Every NFL team’s breakout star for this season

Breakout NFL candidates for 2023: Houston Texans – Nico Collins

Nico Collins feels like he’s always been on the breakout list. Welp, here he is again. This is the season it’s going to happen. They have their established quarterback in second-overall pick CJ Stroud. They no longer have Brandin Cooks to take big plays away from other wide receivers. Collins is the top guy on this roster. We can’t trust Robert Woods to stay healthy, so hopefully Collins can find a way to do that.

In two years, Collins has failed to break 100 yards in a game once. That’s not great for a player who had breakout vibes the second he was taken out of the University of Michigan. It doesn’t help to have Davis Mills and a pretty putrid offense to build around, but Collins could have been better.

Reports out of minicamp state that Collins has the early lead as Stroud’s favorite target. This isn’t that much of a surprise seeing who’s in the lineup. Again, Woods is a decent player, but nobody is too worried if he’s the number one. It behooves the Texans to make one of their young wide receivers the top target, and Collins makes the most sense.

This new offense will make the most out of Collins, and he could become a legitimate fantasy option on top of it. Sure, it usually takes a rookie quarterback some time to get acclimated to a system, but the Texans stink. So, they will be throwing a lot. That means Collins should expect a lot of targets and a lot of receptions. Hopefully, he can do something with the heightened volume.