HOUSTON — The Houston Texans came out of the 2023 NFL draft with their franchise quarterback, C.J. Stroud, as well as an elite pass rusher in Will Anderson.
However, they still have holes that need addressing on the roster, including a wide receiver room that lacks NFL experience.
Houston used a pair of draft picks to add depth at wide receiver, selecting Tank Dell in the third round and Xavier Hutchinson in the sixth, but Locked on Texans co-host John Hickman still has concerns about the overall experience of this group.
"Houston has four [receivers] on the roster that did not play on an NFL field last season," Hickman said. "Only two receivers on this roster have four or more years of NFL experience. The Texans wide receiver group isn't where the franchise would like them to be."
So who will be Stroud's go-to wide receiver in 2023? Assuming no roster changes, it looks like Nico Collins will handle that responsibility entering his third NFL season. Collins has yet to top 500 receiving yards in a season, and he only has three touchdowns to his name - although an injury last year certainly contributed to that.
Collins will be flanked by NFL veteran Robert Woods, a longtime slot receiver who has topped 85 receptions and 900 receiving yards three times in his career, and is coming off a successful campaign with Tennessee in 2022.
Collins and Woods is a rather uninspiring top two, but the depth behind them is far more established than Houston's depth last year, in part because of the additions of Dell and Hutchinson in the NFL draft.
"They do not have a definite No. 1 wide receiver," co-host Coty Davis added. "However, when you go back and compare it to last year and the year before, the one thing we all talked about was that this wide receiver core didn't have a lot of depth."
If this year's group can provide more depth they may not need someone to step into a traditional WR1 role, although a premier NFL target might be helpful for a rookie quarterback like Stroud.