How the Texans are adjusting to the loss of Stefon Diggs as they wait for final clarity on his medical outlook, a right knee injury

HOUSTON — The Texans' offense was already adjusting to life without Nico Collins when he strained his Achilles tendon and the NFL's all-time receiver yardage leader and $75 million wide receiver was placed on injured reserve.

Now the Texans must prepare for Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs not being in the lineup for a road game at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets on Thursday night.

The Texans are awaiting final clarity on Diggs' medical outlook for the remainder of the season after he injured his right knee in a non-contact game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. There are serious concerns about Diggs and fears that he may be out for the season, with multiple sources predicting a worst-case scenario of a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

He underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan and immediately went to the hospital following his injury on Sunday. The Texans and Diggs are considering their medical options and have not announced his status. According to sports medicine experts, the best-case scenario for Diggs would be a torn meniscus, which would still sideline him indefinitely, depending on whether the injury requires surgery.

“For Diggs, we’re still evaluating where he’s at,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday.

Diggs obviously won't play against the Jets and he may not play again this season, but that's still being decided and hasn't been determined yet.

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Diggs was voted team captain by his teammates and established himself as a leader in the locker room. The players are taking the injury seriously.

“We don’t like it at all when our players go down,” said Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, whose locker is just a few points away from Diggs. “Hopefully he’s okay. We hate to see our brothers fall. We put so much into this game; You hate to see it. It’s happening.”

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Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowl player acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Bills this offseason, walked straight to the locker room under his own power.

“Our prayers go out to Stef,” Texas Pro Bowl quarterback CJ Stroud said before the injury was diagnosed. “You know him, you know that God doesn’t make mistakes. So I hope he's okay. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I’m praying for him and hope he starts to get better.”

Diggs caught five passes for 81 yards, including a 49-yard reception, on nine scores, in one of his bigger games since joining the defending AFC South champions.

“I didn’t really see what happened,” running back Joe Mixon said. “I just saw my brother get knocked down.”

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With Collins out for another game and sources expecting him to recover from a hamstring injury in the Nov. 10 game against the Detroit Lions after recovering quickly and running 20 mph in practice, the injury represents Diggs represents a major setback for the Texans. They will rely heavily on wide receiver Tank Dell.

Diggs leads the Texans with 47 catches and is second to Collins with 496 yards and is tied with him with three touchdown catches. Before this injury, he was on pace for 100 catches and 1,000 yards.

Without Diggs and Collins, Dell, Xavier Hutchinson, Robert Woods and John Metchie III are the Texans' best wide receivers.

Dell caught four passes for 35 yards on four targets, including a touchdown while recovering from a no-catch game against the Green Bay Packers. Tight end Dalton Schultz caught four passes for 52 yards on six scores. Running back Joe Mixon had four catches for 32 yards. Metchie had three catches for 29 yards, Woods had two catches for 18 yards and Hutchinson had a 19-yard reception.

“I've been praying for him to get better,” Dell said of Diggs' injury. “I texted him and called him. Man, that's the name of the game. This is my brother. I just pray that whatever happened is a small thing and nothing crazy and he gets out.”

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The Texans are 6-2 and rightfully haven't played their best football yet.

“We’re fine,” Dell said. “We all know that things can be much better. We know what we are capable of. I know we harp on this every week in these interviews, but the sky is the limit for this team. We have to continue to put all the pieces together.”

Dell caught seven touchdowns as a rookie before breaking his fibula. After recovering from that injury, the former third-round draft pick from the University of Houston suffered a gunshot wound as an innocent bystander in a mass shooting at a party in his home state of Florida. He has once again made a full recovery, but he has gotten off to a slow start in his second NFL season.

Dell has 24 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns in eight games, averaging 9.5 yards per catch and a long reception of 23 yards.

Dell hasn't performed as well as he did in his rookie year, when he was on pace for 1,205 yards before breaking his leg in December. Last year he averaged 70 yards per game through Week 13, but this season he's only averaging 32 yards. He scored his second touchdown and rushed for 35 yards in the Texans' win on Sunday against the Colts. His targets are also way down with the addition of Diggs.

Dell is expected to be heavily involved against the Jets, including cornerback Sauce Gardner.

“Yeah, I think he had a great attitude at the start of the week, he was getting better and better, he was taking his chances and I thought he did great,” Stroud said. “He ran a lot of good routes today. Me and him are really close. We just want to feed each other. It was just good to get our mojo going again. I’m just super proud of him, of what he’s accomplished, and he’s going to have to make really big strides for us.”

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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com