The Houston Texans used two picks in the 2023 NFL draft to bolster their receivers, but it apparently wasn’t enough.
According to Gordon McGuinness from Pro Football Focus, the Texans still have one of the weakest position groups in the NFL following the draft.
The caveat here should be that the Texans have a collection of wide receivers with potential; it’s just hard to see who you would put your faith in emerging into a force from the group. Between Nico Collins, John Metchie III, Robert Woods, Xavier Hutchinson, Noah Brown and Tank Dell, they don’t have a wide receiver who produced 600 receiving yards in the NFL last season.
With offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik joining head coach DeMeco Ryans in the move from San Francisco, it’s not out of the question that they can scheme up some success here. But on paper, it’s a weak group.
Houston used their 69th overall pick in Round 3 to take Dell, who generated 109 catches for 1,398 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Where the Texans are hopeful to get a steal is with Hutchinson, who general manager Nick Caserio believes his workouts affected his draft stock, not actual on-field production.
“I would say this is a classic example of a guy whose workout didn’t go great, but he’s a good football player, so he falls into that bucket,” Caserio told reporters April 29. “It’s a player the offensive staff thought highly of. As we were repositioning at that point, we were trying to see who are players you had decent grades on that you have some affinity for. That’s why we went ahead and made the pick with Hutch.”
Until the Texans prove it on the field, there is going to be doubts as to their potential, particularly because Houston doesn’t have any household names in their receiver room as in previous seasons.
