Nico Collins Wednesday injury update doesn't bode well for Houston WR's Week 8 status

The status of Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins for the Week 8 game against the San Francisco 49ers is very much up in the air.

Collins suffered a concussion during the Week 7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks that ended his night early. Then, on Tuesday, head coach DeMeco Ryans called the receiver's issue "concerning" in terms of his chances of playing in Week 8.

"We'll see how the week goes. Nico is one of our best players. It's concerning. Some things you can't control and try to do the best you possibly can," Ryans said.

Now, on Wednesday, Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com reports that Collins is not taking part in practice, which is obviously a bad sign for his Week 8 availability.

The Texans will drop their official injury report later in the day, but for now we fully expect Collins to be labeled as a non-participant.

One thing working against Collins suiting up this week is the fact that the Texans have a shortened week by day. That's because they played their last contest on Monday night and their Week 8 game falls on a Sunday.

"Hopefully he'll be OK and we have a short week, but if not we got to just step up in other ways, and, you know, put more on my plate hopefully and try to help us out," quarterback C.J. Stroud said of Collins after Monday night's loss.

Not having Collins would be a disaster for the Texans.

Not only is he Stroud's No. 1 option, but the Texans' offense was already struggling with him in the lineup and things will only get worse without him.

Also, with Christian Kirk uncertain to play (he's not practicing on Wednesday), the Texans will be forced to rely on a slew of wild cards that include Xavier Hutchinson, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.

Look for tight end Dalton Schultz to get absolutely peppered with targets in that scenario.

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