Battle Red Blog
Reviewing rookie Jayden Higgins senior year film
Few things are as unpredictable as a Houston Texans draft. The Texans came into the draft with seven pick and only stayed put for one of those selections. The first of those picks was Jayden Higgins the wide receiver from Iowa State.
He is the subject of our sixth film analysis of the rookie class. The second round wide receiver is slated to have an immediate impact on this offense desperately in need of a star alongside Nico Collins.
Higgins has been compered to Collins as well as Drake London due to his size, catch radius, and route running finesse. We’ll see just how far he stacks up.
Past Texans 2025 Draft Pick Film Reviews:
One of the godsends for this series has been Just the Tape’s YouTube channel that documents every target for several of the top receivers.
When you watch enough film, certain players habits will make you chuckle. Its the weaponized incompetencies of playing college football. I’ve never seen it before, but when the ball is in the air and he’s in the end zone facing tight coverage, he’ll jump in the air, kick his legs out, and let the ball come into his body. And it works. Ugly? It’s heinous, but the real question is whether the Texans will tweak it to improve his success against longer NFL corners or stick with what’s been effective.
One area of growth for Higgins is his body positioning on deep routes. In particular, he doesn’t consistently frame himself to put the corner in his pocket. This creates jump balls and slows him down if the ball has any air on it. Granted, Iowa State’s QB couldn’t throw the ball downfield with any zip, but it occurred in every game I watched and causes incompletions that could have been 30-40 yard gains.
An under-appreciated trait is he’s willing to run routes over the middle of the field but knows how to orient his body to avoid big hits. He runs at full speed with shoulders turned towards QB, which opens up the window the QB can throw to without losing the timing of the throw. His ability to run over the middle of the field creates a great combination as he can make his living over the middle in an offense with Chrisitan Kirk and Nico Collins who can live on the boundaries.
Although, while he ran a 4.47 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine, that speed doesn’t exude himself on the field. Particularly when he’s running in-braking routes,
One of the film studies I was most intrigued with was his play against scrappy corner Jacob Parrish. Parish is only 5-10, but is an extremely physical corner who ran a 4.35 forty yard dash.
Higgins’ big touchdown (9:00) wasn’t against Parrish. Parrish did a good job disrupting Higgins’ routes before he could get into them all game and help hold Higgins...
