Who Are the Greatest Houston Texans Wide Receivers of All-Time?
The wide receiver position has produced some of the best players in Texans history since the franchise first took the field in 2002. Houston has taken the position seriously throughout its history, utilizing a second-round draft pick on a wide receiver in 2002 and a first-rounder in 2003 to try to establish some offensive firepower. All together, the Texans have drafted four receivers in the first two rounds of the draft, and you’ll read about all four of them in this article. Houston hasn’t just built its offense through the draft, however, as some other players who came to the team via free agency will also be featured.
Selection Criteria for This List
This is a list of the five greatest Texans wide receivers of all-time, and also includes a handful of honorable-mention candidates, trivia and statistics from every 900-yard receiving season in team history. The criteria used to develop this list includes:
- Legacy Honors (Hall of Fame, Ring of Honor, retired number, etc.)
- Single-Season Honors (MVP, All-Pro, Pro Bowl, etc.)
- On-Field Success (league leader, playoff appearances, records, etc.)
- Longevity (years with Texans, percentage of career with Texans, etc.)
Only games played with the Texans are factored into this list, so while Eric Moulds would be a great player to include on a list about the Bills, his one season with 557 yards and one touchdowns in Houston won't make the cut here. For the purposes of this article, players established as tight ends will be excluded (so Owen Daniels won’t be written about here).
5. Corey Bradford
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Years With the Texans: 2002–05
When the Texans first took the field in 2002, they leaned on a rookie quarterback in No. 1 draft pick David Carr, but a veteran wide receiver also helped get the offense moving. Corey Bradford came to Houston for his fifth NFL season, and he is credited with scoring the second touchdown in franchise history. That 65-yard connection broke a 10–10 tie with the Cowboys and helped propel the Texans to a 19–10 victory in their first game. As a former Packer, Bradford brought the famed Lambeau Leap touchdown celebration to Houston after scoring.
That was the start to Bradford’s finest season as a pro— he set career highs in receptions (45), yards (697) and touchdowns (6), while leading the team in yardage and TDs. In 2003, the Texans used their first-round draft pick on Andre Johnson, who would emerge as the team’s No. 1 receiver through 2014 and reduced Bradford’s production. Still, Bradford proved reliable, missing just one game over four seasons. He left Houston with 130 catches for 1,992 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Corey Bradford’s Statistics With the Texans
4. Will Fuller
- Years With the Texans: 2016–19
- Playoff Appearances: 2016, ‘19
Will Fuller has yet to play a full season with the Texans, but when he is healthy, he has proven he can be an elite receiver. Injuries, however, have kept him from establishing himself among the league leaders, as he’s played in just 65 percent of games since entering the NFL. In August 2017, Fuller broke his collarbone during practice, causing him to miss the first three games of the season, and a year later, he missed the season opener with a hamstring injury and suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during a Week 8 matchup against the Dolphins that ended his season. His hamstring acted up again in 2019, and he also sustained a groin injury at the end of the season.
In 42 career games, Fuller has gained at least 100 yards in a game eight times—including in the first two games of his career and a 14-catch, 217-yard showing against the Falcons in 2019. He has been elevated to Houston’s top receiver for the 2020 season after the Texans traded away DeAndre Hopkins, and if healthy, he could be in line for a breakout season after posting career-highs for receptions and yardage in 2019. Thus far in his career, Fuller has 156 receptions for 2,231 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Will Fuller’s Statistics With the Texans
3. Kevin Walter
- Years With the Texans: 2006–12
- Playoff Appearances: 2011–12
Kevin Walter didn’t have much offensive production over the first four years of his career (gaining just 456 yards over three seasons with the Bengals and his first with the Texans). But in his second season in Houston, he became an integral part of the offense and maintained that role until he was released following the 2012 season. Walter came to Houston in 2006 after three seasons with the Bengals, but in those four years, he only amassed 456 yards and one touchdown. Everything changed in 2007 when Walter broke into the starting lineup and posted back-to-back seasons with at least 60 catches and 800 yards.
He remained a regular piece of the offense as a complement to leading receiver Andre Johnson, and never missed more than two starts in a season. His first breakout game came in Week 6 of the 2007 season, when he snared 12 passes for 160 yards for the first of just three 100-plus yard games he had in his career. He made up for that with consistency. Walter failed to make a catch in just seven of his 93 games between 2007 and ‘12, and ended his Texans career with 326 catches for 4,083 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Kevin Walter’s Statistics With the Texans
2. DeAndre Hopkins
- Years With the Texans: 2013–19
- Playoff Appearances: 2015–16, 2018–19
- All-Pro: 2015, 2017–19
- Pro Bowl: 2015, 2017–19
DeAndre Hopkins was drafted to be a playmaker for the Texans, and he became just that during his seven seasons with the team. A first-round draft pick in 2013, Hopkins immediately fell into a starting role for Houston, starting a brilliant stretch of seasons that saw him become one of the finest receivers in the NFL. He was almost always on the field (missing just two of 112 regular-season games and adding all six of Houston’s postseason games) and always making plays (he caught at least one pass in every game for the Texans and gained more than 100 yards in a game 30 times).
In 2015, Hopkins became the top receiving option for Houston and immediately proved he was up to the task by scoring 11 touchdowns to break the team’s single-season record. By the end of his tenure, he had secured the top three entries in that category. When he scored a touchdown for five straight weeks in 2017, he became the only player in franchise history ever to do so, and he repeated the feat in 2018. Hopkins was traded to the Cardinals prior to the 2020 NFL Draft, but he left behind a legacy with the Texans that saw him catch 632 passes for 8,602 yards and 54 touchdowns—including five 1,000-yard seasons and three 100-catch seasons.
DeAndre Hopkins’ Statistics With the Texans
1. Andre Johnson
- Seasons With Texans: 2003–14
- Playoff Appearances: 2011–12
- All-Pro: 2006, 2008–09, '12
- Pro Bowl: 2004, '06, 2008–10, 2012–13
- Legacy Honors: Texans Ring of Honor
By combining a lasting legacy with superstar status, Andre Johnson became who I consider the undisputed top receiver in Texans history, and some consider him the greatest player in franchise history. Over most of his 12 seasons, Johnson gave the Texans a reliable receiving threat who had more receptions and gained more yards than any other NFL receiver between 2003 and ‘14. He did all that despite missing significant portions of the 2007 and ‘11 seasons, and his career totals with the Texans include franchise records with 1,012 receptions for 13,597 yards and 64 touchdowns.
Johnson’s career took off from the start, but he saw a big breakout in 2008 after recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss seven games early in the 2007 season and the majority of 2008’s offseason workouts. He was healthy for the entire 2008 regular season and led the NFL with 115 receptions for 1,575 yards, and added on another 101 catches for an NFL-best 1,569 yards in 2009. A pair of hamstring injuries cost Johnson much of the 2011 season, but once again, he recovered from the injury and had a season to remember. In 2012, Johnson set the single-season team record with 1,598 yards, and also posted 273 yards in a game against the Jaguars that year for another franchise record.
The Texans drafted DeAndre Hopkins in 2013, and as he emerged as a superstar, it became clear Johnson’s role in the offense was going to be reduced. That led to Johnson’s release before the 2015 campaign, but he did sign a one-day contract in 2017 to retire as a Texan. Months later, he became the first player inducted into the Texans Ring of Honor, and Johnson will be eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame starting in 2022.
Andre Johnson’s Statistics With the Texans
Honorable Mentions
The following are a handful of players who left an indelible mark on Texans history, but didn’t quite crack the top five.
Jabar Gaffney (2002–06)
The Texans were focused on their offense during the first two rounds of their first NFL Draft in 2002. After taking quarterback David Carr with the No. 1 pick, Houston made wide receiver Jabar Gaffney the top pick in the second round, hoping to pair the two players for years to come. Gaffney would prove to be reliable—he never missed a game in four seasons with the Texans—but he never developed into a superstar, gaining no more than 632 yards in a single season. All together, Gaffney had 171 catches for 2,009 yards and seven touchdowns, and he remained in the NFL another seven seasons.
Jacoby Jones (2007–11)
The main role Jacoby Jones played for the Texans came as a kick and punt returner, but he also stepped in to help solidify the receiving corps. Jones was drafted in the third round in 2007, and posted 34 returns and 15 receptions as a rookie. He had two punt returns for touchdowns the following season, and then had all 11 of his receiving touchdowns over the next three years. In total, Jones had 243 returns for 3,310 yards and three touchdowns, and caught 127 passes for 1,471 yards.
Andre Davis (2007–09)
Andre Davis closed out an eight-year career with three seasons in Houston where he was primarily a kick returner, but he also helped out the offense. Davis returned three kicks for touchdowns to lead the league in 2007—including a brilliant showing in the season finale when he returned a kick 97 yards for a touchdown 15 seconds before halftime and then returned the second half’s opening kickoff 104 yards for another touchdown. He returned 108 kicks in his Texans career for a franchise-record 2,743 yards, and also is credited with the single-season franchise record for yards per reception after gaining an average of 17.7 yards on each of his 33 receptions in 2007.
Houston Texans Wide Receiver History
The following is a look at some trivia about Texans wide receivers, Houston's receiving records and individual statistics for every 900-yard receiving season in franchise history.
How Many Wide Receivers Have the Texans Drafted in the Top 100?
The Texans have drafted eight receivers with a pick inside the top 100 selections.
- 2016: Will Fuller (No. 21)
- 2016: Braxton Miller (No. 85)
- 2015: Jaelen Strong (No. 70)
- 2013: DeAndre Hopkins (No. 27)
- 2012: DeVier Posey (No. 68)
- 2007: Jacoby Jones (No. 73)
- 2003: Andre Johnson (No. 3)
- 2002: Jabar Gaffney (No. 33)
What Are the Longest Receptions in Texans History?
The five longest receptions in Texans history all gained at least 78 yards. Each of the receptions went for a touchdown, except for the longest passing play in team history.
- 81 yards: Corey Bradford (Oct. 13, 2002)
- 80 yards: Jacoby Jones (Nov. 13, 2011)
- 78 yards: Arian Foster (Nov. 13, 2011)
- 78 yards: Foster (Oct. 23, 2011)
- 78 yards: Bradford (Sept. 7, 2003)
Houston Texans Receiving Records
Below are prominent records among wide receivers that are contained in the Texans franchise record book:
- Career Yards: 13,597, Andre Johnson (2003–14)
- Single-Season Yards: Johnson, 1,598 (2012)
- Single-Game Yards: Johnson, 273 (Nov. 18, 2012)
- Career Touchdowns: Johnson, 64 (2003–14)
- Single-Season Touchdowns: 13, DeAndre Hopkins (2017)
- Single-Game Touchdowns: 3, Hopkins (Oct. 8, 2017), and Johnson (Nov. 3, 2013)
- Career Receptions: 1,012, Johnson (2003–14)
- Single-Season Receptions: 115, Hopkins ('18), and Johnson ('08)
- Single-Game Receptions: 14, Johnson (Nov. 18, 2012)