Right out the gate, the Texans did something only Daniel Jeremiah foresaw, a true rarity drafting at #2 and trading up for #3. Houston selected their QB of the future at 2 in CJ Stroud, and then immediately traded up to avoid missing out on the blue-chip EDGE prospect most commonly linked to them, Will Anderson. In order to pull this off, the Texans needed to give up roughly three first-round picks (#12, #33, a 2024 1st) and a 2024 3rd, but this was the exact move the Texans needed to make on draft weekend.
With new head coach Demeco Ryans entering the fold, the Texans continued to build a new and competitive culture. Coming away with two of the top four prospects in the draft, according to The Sunday Slate big board, is a huge W for Houston.
Although Juice Scruggs and Tank Dell were pretty big Day 2 reaches on our big board, the Texans got incredible value with each of their remaining five draft picks on Day 3. The culture that guys like Stroud and Anderson will inject into Houston, alongside last year’s 1st rounders (Stingley and Green), should translate to job security for first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans.
I love when teams stack multiple draft picks at the same position group, so expect Anderson + Horton, Scruggs + Patterson, and Dell + Hutchinson to turn into playing time competitions. Dell and Hutchinson have the biggest contrast in play styles, so both guys could conceivably see the field at the same time in a wide-open receiver room.
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