HOUSTON – Nico Collins creates instant matchup problems for opposing cornerbacks. Tall, fast and physical with a huge catch radius, Collins is able to high-point the football with rare traits. Durability during his first two seasons has been his only major drawback preventing him from reaching his vast potential.
Now, the Texans’ imposing wide receiver is fully healthy and capitalizing on his opportunities as the closest thing the team has to a No. 1 wide receiver. He has developed a strong chemistry and timing with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and has already caught 13 passes for 226 yards and one touchdown heading into the third game of the season today against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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A year ago, Collins elevated over Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell, exploiting his size mismatch and superior leaping ability to deliver an acrobatic sideline catch. It really didn’t matter that Collins had to deal with Campbell draped all over him and, consequently, being flagged for defensive pass interference. Collins still caught the football at the highest point on a pass from quarterback Davis Mills to set up a touchdown in one of the Texans’ three victories last season.
At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds with 4.45 speed in the 40-yard dash, the Birmingham, Ala., native has uncommon physical ability and is a smooth route runner with soft hands.
The passing connection between Collins and Stroud is one of the most impressive aspects of a winless Texans team, and something the team is trying to keep building while their running game continues to be stonewalled.
Throughout the offeseason, Collins and Stroud spent a lot of timing working on their shared understanding off passing game concepts and precisely where the football needs to be.
“A lot, man, but I feel like it’s still early in the season,” Collins said. “I feel like there’s a lot of room for growth for everybody, my game, C.J’s game, the offense’s game. It’s a long season, man, but we continue to chase small details and continue to climb.”
The Texans’ receiving corps, made up primarily of Collins, Robert Woods and talented rookie Tank Dell has exceeded expectations. There was a lot of talk this offseason and preseason about the Texans lacking a true No. 1 wide receiver, but Collins is approximating that role with his fast start to the season. If he manages to continue this torrid pace of 6.5 catches and 113 yards for the entire season and play every game for the first time in his career, he would finish with 110 catches and 1,921 yards. He has six catches of 20 yards or more to rank second in the NFL.
Did the slights and criticism provide more motivational fuel for Collins and his teammates? Absolutely.
“Yeah, it motivated,” Collins said. “We took that. We was like, ‘All right, let’s go, let’s work and come out every day, put everything on the line and whenever opportunity comes, make a play.’ Just keep going, keep chasing greatness, keep climbing, keep making plays.”
Collins caught five targets on in-breaking routes for 129 yards against the Indianapolis Colts last week, which was 57 yards over the expected amount, according to NextGen Stats. Collins also leads the NFL with 183 yards and receiving EPA (plus-17.4) on in-breaking routes. He finished with seven receptions on nine targets for a career-high 146 yards with one touchdown in the first 100-yard game of his career.
When the Texans need a clutch catch that requires being more physical than the defense, they count on Collins to make those tough contested grabs.
“Nico, the big thing that jumps out with him, which is a lot of the guys that have started to show up now that the games get rolling, is he just puts his head down and works,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said. “And there’s things that he can do that no one else on our team can do, just with his frame, how big he is, how fast he is, his hands, that he’s always kind of excelled at, but never necessarily understood how important the mindset aspect of it was.
“I think that really is registering, and I think you can see it on the field every time he touches the ball. And it’s not just the pass game. I mean, everyone notices the pass game stuff, but in the run game, he’s an enforcer. He’s a guy that shows up and I think defenses are aware of, and that’s really, to me, where I’ve seen the growth is he embraces the physicality right now of football.”
Collins likes going over the middle. He looks for collisions. He welcomes them and bounces off of defensive backs’ tackle attempts. He embraces the blocking aspect of the game.
“I love contact, that’s part of football,” Collins said. “I love hitting. When the secondary knows you’re willing to make contact with them, it’s like, ‘eah, it’s going to be a long game.’ Every time I get the ball, I want to score.”
Some of Collins’ rough-and-tumble style stems from his days as a Michigan man playing for Jim Harbaugh in the hard-nosed Big Ten Conference.
“Jim Harbaugh, he brings it out in you,” Collins said. “The Oklahoma drill, I love it. I’ve been doing Oklahoma drill since I was 5. I just love football.”
Collins ranks fifth in the NFL in receiving yards behind the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua, the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans.
Collins has six catches of 20-plus yards, which is second in the NFL. He has nine first downs on 20 targets.
Heading into his third NFL season, the Texans have seen steady growth from Collins.
“I hope we grow every year, and he should want to grow every year,” Texans receivers coach and passing game coordinator Ben McDaniels said. “I’m hoping that’s the case, and I’m really happy with the confidence.”
Availability is a major component in Collins’ outlook. Whenever he’s healthy, the former third-round draft pick from Michigan has consistently produced. In his first two NFL seasons, Collins caught 70 passes for 927 yards and three touchdowns on 126 targets.
However, he ended last season on injured reserve with a foot injury. And Collins has previously dealt with shoulder, hip and groin injuries that have limited him to 24 career games out of potential 34 appearances since joining the Texans. His season ended after 10 games and seven starts last season, but he still managed to catch 37 passes for 481 yards and two scores on 66 targets. Collins had a 58-yard catch against the Los Angeles Chargers, finishing with three receptions for 82 yards.
Collins got off to a fast start with 15 receptions for 272 yards and an 18.1 average per catch through the first five games. He was on pace to finish the season with 51 catches for 924 yards. Then, injuries began to set in.
“Yeah, it was tough being hurt,” Collins said. “Nobody wants to be hurt. Finishing the season on IR, that’s not anybody’s plan. You want to finish the whole game of the season with your team. I was on IR, so I took it as just getting healthy. Just continue to get healthy. My season ended kind of early, but it is what it is.”
At Slowik’s direction, Collins has studied a lot of film of former Atlanta Falcons All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones. The offense the Texans are installing is similar to what Shanahan, a former Falcons offensive coordinator and Gary Kubiak assistant, ran in Atlanta and Washington.
“He pulled clips from Atlanta and watched Julio run it, San Fran concepts, same offense, you know,” Collins said. “Just watching guys run that route. It’s come down to just watching film, learning the playbook, the route concepts, the route names. Watching other guys run it from previous teams. It’s just understanding what coach wants from that route. I feel like we’re all doing it as a team, as an offense. We’re still learning.”
And so is Collins as he fortified his health with lifting weights, proper nutrition, stretching and experience on the field at how to handle collisions and the twisting and turning that goes on at the wide receiver position. With increased knowledge, he’s optimistic that increased durability and production is ahead of him.
“Just working my craft,” he said. “You can always work on your game. It’s the small details. It’s a long season. Keep stacking, keep climbing.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.