00:00Higgins with the catch, Jaden Higgins, touchdown, Houston, a bullet from Stroud to the rookie.
00:08That's Jaden Higgins, and I've tabbed him this year, boys, as one of the, not one of,
00:17I mean, really the X factor, if you will.
00:21I really like Jalen Nolan this lot to be the guy that comes out of nowhere and just makes
00:25a huge impact, but we've talked about the receiver opposite Nico Collins, and Jaden Higgins
00:35is one that, if he is as good as D'Amico says he is, if he is as good as
00:42folks say his off
00:43season has been, a lot of the issues with this offense, I believe, fall by the wayside.
00:50If you've got 6'4", 215 on one side that can absolutely go, and is as good as they say
00:56he is, and 6'4", 220 plus on the other side that the entire NFL says is a top 10
01:02wide receiver,
01:03look out.
01:04This offense is going to be hard to stop, whether it's play action, whether it turns into a run
01:10heavy team with the play action, or they just got to rely on CJ and just drop back and spin
01:15the rock all over the park.
01:19Whoever the counter punch is, or the one-two punch is with Nico Collins is going to be huge.
01:26Right now, I'm on record.
01:28I believe there's a lack of speed, there's a lack of twitch, there's a lack of experience,
01:32there's a lack of explosion overall with the pass catchers on this football team.
01:38We'll see if Jaden Higgins can be as good as folks believe he can be, given his off season
01:45apparently went really, really well.
01:47Last year, you could tell, had a good year, had a good rookie year, but you could tell,
01:52played pretty tentative, right?
01:54Can Jaden Higgins, can he be the X Factor?
02:01Can he actually develop and make that year two jump that we hear coaches talk about all
02:14the time?
02:14Bad MF-er.
02:16I'm telling you, if he does, it's going to be an absolute game changer, right?
02:21Let me let you know a little bit of what I'm talking about here.
02:26Last year, played a little tentative.
02:28Some would say that he didn't know the offense, was thinking too much.
02:32There's also a possibility that he's just a tentative player, that he's just not going
02:36to let it loose and deal with whatever comes, right?
02:40I mean, he's just not a free player.
02:42We'll see.
02:43But here are a couple of folks that I think do their due diligence, or at least know the
02:49player really well.
02:50So, here's Nico Collins, that other 6'4 receiver across the way from him.
02:55Here's Nico Collins on Jaden Higgins, and this is from camp this year.
03:00Yeah, you see the work he's been putting in, man, showing up on the grass field.
03:03All the tools in the world, man, and he's going to be the face of his franchise one year,
03:07dog.
03:07And like, his playmaking ability, his size, his disadvantage, man, he's got all the tools
03:11in the world.
03:11You know, I can't wait to see him rock out this year, man.
03:14It's going to be exciting.
03:15All the tools in the world, face of the franchise one day, and that's coming from the current
03:19face of the franchise.
03:21I think he misspoke there from the disadvantage thing.
03:23I think, I'm not sure what Nico was trying to put together there, but basically, Higgins
03:29has got all the weapons, big-time playmaker, face of franchise type of player.
03:36Also, here's James Palmer, who does a podcast with former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith,
03:43and they do a really good job.
03:45James, we'll see him at practice every now and then.
03:47But here's James talking about Higgins and what he's heard from inside the building about
03:53Higgins.
03:53He can fly.
03:55He can fly.
03:55They believe he's their fastest wide receiver.
03:57No.
03:58Really?
03:59With Pat, here's the deal.
04:00This was distinctly said to me.
04:01He can blow by all of our DBs in pads.
04:04He does not lose a step when everybody goes full pads.
04:08And I think that's important to remember as we're in the offseason when we have the combine
04:12and all of this stuff.
04:13They were like, he's just as fast in pads as he was running in workouts.
04:18Boys, I'm going to tell you, if he has the ability in pads to run by any one of our
04:23secondary,
04:24by the way, that's Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lasseter, two of the top 11 corners in
04:27his league.
04:29If he legitimately has that kind of speed to talk openly about, he can run by anybody out
04:35there, if he legitimately has the skill set, the talent that Nico Collins talked about
04:42to potentially be a face of the franchise, and he couples that with what I saw today at
04:50practice, boys, I saw him grab Reed Blankenship on the backside of a run and just big boy manhandle
04:56him in the run game.
04:57I mean, just put two grips on the chest plate of his shoulder pads and just anchor down on
05:03him.
05:05I'm telling you right now, this is this big of a deal.
05:07I don't believe this is an overstatement or a, I don't think this is a hot take.
05:14If Higgins is remotely close to what all those guys are talking about, and on top of it can
05:20block and do what Nick Kaley and everybody talks about, he's untouchable on his team, and
05:27he is going to solve the problems for this Houston Texans offense overnight.
05:33If he is another target that CJ Stroud can depend on, that has run by ability at 6'4",
05:40215, if he can block the way that I saw him block today, and if he has the playmaking abilities
05:47of the sorts of Nico Collins, you don't have to run the ball great.
05:53It'd be nice to run it a little bit.
05:55You don't have to run the ball great.
05:57If he's that good at 6'4", 215, Nick Kaley doesn't have to get super creative.
06:03You've got two man beating just with sheer size.
06:07You've got two man beaters, one on each side of your quarterback.
06:10You've got two guys standing 6'4 or bigger that are going to be absolute matchup problems
06:16in the red zone.
06:18If he is who they say he is, Luke, offense football in Houston gets so much easier and so much
06:28more or so much less dependent on the offensive coordinator getting super creative.
06:36This Higgins thing is going to be something to watch unfold because, again, I saw the blocking
06:40today, and it turned me on.
06:42I know it turns Nick Kaley and D'Amico Ryan's on, but if he starts showing the run-by ability
06:47and the playmaking ability that they're talking about, it's going to solve a lot of problems
06:51for the Houston Texans.
06:52Yeah, a lot of high praise from people in and out of that building right now for Higgins,
06:56and yeah, I mean, like you're saying, that's what they need.
06:58They need somebody to step up in that wide receiver room, and it would make the most sense
07:01that it would be Higgins, nearly a first-round draft pick last year, and when you look at
07:06the comps for Higgins coming into the draft in terms of size and speed and the cone draw,
07:13all that sort of stuff, what you do with the combine and everything, I mean, he was in great
07:17company where he was compared to guys like Michael Thomas and Brian Thomas Jr. and Drake
07:22London.
07:23So on paper, as you sort of laid out, the pieces are there.
07:28The ceiling is there, the high upside, I guess is what I'm driving at, is there for
07:34him, and hopefully it does click from year one to year two because they need somebody
07:38in that offense outside of Nico Collins to really step up and help out CJ Stroud.
07:44And I referenced this earlier, but I've obviously been complaining all offseason of, you know,
07:48I think they need to do more for this wide receiver room.
07:50They brought in veterans the last two years, Stephon Diggs, Christian Kirk last year.
07:54This year, they're just rolling with the young guys, and I haven't been too fond of that
08:00approach.
08:00We'll see how it plays out.
08:01But like I referenced earlier, Seth in conversations on air in recent months said, you know, at
08:06a certain point, they did the same thing with the defensive guys, and it worked out pretty
08:10well, where you just got to let these young guys, it's almost like sink or swim, or you
08:14let them develop and put them out there instead of bringing in a veteran and stunting their
08:18growth, allow Higgins to try to step into that number two role and let's see what you
08:22could get out of him.
08:24And so if the Texans have this belief that they can rely on Higgins to really make a
08:30big jump in year two and be that true number two target, then obviously they should know
08:34better than anybody else with how close they are to the guy.
08:38So what they're hoping to see, I guess, maybe is starting to be cultivated there with these
08:44comments of, you know, I mean, for Nico Collins to say he's going to be the face of the franchise,
08:48is that how he phrased it?
08:49Yeah, yeah.
08:50That's really high praise for a guy coming off of a mediocre rookie season, yeah, nonetheless.
08:55But maybe this is the year that he takes that big step.
08:57Well, look, for the record, I'm more on your end of a little bit more concern.
09:02I would like a little bit more long in the tooth, hey, we know what this guy brings to
09:07the table, you know, in the wide receiver room.
09:11I mean, you're definitely rolling the dice here with, you know, really everybody not
09:16named Nico in the wide receiver room, for being honest.
09:18I mean, with the exception of Xavier Hutchinson.
09:22So I'm more with you of like, hey, man, let's see if he can play out of, like, last year
09:28he played with a lot of timidness.
09:29That's the best way to put it.
09:30I don't mean it disrespectful, but that's just kind of what it seemed to me.
09:34There were times when it seemed like he was kind of tiptoeing around, not sure where he's
09:37supposed to be, what he's supposed to be doing, and he was still able to have a decent
09:40season.
09:40I mean, hell, he caught several touchdowns.
09:42We'll get six touchdowns.
09:43So he's still a good season.
09:45I just, I got to see him break out of that shell.
09:48And until I do, I'm not going to be real confident in this wide receiver room until I see either
09:55Jalen Knoll make, I mean, just jump on the scene at that slot position, that slot receiver
10:00position, or see Jaden Higgins really explode from year one to year two.
10:07Now, again, what I saw today in that blocking, I know he's going to get opportunities.
10:10I think he's untouchable on this team.
10:13What we were talking about the other day, talking about if Tank Dale gets healthy, him
10:15taking snaps from somebody, he ain't taking snaps from Jaden Higgins after what I saw today.
10:19It was lockdown city on the backside.
Comments