Houston Texans Fantasy Football 2021: What to Remember

This might shock you but the Houston Texans turned out to be terrible this season! It seems as though trading all of your good players, except your star quarterback who desperately wants out, has numerous sexual assault allegations against him, and who didn’t play a snap this year… is a bad process! The Texans were bad, but at least they’re emerging from the Bill O’Brien Era with their head held high(ish) and a few pieces to build around. What should we remember from this dumpster fire of a squad as we head into 2022 fantasy football drafts?

Heading into the draft season, Brandin Cooks was a cause of significant consternation. People didn’t want to believe that his talent would win out because the Texans had a mess at quarterback, with Tyrod Taylor and Davis Mills. But, it turns out it doesn’t matter who throws Cooks the ball this year, he simply produced. Why? Probably because he had a 27% target share, a 38% air yards share, and 20% of their red zone targets. For a long time, Brandin Cooks was that offense, and that should only take a slight back in 2022. The Texans have Nico Collins waiting in the wings (more on him later), but the rest of the team is a mess, so I don’t expect much to change for Cooks in 2022.
Rex Burkhead didn’t get a lot of opportunities to produce for most of the year, but the Texans inexplicably turned the ball over to him in the last five games of 2021. In those games, Burkhead averaged double-digit touches, including 3.2 catches per game, and 81 yards per contest. Given that it’s the Texans, he scored just twice in the five games. But, it represents the first five-game stretch of double-digit touches for Burkhead in his nine-season career.
The Texans turned the ball over to Burkhead this season because David Johnson completed his backslide into mediocrity. David Johnson inexplicably hovered around a 50% roster rate, despite being an active detriment to most fantasy football rosters that had him. David Johnson had zero top-24 PPR weeks this season and notching double-digit fantasy points just three times. His big week, where he ranked RB25? Week one: 3 carries, 3 catches, 28 total yards, and a score. Against the Jaguars. Just remove him from all your draft boards in 2022. He’s done.
The Texans spent one of their third-round picks on Nico Collins, and some in the fantasy football community immediately fell in love with his 6’4”, 215-pound frame. In the end, he had just six red zone targets all year, and one touchdown. In fact, the production opportunity wasn’t there all season long. Collins had more than five targets three times, and more than 70 air yards three times, as well. There just wasn’t any opportunity there.
The Houston Texans, in the end, had exactly one player who turned in a fantasy-relevant season (a top-18 QB, top-36 RB, top-54 WR, or top-18 TE). It was Brandin Cooks, who finished as WR18. With just one player in the fantasy-relevant discussion, they tied for the lowest rate in the league (with the Cleveland Browns, who had just Nick Chubb).