Independent of what the Houston Texans did at receiver, Nico Collins’ second season has to demonstrate improvement.
The former Michigan product was the second ever selection in the Nick Caserio era, a fellow third-rounder like his quarterback, Davis Mills. Whereas Mills had a five-man run at the end of the 2021 campaign that suggested a breakout season could be forthcoming in 2022, Collins had steady, quite improvement.
According to Cody Stoots from ESPN 97.5, the 6-4, 215-pound wideout had a solid day of practice on the first day of training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center.
Nico Collins looks much more comfortable and has added to his frame. Collins is extremely important in his second year for this team, and he’s clearly put in a lot of work on his game. One of the impressive things about Collins is his route running, especially when the ball isn’t coming his way. Collins finishes the reps, and the routes are clean and precise. He skied over the middle for an easy pass and had Mills seen him on a later rep, it would have been a 75-yard touchdown.
The Texans will especially need Collins to show drastic improvement in his second year as Houston compensates for the loss of John Metchie, who is battling leukemia with his football career the furthest thing from his mind.
Collins caught 33 passes for 446 yards and a touchdown through 14 games last season.