We got a rare in-division trade on Thursday afternoon when the Texans sent a 2026 seventh-round pick for Christian Kirk. It was previously reported that the Jaguars were going to cut Kirk, but Houston evidently made a last-minute offer to ensure they didn’t have to compete with any other team to pick him up. Kirk will join Nico Collins on an otherwise pretty barren Texans WR depth chart, while the Jaguars will proceed as expected without Kirk. Let’s dig into the fantasy implications.
CHRISTIAN KIRK
- This is a pretty ideal landing spot for Kirk next to a great quarterback as the clear WR2 in this offense. As discussed in our PUP List Candidates article, Tank Dell is unlikely to play a snap in 2025 and will ideally be ready for 2026, while Stefon Diggs is an unrestricted free agent who’s also coming off a torn ACL. That left John Metchie as the incumbent WR2 on this depth chart, and we saw how much the Houston offense faltered once Dell/Diggs went down last season. Kirk has quietly averaged at least 8.1 yards per target in four straight years and at least 5.9 targets per game each season during that span as well (across two different teams). He’s clearly a starting-caliber receiver who meshes well in this offense as the underneath complement to Collins.
- The Texans upgraded from Bobby Slowik to Nick Caley, who comes from the famed Sean McVay coaching tree. We haven’t seen Caley call a play in Houston yet, but it’s almost assuredly going to be a boon for this offense to move to a more modern philosophy. Collins has established himself as one of the elite WRs in this league, but the other WRs in this offense — and Dalton Schultz — don’t seem like anything above replacement-level players. If Houston returns to being an above-average offense and C.J. Stroud correspondingly regains some of the magic he had his rookie season, Kirk could easily see a high-teens target share and be a fantasy starter. We’ll see if the Texans make any other WR moves in free agency or the draft.
OTHER TEXANS WIDE RECEIVERS
- Houston was always going to add someone, whether it be re-signing Diggs or another free agent or drafting someone. In other words, this has no effect on Nico Collins, who remains the unquestioned alpha in this offense.
- Metchie falls down the depth chart and Schultz is no longer the de facto secondary pass catcher, but again, the Texans were never going to roll into September with Metchie as their WR2. The clearest signal from this is that Houston seems unlikely to re-sign Diggs now; he turns 32 years old in September, he may start the year on the PUP list coming off a torn ACL, and the Texans may have been priced out of getting him back anyway with how many teams need a WR and the lack of options in this free-agent class.
JAGUARS PASS CATCHERS
- Jacksonville also cut Evan Engram today, completely changing the look of their pass-catching corps. While these moves weren’t unexpected — we had both Kirk and Engram listed as cut candidates — it does mean the cupboard is pretty bare beyond Brian Thomas Jr. Gabe Davis is currently the WR2, and Brenton Strange is the TE1. Strange filled in admirably once Engram went down with 40/411/2 in his sophomore campaign and he has second-round draft capital, but expecting him to fill Engram’s role — 207 targets in 26 games over the past two seasons — is awfully optimistic. Still, the Jags have bigger needs than TE, and Strange is an interesting TE2 dart in best ball now that he has the job to himself. Meanwhile, we’ll see where Engram lands, but leaving the team that handed him a >23% target share in two straight seasons is a big hit to his value.
- If the season started today, Parker Washington would be the WR3/slot guy for the Jaguars. He has a high probability of losing that job at some point during the offseason or during the season, but there’s at least a path to him getting real playing time in 2025.
- Brian Thomas Jr. looked like one of the best wideouts in the entire league over the second half of his rookie season, and the decision to cut Kirk/Engram doesn’t have a big impact on him since it was largely expected. However, it serves as further confirmation that the offense will revolve around him. BTJ is a fringe first-rounder in 2025 drafts.
