Will Fuller is Texans’ key to a deep playoff run

If the Houston Texans are going to make a deep playoff run this year, Will Fuller will have to be healthy and at his best.

The Houston Texans (9-5) took the lead in the AFC South with a win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 15. If not for an inexplicable loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 14, they could have clinched the division with that win over Tennessee. Perhaps not coincidentally wide receiver Will Fuller missed that game against Denver, before returning to post five catches for 61 yards on seven targets against the Titans.

The Texans’ passing game has continued to go mostly through wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins this season. After his team-leading reception (99), target (141) and yardage (1,142) totals, with a tied for team-leading seven touchdowns, the next best are 47 receptions, 659 yards and 69 targets. Who do those numbers belong to? Fuller, though he has missed four games.

After Fuller, the next-best numbers on the team are 52 targets, 38 catches (Duke Johnson) and 504 yards (Kenny Stills). Hopkins will always rightfully be a target hog, as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, but the search for some balance in the passing game has still eluded the Texans.

As could be expected with his status as a noted downfield threat, Fuller is averaging 14.0 yards per catch and 9.6 yards per target this season. Those numbers are actually second on the team to Stills, who’s averaging 14.4 and 11.0 respectively, but there’s no arguing Fuller has been the more impactful player.

The rapport Fuller has with quarterback Deshaun Watson cannot be understated. Watson is one of the best downfield throwers around, with the eighth-best deep ball completion percentage in the league this year (42.3%), while Fuller is in the top-20 in yards per target (17th), average target distance (15.0; seventh), yards per pass route (2.48; 16th) and deep targets (23;13th). Talk about a happy marriage of one of a quarterback’s differentiating skills with a receiver who can maximize it when the ball comes his way.

As could be expected, Fuller has been on the field for nearly 88 percent of Houston’s offensive snaps in the 10 games he has played this season (via Player Profiler). But those four missed games drops his season-long snap share through 14 games to 58.2 percent (via Football Outsiders). He also operates out of the slot a fair amount (26.4 percent of the time), with atypical speed for a slot receiver to easily create mismatches and stretch the field from inside the hashes.

Fuller is still dealing with a hamstring issue, which has limited him in practice this week. It is a short week for the Texans heading into Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so they are surely exercising some caution with Fuller. If there’s any concern at all about his hamstring, and with his injury history there has to be some, putting him out there to practice mid-week in Week 16 is foolish.

If only to have a much more viable second fiddle to Hopkins at wide receiver, the Texans need Fuller to be at full strength come playoff time. Of course they still need to secure a spot in the playoffs heading into Week 16, and his presence for the last two games can only help foster a strong finish over the final two games. But holding him out on Saturday if it came to that would be explainable, with an eye on getting through an AFC that looks a little less imposing than the NFC.

The list of important/irreplaceable players for the Texans starts with Watson, Hopkins and defensive end J.J. Watt (who may able to return from a pectoral injury for the playoffs).

But don’t forget about Fuller, who can unlock a lot of things for the offense as a threat opposing defensive coordinators have to account for. Hopkins gets more room to operate, the running game surely functions better with one less defender likely to be in the box and Watson is an elite-level passer when targeting Fuller. It all adds up to the fourth-year wide receiver being the most critical key to a deep playoff run for Houston this year.