Texans’ Will Fuller has been the NFL’s most productive go-route receiver

Even if the Houston Texans didn’t have a steppe-engulfing brushfire to put out with quarterback Deshaun Watson, the club would have to make a tough decision regarding receiver Will Fuller in the offseason.

The former 2016 first-round pick from Notre Dame had a career year in 2020 with 53 catches for 879 yards and eight touchdowns. However, he played in just 11 games as his final five were nixed as part of a six-game suspension for a violation of the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy.

The suspension highlights a problem that has plagued Fuller his entire career: availability issues.

Though Fuller has played in 53 games over five seasons, he is still a playmaking force when on the field. According to Pro Football Focus, he is the first in the NFL since 2019 with 12 go-route catches, 450 go-route yards, and five go-route touchdowns.

Watson knows how significant Fuller can be to the offense, and told reporters as much on Nov. 11, 2020, when the team was 2-6 coming off a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“He’s always been valuable,” Watson said. “He’s a guy that’s very explosive. He can make a lot of big time plays, can run routes, can block, can do everything. As long as he’s healthy and he’s on that field, he gives himself, but the whole team a great chance to win the ball game and make big plays.”

According to Fuller, part of what helped him play better with Watson is developing their communication.

“Communication is really just making sure we’re on the same page with what we see and how we want to attack things,” Fuller told reporters on Nov. 20. “Little subtle things I don’t really want to give out what exactly do, but just little subtle things just to make sure we’re on the same page and we’re seeing what the defenders trying to do.”

The Texans will have to see what to do with Fuller first before they can put together a better receiving corps that will already have Randall Cobb and Brandin Cooks under contract.

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Texans Free Agent Profile: What to do with WR Will Fuller?