As the Houston Texans offense attempts to work its way through a prolonged identity crisis, an untimely and unfortunate wrinkle will make things even more difficult this Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers come to town. The Texans expect to be without both of the top two wide receivers on their depth chart -- Nico Collins and Christian Kirk -- meaning CJ Stroud and an unproven cast of pass-catchers will be relied upon to get Houston's aerial attack going.
Two players who will be tasked with stepping into much bigger roles will be rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, a pair of former Iowa State Cyclones who were selected by the Texans only 45 picks apart back in April.