The Houston Texans' offense has undergone an offseason of many changes through recent months, and now enters their coming regular season with a vastly different (and hopefully, improved) unit surrounding their star cornerstones of C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins, and Joe Mixon.
However, in the batch of the Texans' wide-spanning turnover across the roster, there might be one weapon on the offensive side of the ball who may be flying a bit too under-the-radar in the weeks ahead of camp and preseason.
In the eyes of CBS Sports' Tyler Sullivan, that player might be wide receiver Christian Kirk, who comes into the Texans offense as a trade acquisition from the Jacksonville Jaguars from a few months ago, and could be in line to become a "dangerous" target with a "pretty high ceiling."
"Yes, the Texans have Nico Collins atop the depth chart and double dipped at the receiver position in the NFL Draft, but don't forget about Kirk," Sullivan wrote. "The former Jaguars wideout was traded to Houston this offseason and should be a key factor in the target share from C.J. Stroud. The 28-year-old was limited to eight games last season due to a broken collarbone, but looks to be all systems go for the 2025 season. When healthy, Kirk has proven to be a crisp route runner and a dangerous deep threat, giving him a pretty high ceiling as he now joins the Texans."
Collins, the Texans' surefire WR1 on the depth chart, will surely be the one to capture most of Houston's target share from Stroud when this unit is both healthy and at its best. But for Kirk, there could be a wide-open role to becoming that number-two guy in this passing attack, even ahead of the two rookie contributors on board in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.
In Kirk's 2022 season, his last in which he had a full 17-game slate to work with, the strong production was there. He finished with 84 receptions, a career-high 1,108 yards, and eight touchdowns in the Jaguars' offense in what's still seen as the best showing through his seven years in the league.
Could similar types of numbers be on the horizon in Houston for Kirk? It's a bit hard to tell at this point in the summer, especially in an offense with a bunch of moving parts and many mouths to feed.
However, if the 28-year-old is back to 100% health following his broken collarbone to derail his last campaign, there's an easy world to seeing the slot pass-catcher making a significant, bounce-back impact in his new system in Houston.
