the age cliff, and following a historic rookie season from C.J. Stroud that had him and Collins pegged as one of the most valuable stacks in dynasty, the quarterback play in Houston has fallen off significantly. Durability has become a concern, with Collins missing nine games over the past three seasons, but when healthy, he is still as impactful as almost any receiver in the game, topping 2.7 yards per route run since 2023 and scoring a touchdown on nearly 10% of his catches. Collins and Stroud can absolutely recapture some of their early career magic, and if they do, it could open a sell window for the 6'4", 215-pound difference-maker. Multiple 1,000+ yard seasons are still on the table for Collins, but his yards after catch have dropped from 6.9 to 5.3 to 4.6 over the past three seasons, and Father Time tends to catch up faster to big-bodied receivers than those who win purely with speed and separation.

The Houston Texans acquired linebacker Marte Mapu from the New England Patriots on Tuesday, a source told Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. The two teams are also swapping late-round picks in the 2027 NFL draft. Mapu will head to the AFC South division after spending his first three years of his NFL career in New England, totaling 89 tackles (53 solo), half a sack, three interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and five forced fumbles in 44 games (10 starts). The 26-year-old former third-rounder in 2023 out of Sacramento State had 25 tackles (18 solo), one interception, five pass breakups, and a forced fumble in 17 regular-season games (zero starts) in 2025. Mapu will most likely fill a role on special teams in Houston and can be ignored in IDP fantasy football leagues in 2026.

Houston Texans wide receiver Jaylin Noel may remain in the fourth spot on the depth chart ahead of the 2026 season. During his rookie campaign in 2025, Noel typically operated as the No. 4 receiver behind Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, and Christian Kirk, finishing the year with a modest 26 catches, 292 yards, and two touchdowns. Kirk has departed for the Bay Area, but he'll likely be replaced next season by a healthy Tank Dell (knee). While Year 2 is a common time for wide receivers to break out, Noel may struggle to get meaningful playing time if Collins, Higgins, and Dell are all healthy. He's merely a hold in dynasty leagues right now; although he does have long-term upside, he faces an uphill battle to achieve consistent fantasy relevance in 2026.

Houston Texans running back David Montgomery earned high praise from his former head coach at this week's annual NFL meetings. Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell described Montgomery as "unbelievable" and said that the veteran running back will have an opportunity to establish himself as the Texans' bell cow. This could purely be coachspeak as Campbell tries to hype up this offseason's Lions-Texans trade, as we haven't heard the Texans echo his comments (yet). With that being said, we wouldn't be shocked to see Houston feature Montgomery in a very prominent role after actively going out and trading for him this offseason. He's a clear upgrade over rookie Woody Marks, who flashed upside but ultimately showed he's not ready to be an every-down back. Montgomery has been a top-28 fantasy running back in all seven of his NFL seasons, finishing 2025 with 716 rushing yards, 24 catches, 192 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns despite operating as the No. 2 running back behind Jahmyr Gibbs. Now that he's in a lead-back role once again, he should push for north of 1,000 rushing yards, and we can't rule out the possibility of him scoring double-digit touchdowns. After slipping to the RB3/flex tier in 2025, we wouldn't be surprised to see Montgomery bounce back as a mid-to-high RB2 in 2026. As a result, he's an intriguing buy-low candidate in dynasty leagues, despite being 28 years old.

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said it's unclear if wide receiver Tank Dell (knee) will be ready for organized team activities this spring, but he said he knows "he'll be back for us at some point this year," according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Sports. "As I told Tank, it's not a matter of getting back to OTAs just to get back, it's just a matter of getting back in a really good spot physically to where you stay there. That's the main thing," Ryans said. The 26-year-old former third-rounder in 2023 out of Houston didn't play at all in 2025 after suffering a devastating knee injury in 2024, in which he tore multiple ligaments. Before his knee injury, Dell caught 98 of his 156 targets for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns in 25 games (18 starts) in his first two NFL seasons, including seven touchdowns in 11 games in his rookie campaign. His fantasy stock in dynasty/keeper leagues is on the rise, and he could even be worth a late-round dart throw in single-year leagues later this year if his recovery is coming along nicely this summer. If fully healthy, Dell could be competing for the WR2 role in Houston with second-year wideouts Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, behind Nico Collins.

Houston Texans kicker Kai'imi Fairbairn has become one of the most trustworthy kickers in fantasy football, and the Texans rewarded him this offseason with a two-year, $13 million extension to make him the highest-paid kicker in the league. In his ninth year in the NFL in 2025, the 32-year-old veteran made a career- and league-high 44 of his 48 field-goal attempts, including nine of his 13 tries from 50-plus yards, and all 28 of his extra-point tries in 15 regular-season games. His 44 field goals made tied David Akers' record in 2011 for most field goals made in a single season. Fairbairn has made 87.6% of his 291 career field-goal attempts since entering the league in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA. Not only does Fairbairn have a strong and accurate leg, but at least half of his games are indoors in Houston. Fairbairn finished as the No. 2 fantasy kicker last year, behind only the Seahawks' Jason Myers. Going into fantasy drafts this fall, Fairbairn should absolutely be considered a top-five option at the kicking position.

Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz re-established himself as a viable PPR streamer in 2025, finishing the year with 82 receptions for 777 yards and three touchdowns on 106 targets across 17 games. Schultz's 106 targets represented a career high, and he averaged nearly two more catches per game in 2025 than he did in 2024. However, Schultz averaged fewer than 10 yards per reception in 2025 and has never averaged more than 7.8 yards per target in any of his eight NFL seasons. The 29-year-old's production in 2025 was also buoyed by the absence of fellow Texans tight end Cade Stover, who missed eight games with a foot injury. While Schultz should still be Houston's lead pass-catching tight end in 2026, a fully healthy season from Stover could lead to an incremental decline in targets for Schultz. Given Schultz's lack of explosiveness, he is heavily reliant on target volume for fantasy production. Schultz's stable production floor gives him some value as a depth option for fantasy managers, but his upside remains limited heading into 2026.

A third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (knee) recorded 98 receptions for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns on 156 targets across the first 25 games of his career in 2023 and 2024. However, the 26-year-old suffered a gruesome knee injury in Week 16 of the 2024 season, dislocating his left kneecap while also tearing his ACL, MCL, LCL, and suffering meniscus damage. Dell's injury forced him to miss the entire 2025 campaign. Dell should have a chance to return to the field in 2026 and re-establish his career. However, he's now likely firmly behind both Nico Collins and Jayden Higgins on the Texans' wide receiver depth chart, which leaves him battling Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson for WR3 duties in Houston. Even if Dell can reclaim a prominent role in his team's passing game, the devastating nature of his injury creates obvious question marks around his ability to produce. Dell still carries fantasy upside, but his dynasty profile is riddled with risk.

Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins was the fifth receiver selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, and while he showed flashes in his rookie season, he was never able to consistently string together the games needed to make him a reliable weekly fantasy starter, finishing 13th among all first-year pass catchers with 41 receptions. Heading into his second season, the Texans are expecting the return of one of C.J. Stroud's favorite targets in Tank Dell, who missed all of the 2025 season following a devastating knee injury at the close of the 2024 season. Additionally, Stroud himself has fallen under scrutiny following a lackluster season punctuated by the worst game of his career in a Divisional Round loss to the Patriots. With Nico Collins all but locked into his role on the boundary, Higgins and Dell will likely compete for time in two-receiver sets in an offense that will need to improve drastically in order to support multiple pass catchers. On pure potential, Higgins might have the second-highest ceiling in the Texans' receiver room, but in order to reach it in 2026, he'll need to clear some significant obstacles.

Houston Texans running back Woody Marks led the team with 703 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 196 rushing attempts in 16 regular-season games in his first year in the NFL, with Joe Mixon (ankle, foot) missing the entire season. Overall for Houston, though, it was a lackluster rushing attack with Marks and veteran Nick Chubb, as the team ranked 22nd in rushing yards per game (108). Mixon and Chubb won't return in 2026, and the Texans acquired David Montgomery from the Detroit Lions this offseason to help bolster their ground game. ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime writes that Montgomery "will enter the 2026 season as the No. 1 back for Houston." It's bad news for the 25-year-old Marks' redraft and dynasty value heading into his sophomore campaign. The former fourth-rounder out of USC averaged 3.6 yards per carry last year and caught 24 of his 36 targets for 208 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Marks will still be involved in the Texans' backfield, but as long as Monty is healthy, he'll be more of a touchdown-dependent RB3/flex on a weekly basis.

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was taken second overall out of Ohio State in 2023 and immediately delivered for Houston, throwing for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only five interceptions in 15 games in his first year in the NFL to win Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. Stroud has regressed the last two seasons, though, and he had only 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in 14 regular-season starts in 2025. The good news was that the 24-year-old took only 23 sacks after being sacked 52 times in 2024. Everything fell apart in two games in the playoffs for Stroud, as he turned the ball over seven times in games against the Steelers and Patriots. The Texans are adamant that Stroud is their QB despite trade rumors this offseason, and he'll be in his second season with offensive coordinator Nick Caley. Stroud has enough weapons around him to recover from the last two disappointing seasons, but fantasy managers will want to keep him in the QB2 tier with upside when drafting this fall.

Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins has emerged as a low-end WR1 in fantasy football, but he still continues to fall a little short of his true ceiling. Collins has played five NFL seasons so far, and he has yet to play all 17 games in a single campaign. Injuries limited him to 15 contests in 2025, resulting in a final stat line of 71 catches, 1,117 yards, and six touchdowns. These numbers were good enough to rank as the overall WR8, giving him a top-12 receiver finish for the second time in three years. Collins has missed an average of 3.8 games per season, which is valuable playing time that could have otherwise been used to accumulate fantasy points. His fantasy output itself is impressive given the inconsistency we saw from quarterback C.J. Stroud in 2025, but managers would now like to see Collins stay healthy for a full season so that he doesn't force them to find a replacement option at random points throughout the season.

The Houston Texans agreed to terms on an undisclosed two-year deal with three-time Pro Bowl offensive guard Wyatt Teller on Tuesday, sources told Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. The Texans continue to improve their offensive line this offseason after it was a liability in 2025. The 31-year-old Teller was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Cleveland Browns in three straight seasons from 2021 to 2023. He was originally drafted out of Virginia Tech in 2018 in the fifth round by the Buffalo Bills. Teller spent just one season in Buffalo and has been with Cleveland for the last seven years. In his eight years in the NFL, he has started 101 of the 109 games that he's appeared in. Teller will be expected to fortify the right side of Houston's offense line in 2026 at right guard.