(SportsRadio 610) - After squandering an opportunity to secure the top overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft with a meaningless 32-31 over the Indianapolis Colts in the final week of the regular season, the Texans did their best to regain control after losing it all nearly four months ago.
As these things typically go, the truth about what they would’ve done if they hadn’t lost out on the top overall selection may never be known.
You can pretend you know, but that’s all you can do.
The Texans took the consensus, second best quarterback available in the draft, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, and that’s going to have to be good enough.
They followed that selection up by making the night’s first trade, moving up from the 12th pick to No. 3 in a deal with the Arizona Cardinals to take arguably the best player available, selecting Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr.
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The only thing that matters now is that the process has to become about progress.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio echoed that sentiment Thursday night.
“This is a momentous occasion I would say for the player and the individual, because it’s their dream becoming a reality,” Caserio said. “It’s what they’ve worked their whole life for. So, now that the reality is here, now the reality is about work.”
In the most pivotal draft in franchise history, the Texans were bold when they needed to be.
They drafted two cornerstone pieces of their football team when they absolutely had the draft capital to do so, having entered the night with a total of 12 picks, more than any other team.
Caserio acknowledged that he had conversations with teams about movement prior to the official start of the draft, but downplayed the feelings of any urgency to do so.
The Texans still have 10 selections remaining in the draft ahead of day two after having swapped first rounders with the Cardinals to swing the deal to pick Anderson.
The Texans also surrendered this year's 33rd overall pick, a first and third round selection in 2024 while getting back a fourth-rounder for this year.
“The draft is a 50-50 proposition, I mean it’s a coin flip,” Caserio said. “That’s just the reality. There’s nobody that’s any smarter or, you know in my case, dumber. There’s a lot of risk, and your not really sure how it’s gonna go.”
That sort of coy response from Caserio isn’t fooling anyone.
For a guy that talks so much about the need to feel conviction and is deliberate in everything he does, the idea that he believes these top two picks could go either way is nonsense.
However, Caserio is right about one thing.
The real work hasn’t even begun yet.
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
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