The 86th annual NFL Draft is underway. One of my favorite things about the NFL Draft, especially in this instantaneous social media world we live in now, is the multitude of people on social media who get mad that the picks are announced on platforms like Twitter, before they get announced on TV. It is an incredible phenomenon to me, that really drives home how incredibly stupid a LOT of people are. People literally angry that the picks are posted before TV announces it. First of all, why the hell are you on social media if you're watching the draft on TV? If you don't want picks "spoiled" for you, PUT YOUR DAMN PHONE DOWN!!! Secondly, isn't finding out what the picks are the whole purpose of it all? Who cares where it's coming from, or when? Yet so many get so mad when the pick is announced on Twitter, when it hasn't been announced on TV yet, while at the same time constantly refreshing their Twitter feed for the latest updates. People are so freaking dumb.
Anyway, I share that little piece of amusement because my team isn't even taking part in the draft on it's 1st night, so I need something to write about. For the 3rd time in the last 4 drafts, and now 2 drafts in a row, our beloved Houston Texans are not participating in the Day 1 activities, for they have no 1st round pick....again. And this year they would have had the 3rd overall pick. The 3 times in these last 4 years are also the only times the Texans have not had a 1st round pick in their history. And the reason they aren't participating again this year is because this year's 1st, as well as last year's, was traded to Miami for LT Laremy Tunsil. So for the 2nd year in a row, Tunsil is basically the Texans 1st round pick.
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| LT Laremy Tunsil - Texans |
If the two 1sts and a 2nd weren't high enough of a price to pay to get Tunsil, they weren't finished. The Texans failed to renegotiate Tunsil's contract in bringing him over, and that put them in a position where they had almost no leverage to retain him. That allowed Tunsil to basically write his own check, and without an agent, whom he fired beforehand, Tunsil signed a 3 year, $66,000,000 contract, making him, at the time, the highest paid offensive lineman ever, as far as per year goes.
And the reason they were in a position to entertain paying those kind of prices for a player, was to protect their biggest asset on the team, QB Deshaun Watson. Watson has since made it clear he wants out of Houston, just 4 months after signing a $160,000,000 contract. And this was before the "massage-gate" scandal that has pretty much made it impossible to trade him even if the Texans were willing to. At least this year. So now the Texans have this extremely high priced left tackle to protect what will likely be a carousel of QBs that the Texans will go through the next few years.
Tunsil has been a pretty good player, making the Pro Bowl both years he's been in Houston, and the kind of player you'd want protecting your QB's blindside, but because of the make up of the rest of the team, Tunsil on that offensive line is like being Kelly Leak on the Bad News Bears. Unlike Leak though, Tunsil can't cover everyone's position.
So the Texans ultimately spent a fortune and mortgaged their future for a great player, but because of how the team had been constructed, he really hasn't had an opportunity to be much of a difference maker. But that was the old regime. Maybe the new one can build around him, but by that time, his 3 year deal will be nearing an end and the Texans will have to decide if they're going to pay even more to keep him, or let him walk after all they have already given up for him. Bill O'Brien continuing to bite us in the ass. Of course, they could trade him before then and try to get some value back. We'll see how Caserio ends up playing it.
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| RT Tytus Howard |
The only 1st round draft pick the Texans have actually made in the last 4 drafts now, is RT Tytus Howard, whom they drafted 23rd overall in 2019. Howard's 1st 2 seasons have ended with trips to the IR, having already missed 10 of a possible 32 games. So that's basically THREE 1st round draft picks the Texans have used on TWO tackles, and still having one of the worst o-lines in the NFL. So, of FIVE potential 1st round draft picks in the last 5 drafts, the Texans have Deshaun Watson, Tytus Howard and Laremy Tunsil to show for it. And Watson is already out of the picture for all intents and purposes.
That will take care of Day 1 of the 2021 draft for the Texans. Unless they move up somehow, they will be late to the party on Day 2, missing the 2nd round entirely, and won't be making their 1st selection until the 3rd pick of round 3. And that's if they don't move back from there, which is a strong possibility.
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