Jaylin Noel

With Jayden Higgins out for the year with a torn ACL, one of the players who could be asked to step up and into a bigger role in 2026 is Jaylin Noel. Noel played 67.2% of his snaps from the slot last year, so the worry is how much he'll be on the field this season, but Houston was fifth in usage of 11 personnel (65.9%), so he could see a near full-time workload. Houston's move to acquire Kayshon Boutte does make it an almost certainty that Noel won't be on the field in two-wide receiver sets. Boutte will likely be that guy opposite Nico Collins in wide receiver formations. Last year, in the four games (yes, it's a small sample), Noel played at least 33% of the snaps (76 routes); he had insane per-route efficiency with a 25% target-per-route run rate, 2.46 yards per route run, and 0.132 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Am I expecting him to put up those types of numbers on a per-route basis over the length of a full season? Hell no, but this is just to illustrate the talent that Noel has when he actually saw the field with regularity last year. Noel is a late-round dart that could hit in a big way in 2026.

Jaylin Noel barely made an impact statistically as a rookie, but Houston always viewed him as more of a long-term option behind its veteran receivers. With Christian Kirk now gone, Noel has a realistic path to a much larger offensive role after flashing whenever he received extended playing time in 2025. He was Pro Football Focus' (PFF) seventh-highest graded returner on 72 combined kick/punt returns in 2025. He flashed on multiple occasions as a receiver in Year 1. In the games where Noel ran at least 17 routes, he averaged almost four receptions per game. However, Tank Dell's return creates some overlap, as does Noel's own injury he is working through at the start of training camp.