3 Texans players who could be nice surprises in 2024

Brevin Jordan, TE

"Nice surprise" is a relative term, especially considering we kind of know the type of player Jordan is. In his three years as a pro – all spent in Houston – Jordan has consistently been around the 20-catch, 200-yard mark.

He won't get the attention that Dalton Schultz gets, which is exactly why he's a sneaky good candidate for this next season.

He's primarily an in-line tight end, but when Schultz, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Joe Mixon are all on the field with Jordan, he's a decent matchup problem waiting to happen for the Texans. He's a decent red zone threat, too: five career touchdowns in three years, for a backup tight end, isn't half shabby. There are certainly more high-profile breakout season candidates on the Texans roster, but it wouldn't be surprising at all to see Jordan have a great year in 2024.

Nico Collins, WR

Admittedly, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Collins played well next year, considering he went over 1000 yards receiving for the first time in his three-year career last season.

But if you look at Collins' career as whole, the year-over-year growth is eye-popping. Here are his overall offensive grades from PFF since he was drafted:

2021: 65.6
2022: 72.4
2023: 91.4

Not only is Collins getting better every year, but he's doing so in huge chunks. He basically turned into a YAC star out of the blue this past season, which was something that wasn't really a part of his game for the first two years with the Texans. He's also dropping less than 5% of the passes thrown his way, and CJ Stroud had a 127.8 passer rating when he targeted Collins.

So here, the "nice surprise" isn't that he plays well, but that Collins continues his rapid ascent and establishes himself as one of the premier 3-4 wide receivers in the NFL.

He only started 10 games last season – imagine what his stat line could look like with 17.