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and crazy to think we have a full contingent of picks after moving up to the 3rd overall pick

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This is HUGE

After the dust settled they still have picks for next year and both Stroud and Anderson

Very well done by Nick and Co

IrishAg said:

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Ok, after taking a few days to digest, I have to say, this draft was still crazy, and reading the grades you can see why. Man, you go from site to site and the grades vary wildly depending on who likes what prospect, no consensus hardly anywhere.

So with that said, here's what we got for draft grades

Round 1: No. 2: C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State

Round 1: No. 3 (from Cardinals): Will Anderson Jr., OLB, Alabama

Round 2: No. 62 (from Eagles): Juice Scruggs, C, Penn State

Round 3: No. 69 (from Rams): Tank Dell, WR, Houston

Round 4: No. 109 (from Raiders): Dylan Horton, DE, TCU

Round 5: No. 167 (from Rams): Henry To'oTo'o, LB, Alabama

Round 6: No. 201 (from Vikings): Jarrett Patterson, C, Notre Dame

Round 6: No. 205 (from Bills): Xavier Hutchinson, WR, Iowa State

Round 7: No. 248 (from Eagles): Brandon Hill, S, Pittsburgh

Round 1: after getting over the sticker shock, yeah, I'm fully in support of this move for the franchise. Outside of getting 2 of the best players to improve on the field performance, the amount of excitement this has generated (both inside the fanbase and outside) is a very nice change. Foundational picks for DeMeco on both sides of the ball.
Round Grade A+

Round 2: This was an odd one as we traded back up into the 2nd round, mainly because I think we got caught believing John Michael Schmitz would last longer, and panicked a little bit to make sure we grabbed one of the centers we wanted. It wasn't a bad trade and didn't cost us much, but it was still high for Juice
Round Grade C+

Round 3: This is a very tough one, as this is one of those if you like Tank Dell, this is a great pick, if you don't then the Texans weren't smart for trading up to get someone who would be available later in the 3rd. I don't think Tank is a slam dunk, but I saw multiple publications that had a 2nd round grade on him, so I can't hate the Texans for jumping up (without over paying) and grabbing the guy they wanted. I think again, this was a reflex of making sure they got their guy after the JMS issue in round 2.
Round Grade B-


Round 4: Another controversial round for us, but I think after seeing the rest of the draft it was tempered a lot. I was good with the Eagles trade to reclaim a 3rd next year (and crazy to think we have a full contingent of picks after moving up to the 3rd overall pick). As to the one pick in the 4th round, I honestly didn't know much about Horton, for example I had no clue he lead the Big 12 in sacks. Nor did I know that he was the d-lineman that wrecked Michigan for I think 4 sacks in the quarter final game. He's a former safety who is still learning to play d-line. And was regularly playing end in TCU's 3-3-5 scheme, so seeing him dominate toward the end of the year (again learning to play the position) shows a lot for his upward trajectory potential here under DeMeco. In fact this could be one of those picks in 3 years people look back on and wonder how in the hell this guy went in the 4th round.
Round Grade B+

Round 5: WOW, this is one of the guys I wanted at the beginning of the 4th round, so yeah, how can I knock us trading down to the 5th and still getting the guy I wanted a round and half earlier
Round Grade A+

Round 6: Great value round right here, Love rolling the dice on Patterson, who if we can get healthy could be a starting center or guard in the league. The 6th round is perfect to grab some one like him. Hutchinson was also a steal, crazy production at Iowa State. Regularly dominated in big games for them, where they would just chunk it into the air and he would make a play somehow. Before the combine, probably would have been though of as a high 3rd rounder, maybe 2nd, but had a horrible workout so dropped a lot. But....who cares about workouts if he can continue to just make plays. Again, these are guys that you get and 3-4 years down the road people question how Houston got so lucky in this draft.
Round Grade A+

Round 7: Again, great value, getting a guy in the 7th that had a 5th round grade, means really good special teams and nice depth in the secondary due to speed and explosion capability. And who knows, maybe learning under Jimmy Ward he might turn into a starter at some point.
Round Grade A

Overall we had some reaches, but we didn't get anyone that I questioned after doing some research. So overall I have to give this draft an A-. We reached for some guys, but in the end this is in the A level because we got 2 cornerstones for this team to build around for the foreseeable future.

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I agree with most of this. Really wish they had moved up to get Schmitz in the second...Scruggs seems like a reach in the second, but if he was the best center on their board, so be it.

Wasn't crazy about Horton at the time, but after a little research, he seems like a guy with some upside. To'o To'o and Hutchinson are really good football players who lack elite athleticism...lots of example of guys like that who have good long careers.

Hard to imagine the Texans doing much more in this draft than they did. Caserio moves around a LOT, but I like that they go get the players they want. It's entertaining, too...feels like the Texans might be drafting at any minute.

getting us off post #666

Snake Jazz said:

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Hard to imagine the Texans doing much more in this draft than they did. Caserio moves around a LOT, but I like that they go get the players they want. It's entertaining, too...feels like the Texans might be drafting at any minute.

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Agree, I think if we had made that deal in the 2nd for JMS or Tippman (who I forgot to put in my writeup also went right in front of this pick) instead of Juice at Center this would have been damn near a perfect draft.

And just to go deeper on Juice vs JMS or Tippman....After doing some research it turns out Juice is a great center for a zone blocking scheme (one of his biggest knocks against him is that he would potentially have issues with drive blocking) which is why he had a 3rd round grade. Fortunately zone blocking is what makes this offense go. Also the fact that he battled back from almost dying with a broken back all the way to being a captain and starting for 2 years, means he doesn't have to be motivated to work. Which is a good thing for a young team

My only comment is that I wish we would have traded Cleveland's first round pick next year instead of our own.

Hopefully Demeco will get the team humming and make that point moot with this fall's progress.

Marvin said:

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My only comment is that I wish we would have traded Cleveland's first round pick next year instead of our own.

Hopefully Demeco will get the team humming and make that point moot with this fall's progress.

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Yeah, even though I'm cautiously optimistic for next season, and I could totally see Cleveland having a bad year, I think it's more likely that our pick will be higher than theirs. If we end up having a top two or three pick again, that will hurt. I don't think we will be that bad this year...my guess is our pick will be somewhere around 10 and Cleveland will be somewhere in the 15-20 range.

It would be sweet justice if Cleveland was terrible, though.

Marvin said:

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My only comment is that I wish we would have traded Cleveland's first round pick next year instead of our own.

Hopefully Demeco will get the team humming and make that point moot with this fall's progress.

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It's actually a toss up. Remember we get to play Indy, Jax, and the Titans twice next year and Cleveland gets to play Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati twice. So we were probably thinking that Cleveland will probably be about the same level as us next year with a much more difficult schedule.

Everybody and their dog are predicting us to be 2nd worst just so they can put the narrative of Arizona having the first 2 picks in the draft in their mock draft

mAgnoliAg said:

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Everybody and their dog are predicting us to be 2nd worst just so they can put the narrative of Arizona having the first 2 picks in the draft in their mock draft

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Be nice if Cleveland has a terrible season so we can auction off the #1 to whoever wants one of the top QBs most.

The good news is that Cleveland has a tough division. The Bengals, Steelers, and Ravens are all pretty good teams capable of making the playoffs.

The schedule hasn't been released but we know who we're playing and who they're playing. It would be nice to beat them and help our own draft position.

Their division is tough but they also get some easy games outside their division.

Houston Texans
Home: Colts, Jaguars, Titans, Browns, Steelers, Saints, Buccaneers, Broncos, Cardinals
Away: Colts, Jaguars, Titans, Bengals, Falcons, Ravens, Panthers, Jets

Cleveland Browns
Home: Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Jaguars, Titans, Cardinals, 49ers, Jets, Bears
Away: Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Texans, Colts, Rams, Seahawks, Broncos

I look forward to Watson meeting Mr. Anderson.

Stroud is winning me over big time.

Dude is a leader, a gamer, and not only has he shown he wants to win but he wants to build relationships with these guys right off the bat.

I'm impressed already.

Arizona also may not have traded with us for Cleveland's 1st. They probably think our pick will be better than theirs

We should've found a way to get DHop back from Arizona in that trade.

Texan_Aggie said:

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Arizona also may not have traded with us for Cleveland's 1st. They probably think our pick will be better than theirs

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Everyone except our suddenly extremely positive fanbase thinks the Texans pick will be higher than the Browns. Vegas has the Texans with the longest odds in the league to make the Super Bowl and the Browns are more in the upper middle of the pack. The good news is Indy and Tenn are barely ahead of the Texans whereas the Browns have a much tougher division.

Our expectations for a rookie QB have become excessive. Not to mention a rookie HC and OC. I am very optimistic about what is happening on Fannin over the next 2-3 years but to expect the Texans to be close to .500 this season is a little much.

Yeah no kidding...The Children's Hospital down there is doing some great things.

Not sure what it has to do with the Texans though.

Ag_07 said:

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Yeah no kidding...The Children's Hospital down there is doing some great things.

Not sure what it has to do with the Texans though.

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Well done.

Fannin, Kirby, premed, prelaw, what's the difference......

Here are just the one year Change in wins in the afc south:

2021. 2022
Ten. 12. 7. Down 5
Indy. 9. 4. Down 5
Hou. 4. 3. Down 1
Jax. 3. 9. Up 6

If you think a new coaching staff and a vastly improved roster and a much easier schedule will result in the same results as last year, you don't understand the NFL.

In preseason last year, most people still had the Jags projected to finish last in the whole NFL for the third straight year. The won the division and a playoff game and played KC close in round 2.

LincolnBorglum79 said:

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Here are just the one year Change in wins in the afc south:

2021. 2022
Ten. 12. 7. Down 5
Indy. 9. 4. Down 5
Hou. 4. 3. Down 1
Jax. 3. 9. Up 6

If you think a new coaching staff and a vastly improved roster and a much easier schedule will result in the same results as last year, you don't understand the NFL.

In preseason last year, most people still had the Jags projected to finish last in the whole NFL for the third straight year. The won the division and a playoff game and played KC close in round 2.

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Not a single poster has said the Texans will have the same results as last year. I believe everyone expects them to be better. But, imo, not better than Cleveland for at least this season. And Vegas knows more than board posters.

Vegas also knows what most of the country thinks about the Texans so they play their odds into that.

So Tank Dell was drafted because Stroud wanted him? Interesting.

HOUSTON TEXANS WENT FROM NEARLY NOT DRAFTING CJ STROUD TO TAKING HIM AND HIS SUGGESTED TARGET IN THE NFL DRAFT

EDIT: Looks like Max Power already posted about this yesterday.

No way! This is new information!

I think 6 wins for this years team is about right. I don't see them beating Jax and I see Tennessee tanking. Indy may be good, but I think it all depends on if the league can figure out Richardson or if he continues to improve.

I think the division is positioned for Texas/Jags for the future, though may not be this year.

6 wins is fair at this point. Although I would take the over. Even if they go 3-3 in division, that means 3-8 out of division which seems low. They should beat arizona, Tampa, Cleveland and Denver at home. They could beat Pitt and NO at home. Best chance for a road win is jets, Carolina or Atlanta. Probably not winning at Cin or Balt.

If the Texans add Hopkins or Mike Evans or Kamara, all expected to be traded, I think they raise their floor from 6-7 wins to 8-9.

LincolnBorglum79 said:

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6 wins is fair at this point. Although I would take the over. Even if they go 3-3 in division, that means 3-8 out of division which seems low. They should beat arizona, Tampa, Cleveland and Denver at home. They could beat Pitt and NO at home. Best chance for a road win is jets, Carolina or Atlanta. Probably not winning at Cin or Balt.

If the Texans add Hopkins or Mike Evans or Kamara, all expected to be traded, I think they raise their floor from 6-7 wins to 8-9.

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Trading Evans would put Bucs in an even further cap hell.

The guys on Houston talk radio mentioned Evans, Hopkins and Alvin Kamara as guys likely to be traded soon. If this happens and Evans isn't too expensive, Texans should jump. KC and Buffalo were mentioned as interested teams. The Bucs are gonna join arizona in the race for top pick next year. Tenn, Wash, Vegas and Dallas could also join the race.

Texan_Aggie said:

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I think 6 wins for this years team is about right. I don't see them beating Jax and I see Tennessee tanking. Indy may be good, but I think it all depends on if the league can figure out Richardson or if he continues to improve.

I think the division is positioned for Texas/Jags for the future, though may not be this year.

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I would say 5-9 wins this year depending on how the ball bounces is my guess. Was watching NFL Network and they had their analytics person on, and per the numbers Houston had the highest predicted win increase from their draft class (and only their draft class, not free agency). Per the numbers the draft class should increase our win total by 3.3 next year. So not including free agency analytics is thinking we're around 6 wins, throw in free agency and I could see us sneaking in 1-3 wins on top of that.

To the argument on the Houston pick vs the Cleveland pick with Arizona, our pick will probably be higher, but as a different podcast said, it doesn't matter too much next year because we won't be in the QB hunt. They predicted us losing the 8th or 9th pick and keeping the 10th or 11th pick from Cleveland. With that said, I do think Cleveland has a large collapse potential, so while I do think they will have a better record than us, I think they also have a better potential to just have their season crater if things don't go well at the beginning.

04.arch.ag said:

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to be fair there is literally no difference between the 8/9 pick and the 10/11 pick

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Exactly, that was the point I was going with. It's the reason why I think Houston gave up their own pick. Both motivation from the front office for the players to let them know they have confidence in them and also I think Houston has a better chance of going over their "guestimated" win total and Cleveland has a better chance of going under.