Make a list of the most valuable franchise cornerstones in Houston right now, and it won’t be long before you’ve named both Nico Collins and Will Anderson Jr. Respectively, Collins and Anderson were named the 32nd and 46th best players in the NFL in the league’s annual NFL Top 100 list, and Texans fans hope that this is just the start for their two stars.
If it is — if Collins and Anderson will both remain with the Texans for the next decade or so — then by the time they call it a career, they’ll be at the very top of most categories applicable to their respective positions by the times it’s said and done. But even though both Collins and Anderson are still early on in their careers, they’ve already covered a considerable amount of ground in a short amount of time.
On Sunday night against the three-time defending AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs, both Nico Collins and Will Anderson Jr. can catapult themselves into the top four in Houston Texans franchise history in a pair of categories that do a better job at explaining the impact of these players than I ever could.
With just 59 receiving yards — 13 yards below his season average of 72.3 yards per game — Collins would move ahead of Kevin Walter into 4th place on the Houston Texans all-time receiving yardage list. At that point, Collins would trail only Owen Daniels (4,617 yards), DeAndre Hopkins (8,602 yards) and Hall of Famer Andre Johnson (13,597 yards). Topping Johnson would mean Collins would likely cruise into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first sniff of the ballot. That just may not be in the cards. But assuming Collins sticks around in Houston for the next five years, 2nd place could realistically be in the cards for the former 4th round pick.
On the opposite side of the ball, Will Anderson Jr. is making a significant mark in the Texans record books before his third season in the NFL has even concluded. With one sack of Patrick Mahomes on Sunday night, Anderson would move ahead of former 1st overall draft pick Jadeveon Clowney on the Texans all-time sacks list.
Like Nico Collins, Will Anderson Jr. has an uphill climb ahead of him if he wants to top this list by the time his career is over. With 101 sacks as a member of the Texans, JJ Watt sits comfortably atop this list, nearly doubling up each of the players — Whitney Mercilus and Mario Williams — right behind him in this category.
Right now, Anderson is certainly on-pace to join the NFL’s 100 sack club. Only 25 players in league history have had more than 30 sacks in their first 3 NFL seasons, and Anderson should reach that mark sometime in the next few weeks, if not on Sunday night.