The Houston Texans news includes the all-time leaders in receiving yards since the franchise joined the NFL in 2002.
There have been some very good players catch passes in Houston Texans history, but exactly who are the all-time leaders in receiving yards? The Houston Texans news ahead could surprise you as some of the names on the ensuing all-time list might have been misplaced in our memories, as others will always be remembered for what they did in a Texans uniform.
In all, 111 players have caught a pass for Houston with four players having a reception for negative yardage. Eleven players on the all-time list have 3-9 yards in a reception, and the all-time number for receiving yards for the Texans is over 13,000 yards.
Next are the Top 5 Texans players and some honorable mentions in all-time receiving yards.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – Honorable mentions
The sixth through 10th players on the Texans’ all-time receiving list consist of tight end Ryan Griffin (1,491) in 10th, while in ninth is Jacoby Jones (1,741). In eighth is Corey Bradford (1,992), and in seventh place all-time is Jabar Gaffney (2,009).
From 2009-15, it was running back Arian Foster who was one of the greatest players in franchise history, and it isn’t Texans news that he is the all-time leading rushers in team history, but he’s also sixth place all time in receiving yards for Houston.
In seven seasons with the Texans, Foster totaled 2,268 receiving yards on 249 receptions (345 targets), catching 72.2 percent of the passes that went his way. Foster also averaged 9.1 yards per reception as a Texan and totaled 14 touchdown receptions.
In his final receiving stats for the Texans, Foster did have 17 fumbles, averaged 29.8 yards per game receiving, and his career-long reception with the Texans happened twice, with one being a 78-yard reception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers off a Matt Schaub in 2011. The first 78-yard TD reception was also in 2011 against the Tennessee Titans.
Foster is one of the very best players in Texans history, and this stat here shows he was more than the very best to rush to football in franchise history, but also one of the very best all-around players to ever wear a Texans uniform with his receiving skills putting him in the Top 5 at the end of his time with the franchise, but now is sixth overall.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – No. 5: Will Fuller
Now to the current fifth-place player in Texans history for receiving yards … Will Fuller, who has been with the Texans since the 2016 season.
Fuller — who was a first round pick by Houston — has been plagued with various injuries and a suspension (in 2020) throughout his five seasons with Houston. In five seasons, Fuller has collected 3,110 yards receiving, including 209 receptions (333 targets) and 24 touchdowns.
Fuller reached fifth all-time on the Texans list in 2020, a season where he finished with 11 games played for 53 receptions and 879 yards receiving. Fuller was well on his way to a 1,000-yard season before being suspended for the final six games of the season for a PED violation. Fuller finished the ’20 season with eight touchdowns, and was the top target of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Fuller has had an up-and-down career with the Texans, and he was on his way to greater things in 2020 before his season came to a close after 11 games. Fuller has missed a total of 28 games with the Texans in five seasons due to injuries and the suspension.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – No. 4: Kevin Walter
Kevin Walter player 10 years in the NFL, and his final seven were as a member of the Houston Texans franchise from 2006-12. Maybe the biggest Texans news about Walter isn’t that he played 109 games and made 91 starts with the Texans, but he’s fourth all-time on this list.
The longtime Texans wide receiver caught 356 passes and was targeted 541 times, for a total of 4,083 yards. Walter averaged 12.5 yards per reception and caught 24 of his 25 career touchdowns while a member of the Texans as well.
Walter’s career-long reception came in 2008 where the reception went for 61 yards against the Indianapolis Colts off a pass from Sage Rosenfels in Indianapolis. Walter also averaged 37.5 yards per game receiving with the Texans, as he averaged three receptions per game. Looking back at his catch percentage with the Texans, it was 65.3-percent.
Not to be forgotten about Walter is he did run with the football 13 times in his career with the Texans, totaling 82 yards (including a career-best 13 yard in three different seasons). Walter is a Texans player who had a nice career with the franchise, and his play put him on this list as one of the very best to ever catch a pass in a Texans uniform.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – No. 3 Owen Daniels
Next is another non-wide receiver on the list, but the only tight end in the Top 5 all-time for Texans receiving yards, plus he’s one of the most popular players in Texans history. Let’s talk about Owen Daniels, who played for the Texans from 2006-13.
Daniels is the best tight end to ever play for the Texans, and since he left the franchise at the end of the ’13 season, the Texans have yet to find as dominant of a player to take his spot on the roster. In his eight seasons with the franchise, Daniels caught 385 passes for 4,617 yards and 29 touchdown receptions on a total of 602 targets. Daniels had at least two touchdowns in each of his eight years with the Texans, and he also played in exactly 100 games with the franchise, 96 of those games being starts.
Daniels also averaged 12 yards per reception for the Texans, and he also averaged nearly four receptions (3.9) per game, plus he added an average of 46.2 yards per game with the Texans.
Though Daniels finished his career with one season playing for the Baltimore Ravens, and his final year was with the Denver Broncos in 2015, Daniels will always be remembered for what he did with the Texans as he’s set the standard for all tight ends from here on out with the Texans.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – No. 2: DeAndre Hopkins
We all know who the runner-up is on the all-time Texans receiving list is, and the sad part about it is he was traded from the team too soon, and that is why he’ll never be able to be the all-time leader in Texans receiving history.
DeAndre Hopkins is one of the very best Texans players ever, no matter the position he played for the franchise. We all know the Texans news for the 2020 offseason was centered around Hopkins being traded to the Arizona Cardinals, but in happier times, the career of Nuk is something to celebrate.
In seven seasons with the Texans, Hopkins missed just two games, and neither were because of injury, rather just how the end of the season schedule and playoff seedings worked out. Hopkins totaled 632 receptions for 8,602 yards with 54 touchdowns in his 110 games (all starts) in Houston.
The Texans headline for Hopkins’ tenure was he was maybe the most spectacular receiver ever to wear a Texans uniform as he made some very exciting catches for the franchise, though some of them aren’t in the record books due to not “officially happening.”
Hopkins was a first-team All-Pro in his final three seasons in Houston (2017-19) and earned a Pro Bowl selection four times, so Hopkins left his mark with the franchise, though the end of his career will be played elsewhere.
Houston Texans News: Receiving yards – No. 1: Andre Johnson
One of the Top 2 greatest players to ever wear a Houston Texans uniform, and undoubtedly the greatest wide receiver and offensive player in franchise history, Andre Johnson sits at the top of the Texans all-time receiving yards list after he spent 12 seasons with the team.
Twice Johnson led the league in receiving yards with 1,575 yards in 2008 and 1,569 yards in 2009. He also led the NFL in reception in 2006 with 103 and in 2008 with 115. Johnson was also the league leader in receiving yards per game three times with 94.6 ypg. in 2007, 98.1 ypg. in ’09 and 93.5 ypg. in ’10.
In all, Johnson totaled 13,597 yards in the regular season during his time with the Texans, while also collecting 1,012 receptions, and he was targeted 1,640 times in 169 career games (all starts) with the Texans from 2003-14.
Johnson also finished with 64 touchdowns and averaged 13.4 yards per reception as a member of the Texans. When Johnson was with the Texans, everyone had the confidence something great was going to happen, and usually it did. In 10 of his 12 seasons with Houston, Johnson was targeted over 100 times in each of those seasons. In five seasons, he had no fewer than 100 receptions.
Also in 10 of his 12 seasons with the Texans, Andre Johnson played in at least 13 of the scheduled 16 games. All in all, it is easy to see why Johnson is the all-time leader in receiving yards (and the holder of many Texans receiving records) in team history.
There may never be another Texans wide receiver who reaches the numbers of Johnson — who is also the only player currently in the Texans Ring of Honor — during their Texans career, as the standard he set might just be unreachable for all future players.