INDIANAPOLIS – One of the most significant scouting combines in Texans’ history starts Tuesday and ends Sunday.
During their six days of scouting and evaluating prospects during workouts and interviews, general manager Nick Caserio and first-year coach DeMeco Ryans must return to Houston with a firm plan about what players they want to pursue in the draft April 27-29.
It’s well-documented the Texans have needs on both sides of the ball. A team that’s won 11 games over the last three years isn’t devoid of talent, but it’s desperate to add more. That’s where Caserio and Ryans come in, and they have to form a solid partnership that will allow them to make the best decisions for the Texans as they enter the third year of their rebuild.
When the combine kicks off Tuesday with head coaches and general managers doing media sessions, Caserio will be on stage at 10:45 a.m. CT. Ryans steps to the podium at noon Wednesday. Some coaches and general managers don’t agree to participate in the media sessions, but Caserio will be front and center for a third consecutive year as the general manager. He won’t have a lot of competition because Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles is the only other coach/GM scheduled at the same time.
Ryans will have a lot of competition when he’s being grilled for the first time as a head coach. At the other podiums will be Dallas coach Mike McCarthy, Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta and Washington general manager Martin Mayhew.
Because Ryans is a first-year head coach who was the hottest candidate on the market, he should attract a lot of attention from reporters outside of Houston who want to hear his philosophy now that he’s reached the pinnacle of his profession.
During his two decades at New England, Caserio learned how to talk a lot and say little. He’ll be asked about the draft and free agency. The Texans have 11 picks, including second and 12th overall. Caserio will have 10 more draft choices, including two first-round picks, in 2024. Because he likes to wheel and deal, odds are that those numbers will change.
The Bears will get a lot of attention leading up to the draft because they own the first pick. Will they keep it and take defensive tackle Jalen Carter or edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., or will they try to convince the Texans and Colts – AFC South rivals – they should trade up to secure the franchise quarterback both are trying to select?
Caserio will have picks to deal if he wants to move up one spot. The key will be does he think there’s a quarterback worth making that kind of move. Alabama’s Bryce Young is the top prospect at his position, and when he’s weighed and measured, it’ll get more attention than any player has received.
Young was listed at 6-0, 194, at Alabama. Scouts think he’ll be a shade more than 5-10 and weigh a little more than 200 because he’s been working with a nutritionist to gain weight for the combine. Young isn’t planning to throw, preferring to wait for Alabama’s pro day.
Caserio and Ryans are expected to scout Young – as well as Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis – extensively. Caserio has a long way to go in the evaluation process, and that’s why the Texans are going to be so interesting.
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Could Caserio stay at No. 2 and still get the quarterback he and Ryans like best? Could he take a defensive player – Carter or Anderson – and try to get a prospect like Levis or Florida’s Anthony Richardson at 12?
Richardson is getting a lot of attention. He’s got everything scouts like – size, arm, speed, mobility, intelligence and leadership ability – but he started only one season in college and had serious accuracy issues. He’s an intriguing player – a boom-or-bust prospect – who needs a lot of refinement.
That means he better go to a team with a good quarterback coach and a system that fits his strengths. No quarterback in this draft has more natural talent than Richardson, but most prospects struggle trying to improve accuracy problems in the NFL. Buffalo’s Josh Allen is the exception.
While the Texans try to figure out what to do with their first pick, they also have to place a lot of scouting emphasis on their other first-round selection. Do they take a receiver to help the quarterback, or do they take a defensive player – a possible pass rusher – 12th overall? It depends on what player is the highest-rated.
You know Ryans would like to enter next season with a new quarterback and a new big-play wide receiver to go with Nico Collins, and, hopefully, John Metchie III returning after the 2022 second-round pick missed his rookie season while undergoing treatment for Leukemia. That would make for some serious improvement in the passing game for new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.
At this point, there are so many questions about what the Texans are going to do in the draft and free agency that Caserio and Ryans can’t answer. That’s what the combine is for – taking the next step in a process the Texans hope will help them show substantial improvement in Ryans’ first season.
John McClain can be heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on SportsRadio 610 and Thursday on Texans Radio. He writes three times a week and does two Houtopia Podcasts for SportsRadio610.com. He also can be read four times a week on GallerySports.com.