Texans Signing WRs Sterling Shepard & Zay Jones

Update:

According to Mike Garafolo, the Texans are signing WRs Sterling Shepard and Zay Jones following Friday’s workout. 

The Houston Texans officially hosted WRs Sterling Shepard, Josh Reynolds, and Zay Jones for workouts on Friday, per the NFL Transactions wire. 

Jeremy Fowler reported today that Housto is conducting workouts for free-agent wide receivers, with Reynolds and Jones on the team’s radar. 

This comes after WR Jayden Higgins suffered a season-ending torn ACL this week and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. 

Aaron Wilson also reported that Houston is exploring the trade market at receiver and named Patriots WR Kayshon Boutte and Ravens WR Rashod Bateman among the potential targets. 

Shepard, 33, is a former second-round pick of the Giants back in 2016. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $5.944 million rookie contract when he agreed to a four-year, $41 million extension that includes $21.3 million guaranteed. 

Shepard was set to make base salaries of $8.475 and $9.475 million in the final two years of his deal, however, the two sides agreed to a reworked deal that made him a free agent in 2023.

The Giants opted to bring him back on a one-year deal in 2023. After playing out that deal, he signed on with the Buccaneers this past summer. He was among the final roster cuts coming out of training camp before re-signing to the practice squad.

From there, the Buccaneers brought Shepard back on a one-year deal for the 2025 season. 

In 2025, Shepard appeared in 13 games for the Buccaneers and caught 39 passes for 371 yards receiving and one touchdown.

We have him included in our Top 100 Available 2026 NFL Free Agents. 

Reynolds, 31, was drafted by the Rams in the fourth round in 2017 out of Texas A&M. He played out the final year of a four-year, $3.04 million rookie contract and made a base salary of $735,000 in 2020. 

Reynolds signed a one-year deal with the Titans for the 2021 season before landing with the Lions in 2022. Detroit re-signed him to a two-year, $12 million extension.

He was testing the market again before signing a two-year deal with the Broncos. The Broncos placed Reynolds on injured reserve before eventually cutting him. He was later claimed off waivers by the Jaguars.

Jacksonville cut him in 2025 and he caught on with the Jets. 

In 2025, Reynolds appeared in five games for the Jets and caught three passes on five targets for 21 yards. 

Jones, 31, is a former second-round pick of the Bills back in 2017. He was in the third year of his four-year, $6.77 million contract that includes $4.3 million guaranteed when Buffalo traded him to the Raiders in exchange for a 2021 fifth-round pick. 

Jones made a base salary of $1.33 million in the final year of his deal and was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent before the Raiders opted to re-sign him.

From there, the Jaguars signed Jones to a three-year, $24 million contract back in 2022. He was entering the final year of that deal when the Jaguars released him. 

The Cardinals signed Jones to a contract in 2024, and he then re-signed with the team on a one-year, $4.4 million deal for 2025.

In 2025, Jones appeared in eight games for the Cardinals and caught 12 passes for 183 yards.