The Houston Texans found a wide receiver on Thursday.
Houston, which expects Tank Dell to miss most—if not all—of the 2025 season, needed someone to start opposite Nico Collins. In addition to Dell's injury, Stefon Diggs is a free agent who is rehabbing a torn ACL.
That meant Houston would likely look to free agency to fill the void. This might no longer be necessary as the Texans pulled off a rare in-division trade. In exchange for a seventh-round pick, Houston will pick up Christian Kirk from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jacksonville signed Kirk to a four-year contract worth $72 million in the 2022 season. At the time, it seemed to be a massive overpay but the former Arizona Cardinal proved to be a great fit in their offense.
He recorded 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns on 84 receptions that season. His numbers went down over the past two seasons due to injuries, with Kirk missing five games in 2023 and nine in 2024.
Jacksonville was set to release him to save $10.37 million against the cap. The Texans instead will inherit his $15.5 million base salary, but look for them to come to terms on a new deal.
While this might take them out of the running for Diggs, don't expect this move to prevent Houston from targeting a wideout in the 2025 NFL Draft. Kirk is best utilized in the slot, so adding yet another receiver would be a wise move.
Texans may not retain Stefon Diggs after Christian Kirk trade
ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime had reported in the past that the Texans would look to sign Diggs to a "team-friendly" deal. With Kirk in town and the free agent market looking quite thin for wide receivers, Houston may not be able to bring Diggs back with the contract he is seeking.
Diggs only played eight games for the Texans. However, if you extrapolate his numbers out to a full season, Diggs would have tallied 100 catches for 1,054 yards and six touchdowns. Those numbers came while constantly fighting with Nico Collins for targets from CJ Stroud.
The Texans will likely go into the 2025 season with Collins as the top option, Kirk as the deputy No. 2 option, and two youngsters in Xavier Hutchinson and John Metchie fighting for the WR3 role. This youth movement at wide receiver could be bad news for Diggs and fellow veteran Robert Woods.
Diggs could have been the key to a deep playoff run in Houston, but the injury and Houston's speed with which they found another veteran wide receiver does not bode well for him if he wants to stick around. Let's just hope Diggs rented and didn't buy last season.
