Texans WR Nico Collins officially ruled out for Week 2 vs. Bengals

The hits keep on coming for the Houston Texans entering Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals .

On the offense? This is a big one regarding quarterback C.J. Stroud and the passing attack.

Texans Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins has officially been ruled out of Sunday's showdown with a hamstring injury. Houston's top weapon did not practice the past two days and was limited on Wednesday after undergoing further testing for a hamstring strain.

Collins, who finished with a team-leading seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 36-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills , has been hindered by hamstring woes since entering the league in 2021. In 2024, he missed five games with a lower-body injury after scoring a touchdown reception in the first quarter against Buffalo that required a stint on the injured reserve.

Throughout his entire career, Collins has dealt with injuries that's sidelined him for at least two games. Over the past two years, the Texans are 4-3 in that stretch in games the three-time 1,000-yard receiver has not been on the field during the regular season.

They're 0-1 in the postseason without Collins, as evidenced by the divisional round loss last January against the New England Patriots .

As a player, Collins is a monster in the passing attack. Considered a top-10 weapon in the league, he's been the Texans' most reliable vertical target when he hasn't been on the sidelines because of injuries.

And the scary part with hamstring injuries is that there's no timetable for a return, so Houston could be without Collins entering divisional play next week against the Indianapolis Colts .

Houston needs another weapon to step up this week. The Texans already lost No. 2 target Jayden Higgins to a season-ending torn ACL last month, and other weapons are still getting acclimated to the offense under second-year coordinator Nick Caley.

Knowing Collins is out, Houston should turn to newcomer Kayshon Boutte to step up as the face of the offense. In Sunday's loss, he had one catch for 21 yards.

"The good thing about the offense is we have a lot of guys that we have trust in," Caley said on Thursday. "I would say this, that we go through our reads and the ball finds the open guys. C.J. does a good job distributing the football. I think you saw that last week. We have guys that have a lot of experience with them and have played a lot of football and we'll go through it like that."

Should Boutte struggle, the Texans could turn to Jaylin Noel . The second-year product out of Iowa State was limited in his role on Sunday, he ended up catching two passes for 53 yards, averaging over 26 yards per catch.

"I thought he did great. I think he's growing; he's learning how to run routes and to be friendly to the quarterback," Stroud said of Noel's outing. "I think his speed, of course, but he's learning how to use his speed and when not to and his pace. I think he's doing a great job."

The Texans could also turn to more of a 12 (two tight ends, two receivers) or 13-personnel (one receiver, three tight ends) look with Collins sidelined and uncertainties at wide receiver. Caley praised the consistency of rookie tight end Marlin Klein after Week 1, crediting his blocking and route-running as strong reasons for growth entering Week 2.

"Marlin's coming along and done a good job. We have a deep tight end room," Caley said. "We've got a lot of guys that were at the game. He'll continue to get better and continue to build and we're very pleased with that."