The Houston Texans have one rookie in the mix that’s putting on a show early in the year within one advanced metric, according to Pro Football Focus.
That rookie is second-round wide receiver Jayden Higgins, who, according to PFF, is leading the league in one advanced statistic: separation percentage.
Higgins has managed to create separation on 12 of 16 separation opportunities, coming out to be 75.0%, a league-leader in that category.
PFF describes separation percentage as how often a receiver beats coverage to get open on all routes run:
“Separation percentage measures how often a receiver beats the coverage to get open rather than benefiting from a defense more focused on limiting yards after the catch or stopping them short of the first down. This metric is not limited to just targeted routes. Instead, it looks at all routes run where a defense tries to prevent a receiver from getting open.”
For Higgins to rise to the top of the league in those separations, it’s come alongside a limited sample size–– considering he has the second-to-last total receiving snaps within the top ten, but it does show that the Texans’ 34th-overall pick has been effective in his opportunities.
If anything, the numbers prove Higgins should be finding more opportunities his way early in the year, especially within their struggling offense, but it’s seemingly resulted in the opposite outcome through three weeks.
Week 1 vs. the LA Rams resulted in Higgins finding three targets his way, but the two games to follow led to him finding two targets combined. His snaps have remained relatively similar between 21 and 28, but the opportunities to make a play aren’t quite there.
Simply, the Texans need to get Higgins more involved, both for his sake and their offense as a whole. Houston has fallen to the worst-scoring unit in the NFL, and could utilize Higgins’ explosiveness and separation as a huge helping hand as a vertical threat for C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins.
Time will tell if Week 4 vs. the Tennessee Titans can act as a step in the right direction for Higgins’ usage, but the numbers are certainly in his favor to be worthy of a few added looks his way.
