Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins has invited the Houston Texans to potentially open talks on a contract extension.

The 24-year-old from Alabama enjoyed a breakout 2023-24 campaign. Collins recorded a career-best 1297 receiving yards and scored a career-best eight touchdowns.

Collins was a bonafide star for the Texans. His relationship with rookie CJ Stroud was one of the highlights of the 2023-24 NFL season.

Drafted in 2021, Collins enters 2024 on his rookie contract’s final year. He is now eligible for a contract extension. When asked about a potential new deal, Collins told local news, “Oh man, I would love that. That would be great. I feel like that’s what everybody works for. I’m just going to let it come to me, whatever they decide, whatever they want to do. I’m going to let it ride. I’m going to continue to get better and work on my game. If they want to negotiate, we can.”

Collins also stated that he is excited about the upcoming season, saying, “Time to reload and pick up where we left off. It’s definitely a blessing and a great team to be around. I think it’s time. Can’t wait to get everybody back. We’re on a mission. It’s real. It is. We can’t wait to be back where we left off.”

Collins is the prototypical NFL wide receiver. He has the height, size and speed that teams covet. With wide receiver contracts set to skyrocket, Collins could benefit from a lucrative deal.

Collins already has his quarterback’s approval. On Collins, CJ Stroud said, “I told him our first time ever working out together. I said you’re a superstar. I never even snapped the ball in the league, but I just know good receivers. I played where we had tremendous receivers.  I’m super proud of that dude, man. It’s just the beginning for him.”

READ MORE…

New NFL salary cap means new Houston Texans

Last week, the NFL announced a sizable increase for the 2024 salary cap, the money all teams get to spend on players in the upcoming season. The Houston Texans already had one of the biggest free cap space numbers, and it just got bigger.

@TexansCap, one of, if not THE, media authorities on all things Houston Texans salary cap space, dropped his latest number crunching over the weekend. While he does admit there are a few pieces missing from the puzzle, this does provide a fairly set look at what the Texans have to work with for 2024.

Speaking of, Texans Cap has moved to a new home, Cap & Trade that offers some great football insights, if you’re into such things.

The $255.4 million number exceeded expectations across the league including myself. For the past two months, offline, I’ve been told to expect a league cap number in the $242.5 to $245.5 million range.

Those numbers made sense to me as that would have represented the usual 7-8% increase. The league (usually) prefers to avoid single-year ballooning of the salary cap, preferring to go with a consistent gradual rise.

Teams and the Players’ Association were still in the process of paying back the front cap money used to cover the 2021 league year. Based on Rapoport’s post, those paybacks have already been completed.

The 13.61% increase represents the fourth largest increase, by percentage, dating back to 1994. The $30.6 million raw number raise is the largest increase over the same period.

While the immediate reaction to this is something like “Great! Now Nick Caserio can go on a mad shopping spree and sign all.the.free.agents!” But, this is a rising tide raises all boats scenario. Want Saquon Barkley to join the Battle Red? His price tag just went up.