Before the Houston Texans’ rookies began running drills, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel stood off to the side, flailing their arms back and forth while waiting to haul in a pass.
Noel would connect with the second-round receiver before pivoting his body and mirroring the same approach. Higgins, Houston’s first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, would then toss the pass to the Texans‘ third-round pick.
It felt natural for the newest duo in Houston, almost as if they’d been through the motions before. It’s because they had for the past two seasons at Iowa State, serving as Rocco Becht’s top targets en route to back-to-back bowl appearances under Matt Campbell.
The “Cyclone Bros” now look to keep up that success as teammates once more in Houston, serving as security blankets for third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud.
“We are really similar people on how we approach the game. We both love the game, we are curious within our game and just finding ways to get better,” Noel said. “Then it just really grew to having a connection off the field, finding out we like to fish together and having those conversations. The more we were able to talk and work together, we found those loves that we had in common outside of the game and really just grew our relationship.”
Higgins and Noel aren’t just teammates who become the first duo selected to the same team since Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis to Los Angeles in 2023. They’re productive pass-catchers who thrived off each other’s success.
Like the post to join the petition for Jayden Higgins to keep 81 for his jersey number this season pic.twitter.com/SarDcjwecX
— Jeremy Beadling (@JeremyChuggs) May 9, 2025
Higgins, who began his career at Eastern Kentucky, finished with over 130 catches and 1,900 receiving yards during his two seasons in Ames. Noel, who started three years with the Cyclones, finished with over 1,100 yards during his final season in the slot.
Knowing each other and being familiar with each other’s game is something the Texans believe will benefit the offense early. Higgins should start right away in place of the injured Tank Dell while Noel slipts reps with veteran Christian Kirk.
“A lot of times you get drafted, then you go to a new city in a situation where you’re trying to learn a lot of new things, learn new surroundings and you try to learn new people as well,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans.
Ryans also sees there being a benefit in having a “brother” can help ease the timing between life in college and the pro game.
#Texans rookie wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel @KPRC2pic.twitter.com/RRXqsn76nE
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 9, 2025
“It’s a unique situation for them, but I think both guys will benefit a lot from it,” Ryans said. “Just because they have someone to lean on.”
The Texans return to practice next week for the rest of mandatory camp.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans new Iowa State WR duo ready to continue college success in pros