Diggs will miss the rest of the season as the Houston Texans lose another top receiver.
After a few days of uncertainty, the worst has been confirmed Tuesday morning. Stefon Diggs was diagnosed with a torn ACL as his season, and possibly his stint with the Houston Texans, comes to an end. Diggs has been playing lights out on a 1 year deal with Houston, ranking 7th in the NFL in catches and top 24 in yards and touchdowns.
Houston is already on the ropes with their top wideout Nico Collins on IR. Collins is recovering from a hamstring injury and won’t be available until at least their Week 10 matchup against the Detroit Lions. Meanwhile C.J. Stroud, while still producing like a borderline QB1, hasn’t quite lived up to his pre-season hype.
Stroud will be begging the coaches to put Tank Dell in a bubble. Dell recently laid a goose egg with 0 receptions and 4 targets on a 92% route rate facing off against Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander. This Thursday doesn’t get easier with a potential matchup with Sauce Gardner and the Jets, however down the line the schedule softens up with the Lions, Cowboys, Titans and Jaguars, oh my.
Savvy fantasy managers should be grabbing one of Dalton Schultz or John Metchie, who both saw increased usage and lead the team in catches after Diggs’ injury. Xavier Hutchinson is the deeper league play. A 2nd year day 3 pick, Hutchinson showed out enough for the Texans to let Noah Brown walk. We know C.J. Stroud can elevate players around him, Brown logged 3 WR1 weeks on injury relief last year
Lukasz Stec, @Lukasz_FF01
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Houston Texans Head Coach Demeco Ryans had strong praise for pending free agent running back Devin Singletary.
Running back Devin Singletary became the top back for the Houston Texans over second year back Dameon Pierce during the 2023 season. Singletary rushed for a career high 898 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns, providing a great compliment to rookie phenom quarterback C.J. Stroud. Bringing back Singletary would provide continuity for Stroud and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Singletary’s price tag should be similar to his one-year, $2.75 million deal he signed last offseason. There are plenty of running backs who are hitting free agency that are more accomplished and talented who would demand a higher value than Singletary.
Singletary will bring low to high end RB3 value to fantasy players. Singletary is a stash option with his Dynasty value. His receiving ability will keep him on the field over power back Dameon Pierce. Despite a promising rookie campaign, Pierce fell out of favor with the new coaching staff. Pierce’s value is stunted unless there are injuries ahead of him, making him a wavier wire pick up option.
Bobby Slowik has accepted a raise to stay as the Texans Offensive Coordinator for the 2024 season.
Texans fans everywhere rejoice. Bobby Slowik did an excellent job working with rookie QB, C.J. Stroud, and will be returning for the 2024 season to further guide Stroud’s development.
Texans Head Coach, Demeco Ryans, hinted earlier in the offseason that they’d like to focus on improving their run game in 2024. Expect the Texans to look into the running back market, as well as ways to improve the O-line. Getting more out of the run game will only improve a Texans passing attack that ranked 7th in passing yards in 2023.
For Fantasy Managers, Slowik returning bolsters the value this offseason for C.J. Stroud, Tank Dell, and Nico Collins. Texans Tight End, Dalton Schultz, is a free agent this offseason, which introduces some uncertainty to his value going forward. If Schultz remains on the Texans, he projects as a mid-to-low end TE1 for 2024. If Schultz moves on, look for the Texans to target a rookie tight end in the draft, or to lean on Brevin Jordan as their future starter, as he showed quite a bit of promise in the latter half of the season.
Houston Texans Rookie Quarterback C.J. Stroud is still in concussion protocol and is likely to miss his second consecutive game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
The past few weeks have greatly changed the offensive landscape for the Houston Texans. What was a well-oiled, productive young offense is now unravelling as the season concludes due to numerous injuries.
Case Keenum pulled out an unlikely overtime win in place for Stroud last week, and is expected to start in week 16 if Stroud can’t go. With Nico Collins still nursing a calf injury, Noah Brown, Robert Woods, and John Metchie are likely to be Keenum’s top wide receivers. Dalton Schultz returned from a hamstring injury last week, playing 84% of the snaps and drawing 5 targets from Keenum.
For Fantasy Managers, Noah Brown and Dalton Schultz are the Texans pass catchers to target. The Browns Defense is one of the best in the league, and is much more stingy against the pass than the Titans, who held Keenum to under 230 passing yards last week. It’s advisable to consider other options besides Texans players this week.
Texans Wide Receiver Noah Brown is set to miss at least the next four games on Injured Reserve.
Rookie C.J. Stroud seems to have found his favorite targets in Nico Collins and Robert Woods, who combined for 21 targets in week one. That said, we have a bit more clarity now on who will arise as the WR3 for the Texans. With Brown set to miss at least the next 4 games, you can expect Tank Dell and John Metchie to battle it out for Brown’s role, which led him to play 68% of snaps in week one.
Metchie is working his way back from missing last year battling Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, and missing week 1 of 2023 with a hamstring injury. Metchie returned to practice this week and there’s hope he’ll be playing his first NFL game this weekend.
Rookie Tank Dell played his first NFL game last week and was relatively quiet with 3 catches for 34 yards while playing just under 50% of the snaps. That number is expected to increase with this latest news on Noah Brown. While there is plenty of reason to be hopeful for the long-term outlook of both Metchie and Dell, you can expect them to both have a fairly even split working as the WR3 if they’re both active this Sunday. It’s not quite time to put either in your lineup yet.
The Houston Texans seem to be doing everything possible to adequately prepare Stroud to be their week 1 starter.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans announced that C.J. Stroud will be the starter for the Texans 3rd and final preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. Stroud has underwhelmed this preseason so far to date, totaling only 73 passing yards to go with zero TDs and one interception through his first two games. It’s safe to assume the Texans are hoping he can show a bit more of why he was taken 2nd overall in the 2023 draft during this final preseason game.
For Fantasy Managers, Stroud’s announcement as the week 3 starter is welcome news, as the Texans have signaled he fully vested as the future of the franchise. For redraft leagues, it’s best to pass on Stroud in drafts for now until he proves he can produce at the NFL level.
Stroud is poised to be the Week 1 starter for the Texans, which diminishes Davis Mills’ value on fantasy rosters.
