He opted out of his senior season due to COVID, so he finished with a modest 78 receptions for 1388 yards and 13 TDs over his college career.
With strong connections to the Texans through their coaching staff, Nico was a 3rd round pick of the franchise in 2021.
The team was going through… a lot at the time, not only at the quarterback position, but also in the coaching staff.
He finished both his rookie and sophomore campaign with similarly middling results.
In ’21 he started 8 games and had 33 receptions for 446 yards and a TD.
In ’22 he started 7 games and had 37 receptions for 481 yards and 2 TDs.
It’d be in 2023 that Nico had a breakout year, as he and rookie QB CJ Stroud paired together to be a dangerous combination.
Collins finished the ’23 campaign with career highs in all categories, as well as more than doubled his production across the board.
He finished 2023 with 80 receptions for 1297 yards, a 75 long, and 8 TDs.
NOTES:
The prices have been fluttering down on certified autographs recently, and with the emergence of Nico I wanted to get a few of his long at last into the collection since we just don’t get much love up here in Central Texas. I had originally chosen a Luminance card, but the seller couldn’t find it, so he offered to make it right by sending me the Donruss instead, which I begrudgingly accepted.
