Week 1 of the NFL season is right around the corner, and teams are starting to see what their rosters are going to look like.
Unfortunately, injuries are a big part of this time of year. The Houston Texans are one of the teams who has had to learn that the hard way, after starting wide receiver Jayden Higgins recently went down for the year.
Higgins had a nice rookie season in 2025, ending with 41 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns. As such, it was expected that Higgins would take a big step forward, but now that will have to wait until 2027.
The Texans’ receiver room was looking a little thin without Higgins, so the team went out and made a move today. The Texans traded away safety Jaylen Reed and a 2028 seventh-round pick to the New England Patriots for wide receiver Kayshon Boutte.
Perfect Addition for Texans’ Offense
The Texans needed to do something, as relying on Xavier Hutchinson or rookie sixth-rounder Lewis Bond to start wouldn’t be ideal. There had been rumbling for months about a Boutte trade, so this makes perfect sense.
Boutte played in 14 games in 2025 and caught 33 passes for 551 yards and six touchdowns. That’s a very similar stat line to what Higgins produced, and there’s reason to believe Boutte could still be even better with more opportunities.
This is also a perfect deal for the Texans because Boutte is a free agent after the 2026 season. If the trade doesn’t work out, the team can simply let Boutte walk. Additionally, the team only gave up a late-round pick and a depth safety for a starting-caliber receiver, so that has to be considered a win.
Boutte isn’t a star, but he’s now had back-to-back seasons of at least 500 yards. The Texans aren’t going to need him to do much more than that, anyway, considering Nico Collins is firmly in place at WR1.
It’s a bit surprising to see the Texans give up on Jaylen Reed so quickly. Reed was just drafted in 2025, and he played in seven games as a rookie. The Texans aren’t very deep at safety, so it’s a bit of a question who will take the final depth spot.
Clearly, the team felt like adding another quality receiver was a more pressing issue. Now, the Texans will have a receiver trio of Nico Collins, Boutte, and Jaylin Noel. This is a much better situation than what the team was in prior to the trade.
