In the week leading up to the Houston Texans’s Christmas Eve matchup against the Cleveland Browns, I approached wide receiver Nico Collins at his locker. I took my usual position standing in front of the empty locker to his left, with Christian Harris’ locker to my right.
As I waited for Collins to prepare, I asked him a question that caught him off guard about the player whose locker I had occupied once a week for the past five weeks.
“I know you miss seeing the rookie around,” I said to Collins.
“Man, I have not seen him in a long time, and my thoughts and prayers are with him,” Collins responded. “I had some great talks sitting next to him about being a rookie and navigating through life as an NFL player.”
It had been a while since Texans defensive end Dylan Horton, selected in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL draft out of TCU, sat next to Collins. He was placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list on Nov. 23 — four days after Horton recorded three tackles in a 21-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals — and missed the rest of the regular season and two postseason games.
At the time, Horton said in a statement he was “dealing with a personal health matter that will keep me away from the team for an indefinite period of time.”
Four months later, the 23-year-old from Frisco, Texas, revealed he stepped away after being diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma but had recently gone into remission.
“On December 1st, 2023, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,” Horton said in the statement. “Through God’s grace, I’m blessed to say that I’m currently in remission!
“I am grateful for the love from my family and friends, and support from the texans organization and my doctors. My next objective is to complete my treatments, then get back to playing the game that I love. Thank you for your prayers and support as I continue this journey.”
An update from Texans DE Dylan Horton pic.twitter.com/LnkH95j36U
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 11, 2024
Before he took his leave of absence from the team, I spoke with Horton about the Texans locker room culture following the Cardinals game.
“It’s a great feeling,” Horton said to Texans Wire at the time. “You feel the energy coming to practice, coming to the facility, coming to the games, and everybody is excited. We have to keep going.”
This was prior to Texans DE Dylan Horton being placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list:
“It’s a great feeling,” Horton said about the locker room culture. “You feel the energy coming to practice, coming to the facility, coming to the games, and everybody is excited.” pic.twitter.com/u0KBhXEaTZ— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) March 11, 2024
Horton is the second player from the Texans whose health issues affected their rookie season.
Wide receiver John Metchie III was diagnosed with leukemia before training camp in 2022 and had to sit out an entire season as he recovered from taking treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He has since fully recovered and appeared in 18 games for Houston this past season.
As for Horton, it sounds like Horton will make the same push to return to the field as Metchie did.