
Those spots could not provide complete fulfillment, however.

They entered the 2023 draft with their own pick at No. 1 draft picks, gave the Texans multiple chances to reload with premium players. The Texans compiled the NFL's worst record since 2021 (7-26-1).īut the Watson trade, which included three No. Then more than two dozen women made allegations of sexual misconduct against the quarterback, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns in March 2022. Watson asked to be traded, vowing to not play for the Texans again. The Texans spent two years in the quarterback wilderness after Deshaun Watson's final game with the organization following the 2020 season. "The decisions that we make," Caserio said at the post-draft news conference, " what we feel is in the best interest of the organization." 33) and first- and third-round picks in 2024 - in the last available moments to circumvent what would have been an agonizing choice. The Texans didn't fool the world they bid an exorbitant price for No.

What appeared to some to be a brilliant smokescreen, and to others a tightly held secret plan, was instead a genuinely fluid situation until the moments before the Texans picked Stroud, based on ESPN reporting in the days since.

But the Texans were still trying to reconcile their love for Alabama pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. 1, clearing the runway for Houston to make its decision. It had been widely reported the Carolina Panthers would select Alabama quarterback Bryce Young at No. Neither, as it turns out, did the Texans. TWO HOURS BEFORE the NFL draft started last week, no one outside of Houston knew what the Texans would do with the No.
