Anyone paying actual attention to the Houston Texans — readers of this site — understood the team wouldn’t exactly use all 12 picks ahead of the 2023 NFL draft.
General manager Nick Caserio has shown a propensity to build packages from picks to take players, and even hinted as much in Thursday night’s presser.
Houston started out with Nos. 65 and 73 overall, both in Round 3.
The Texans packaged Nos. 65, 188 (Round 6), and 230 (Round 7) overall to the Philadelphia Eagles to take center Juice Scruggs with the second-to-last pick of Round 2.
Houston then packaged No. 73 along with No. 161 in Round 5 to move up to take receiver Tank Dell at No. 69 overall in Round 3.
The relatively modest compensation still left Houston with the same number of picks, though they lost nearly a full round of positions later in the draft. Nonetheless, the selection of Dell with the 69th pick should prove to be a boon for the team’s rebuilding offense, which will gain a homegrown legend who played for the Houston Cougars.
