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If Nico Collins is out, who gets his targets?

The Houston Texans room absorbs +3.56 receptions, and Kayshon Boutte takes the largest single share at +0.80. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the wide receiver room.

Where the work goes

Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.

Receptions gained if Nico Collins sitsKayshon Boutte+0.8WR 62% snapsJared Wayne+0.8WR 48% snapsXavier Hutchins…+0.6WR 64% snapsJaylin Noel+0.6WR 39% snapsLewis Bond+0.3WR 16% snapsFoster Moreau+0.2TE 43% snapsDalton Schultz+0.1TE 63% snapsDavid Montgomery+0.1RB 55% snapsWoody Marks+0.1RB 45% snapschange in projected receptions

Every player in the room

PlayerCatches nowIf he sitsChange
Dalton Schultz TE · 63% snaps4.704.85+0.15
Nico Collins WR · 72% snaps4.50—OUT
Xavier Hutchinson WR · 64% snaps2.803.36+0.56
Kayshon Boutte WR · 62% snaps2.203.00+0.80
Jaylin Noel WR · 39% snaps2.002.56+0.56
David Montgomery RB · 55% snaps1.902.03+0.13
Woody Marks RB · 45% snaps1.902.03+0.13
Jared Wayne WR · 48% snaps1.702.49+0.79
Foster Moreau TE · 43% snaps1.501.66+0.16
Lewis Bond WR · 16% snaps0.600.88+0.28

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

RoomReceptions gainednt
Receivers+0.5841,53711.16
Tight ends+0.1751,0803.33
Backs+0.1131,0112.00

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Nico Collins’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 4