The Houston Texans are in danger of not having their No. 1 wide receiver for the Week 8 game against the San Francisco 49ers, as Nico Collins is dealing with an injury.
Collins exited the Week 7 game against the Seattle Seahawks early after suffering a concussion. It goes without saying the Texans can ill-afford to lose their best wide receiver for any amount of time given how poorly the offense has played.
"Hopefully he'll be OK and we have a short week, but if not we got to just step up in other ways, and, you know, put more on my plate hopefully and try to help us out," quarterback C.J. Stroud said of Collins.
On Tuesday, head coach DeMeco Ryans was asked about Collins' status and he admitted that the injury to his top wideout is "concerning."
"We'll see how the week goes. Nico is one of our best players. It's concerning. Some things you can't control and try do the best you possibly can," Ryan said, per Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com.
Collins will now go through the concussion protocol. Houston will release its first injury report of the week on Wednesday, so we'll know more then. One thing that works against Collins and the Texans is that the team has a shorter week than normal after playing on Monday night.
Fellow wideout Christian Kirk is also uncertain for Week 8 after he has missed the Monday night game due to a hamstring injury. Kirk popped up on the injury report last Friday and closed out the week not practicing.
If Kirk and Collins are sidelined, the Texans will be forced to rely on a group of wild cards that include Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson. Tight end Dalton Schultz will also be key for Houston's passing attack in that scenario.
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