Fantasy Football Player Notes

Nico Collins had a breakout season in his third year with the Texans, propelled by his partnership with quarterback C.J. Stroud. He showcased remarkable yards after catch ability, amassing nearly 1,500 receiving yards with 1,370 air yards, and a significant portion of his yards came after the catch. Collins boasted a 24% target share and ranked second among all WRs with 3.11 yards per route run, a feat achieved by only a select few players since 2017. Despite the potential arrival of Stefon Diggs impacting his target share, Collins' efficiency should remain high with another threat on the field to divert defensive attention.

Joe Mixon and Rachaad White were the Spiderman GIF last season. Both were exceptionally inefficient runners who survived on volume and passing game work. Mixon was the RB11 last season, ranking eighth in snap share, third in opportunity share, and seventh in weighted opportunities. He was whopping fifth in carries and 13th in targets as Cincinnati worked in Chase Brown only sparingly. He has the opportunity to reprise that same workload in Houston. With only Dameon Pierce, Dare Ogunbowale, Jawhar Jordan, and J.J. Taylor behind Mixon, he should be the unquestioned bellcow for the Texans in 2024. Last season, Mixon's per-touch efficiency was horrendous. He was 36th in yards per touch, 35th in yards created per touch, and 41st in breakaway run rate. That didn't stop him from being an RB1 last year, and it likely won't this season.

Stefon Diggs faced a challenging 2023 season, finishing as WR10 overall but averaging just 13 points per game, landing him as WR15 in half-point scoring. His performance waned significantly from Week 10 onwards, averaging a mere 7.3 points and 42 receiving yards per game. Despite maintaining a near 30% target share and accumulating over 1,800 air yards for the season, Diggs struggled to deliver consistent fantasy production. With uncertainty surrounding his role in the Texans' offense and competition from Tank Dell and Nico Collins, fantasy managers may approach Diggs with caution entering his age 31 season.

A magnificent rookie season for C.J. Stroud has fans and fantasy managers clamoring for more in 2024, and the trade that brought WR Stefon Diggs to the Texans gives the young quarterback one of the best sets of pass catchers in the league. The second overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft behind Bryce Young, Stroud was a revelation in his first NFL season, throwing for 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns in 15 games. Stroud ranked third in the league in passing yardage per game (273.9) among QBs with at least six starts, third in yards per attempt (8.2), sixth in passer rating (101.8) and first in interception percentage (1.0%). The future looks bright for Stroud, who, in addition to Diggs, can also leverage the talents of exciting young WRs Nico Collins and Tank Dell. Stroud doesn't provide a great deal of rushing value, with only 167 rushing yards and three TD runs, but his proficiency as a passer will make him a coveted fantasy asset in 2024 drafts.

Tank Dell showcased his potential as a deep threat for the Texans, posting a 31% air yards share and over 1,000 air yards in just 10 games. Despite a slightly lower target share than Nico Collins, Dell demonstrated his impact with a 20.5% target share and 14.2 points per game (9th). Interestingly, when both Collins and Dell played together, their production was nearly identical, highlighting Dell's consistency and effectiveness in Houston's offense.

Dalton Schultz hasn't been able to recapture the glory of his 2021 season, when he had a career-high 808 yards and eight touchdowns to finish as the fantasy TE3, but he's been a decent fantasy performer over the last two years. Schultz had 57-577-5 in 2022 and 59-635-5 in 2023, finishing TE10 and TE11 in PPR fantasy scoring in those two seasons. Schultz re-signed with the Texans in the offseason, so he'll continue to play with impressive young QB C.J. Stroud. The problem is that Houston traded for WR Stefon Diggs in the offseason, so Schultz will likely be No. 4 in the target pecking order behind Diggs, Nico Collins and Tank Dell, limiting his top-end fantasy potential.

The expectations for Dameon Pierce to follow his stellar rookie season with a bang were palpable last summer. Sadly, that's now how Pierce's sophomore season panned out. In Weeks 1-8, he averaged 16.9 touches, producing only 58.7 total yards. He was running behind an offensive line that was beaten up and struggling in those first seven games as Houston ranked dead last in adjusted yards before contact per attempt (Weeks 9-18, 12th-best). Pierce sprained his ankle in Week 9, and when he returned from injury, he found himself replaced by Devin Singletary as the starter. With Joe Mixon in town, Pierce's hopes of reclaiming the starting role have essentially been snuffed out. He falls into middling handcuff status for 2024.