In the midst of the Houston Texans' Week 7 loss to the New York Giants, the wide receiver room would see one of their key contributors leave the game early with a toe injury: second-year wideout Jaylin Noel.

Noel would inevitably not return to the game, was said to have been suffering from turf toe from head coach DeMeco Ryans after the game, and was waiting further testing to see just how long he would be sidelined.

And it turns out, Noel will be out for a significant amount of time. The Texans have announced that Noel will be placed on injured reserve due to the toe injury he sustained this weekend against the Giants.

But that's not all. According to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan M. Alexander, Noel's toe injury is expected to be serious enough to sideline him for the rest of the season.

Texans to Be Without WR Jaylin Noel for at Least 4 Weeks

It's yet another tough injury blow for the Texans to sustain to be without Noel for what appears to be the rest of the season.

Houston has seen multiple starters on both sides of the ball deal with extended absences over the past few weeks. That includes injuries to Jalen Pitre, Reed Blankenship, and David Montgomery, and now, the newest issue is within their wide receiver room.

But those injuries are expected to subside within the next few weeks. Noel, however, now seems to have reached the end of what's been a really inspiring second season when he's gotten a chance to be on the field.

Noel has gotten off to at hot start for his second season in Houston, finding his way to become a gradually more involved piece within the Texans' passing attack–– especially for the past three weeks.

On the season, Noel has put together 19 receptions on 23 targets, 331 yards and two touchdowns, while currently leading the NFL in yards per target (14.4).

But now, the Texans will be forced to move forward for the next 10 games on the schedule without him. Noel now joins his draft classmate, Jayden Higgins, on injured reserve while being expected to miss the season; both of whom entered this season expected to make a big leap in terms of their development.

And while Houston does have a deep wide receiver room to bank on in his absence, not having Noel does take away a big-time explosive piece offensively who was just beginning to catch his stride within the passing attack.

Who Will Step Up for Texans Without Jaylin Noel

The silver lining for the Texans in a rough turn of events for Noel is the fact that their wide receiver room is extremely deep compared to where things stood at the start of this season.

They've got Nico Collins leading the way, Xavier Hutchinson and Kayshon Boutte due to remain key parts of the Texans' passing attack, and Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tank Dell are just beginning to catch their stride within the offense within their respective situations.

The two names that remain the most compelling to keep an eye on now that Noel is due to miss the rest of the season will be both of Harrison Jr. and Dell.

While both pass-catchers were extremely limited in Week 7's game plan against the Giants, their usage and involvement should only be expected to increase in the weeks ahead. Harrison Jr. is still learning his way around the Texans' playbook and overall offensive scheme, while Dell just came back for his first NFL game in over 670 days.

So the Texans might be able to navigate the storm offensively, even without one of their biggest bright spots on the offensive side of the ball so far this season. But there's no doubt that losing Noel's explosiveness and downfield ability is going to sting for C.J. Stroud and the rest of the surrounding offense.