Texans and WR Nico Collins agree to 3-year contract extension: sources

By Dianna Russini, Amos Morale III and Adam Coleman

The Houston Texans have agreed to a three-year contract extension with wide receiver Nico Collins that will pay him $24 million per year, league sources said.

Collins is coming off a career season in which he became the fourth player in franchise history to reach 1,000 receiving yards, joining Brandin Cooks, DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Johnson. He recorded 1,297 yards on 80 catches with eight touchdowns.

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Collins’ first chance as a free agent would be next year, but the Texans locked him up with a significant pay raise.

The Texans selected Collins in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He caught a total of 70 passes for 927 yards and three touchdowns in his first two seasons in Houston.

In 2023, the arrival of first-year coach DeMeco Ryans and rookie quarterback CJ Stroud led to a boom in Collins’ production as he saw 109 targets and averaged 86.5 yards per game , a career high last season.

Why it’s a smart move for Houston

The Texans have been busy this offseason, but this could be one of their smarter moves. Collins took a significant leap in 2023, where he played and produced like a top-10 wide receiver while creating one of the league’s best QB-WR duos with Stroud, the Offensive Rookie of the Year.

More than anything, Houston eliminates some risks with this extension. If the Michigan product and four-year pro had had another season in 2024 like he did in 2023, retaining him could have been difficult in a potentially lucrative market for a loaded 2025 WR free agent class.

All Collins needs is health and consistency. He has never played a full season in his three years in the league and his production in his first two years is very different from last year, although some of that can be blamed on playing on bad Texas teams in the middle of a rebuild.

The Texans are betting that Collins has it all together and is ready to become a star in the NFL. — Adam Coleman, NFL Editor-in-Chief

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(Photo: Ryan Kang/Getty Images)