The 87th annual NFL Draft is upon us, and our local football team actually gets to take part in the early rounds for a change. For just the 2nd time in the last 5 drafts, the Texans will have selections in both the 1st and 2nd rounds. Deals for Deshaun Watson, and later, Laremy Tunsil, kept the Texans out of those rounds in 3 of the last 4 drafts. Watson, of course, is no longer a Texan (traded to the Browns). Tunsil, who looked to be wanting out when he missed the last 12 weeks of the season with a thumb injury that should have only kept him out 4-6 weeks, has restructured his contract, so it looks like he will be back for at least 1 more season.
The Texans do stay put at #3, and with the 3rd pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Texans select LSU CB Derek Stingley Jr. In 2019 (3 seasons ago) Stingley was a stud for the national champion Tigers. Not only playing in, but starting all 15 games as a true freshman, Stingley was 1st team All-American, and tied for the 5th most INT in the nation (6), including 2 in the SEC Championship game against Georgia. Stingley, however, has only played in 10 games since that 2019 season, and doesn't have a single INT since. A foot injury had Stingley playing in just 3 games last year.
So with the #15 pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Texas A&M OG Kenyon Green. Green is from the Houston area (Humble) playing at Atascosita High School. The Texans do address the trenches with this pick, so that's good, but Green, despite some experience at tackle, is a guard, so he won't be Laremy Tunsil's replacement if/when that time comes.
Last year the Texans had the 3rd overall pick in the draft, but that pick belonged to Miami because of the Tunsil deal. This year the Texans again find themselves with the 3rd overall pick, and they actually still have the rights to this one. They also picked up the #13 overall pick when Watson was dealt to the Browns. For the 1st 3 rounds the Texans found themselves with 5 picks in the 1st 80 selections. That's the same amount of picks they made in the entire draft last year, where they only had 1 pick in the 1st 80 (#67 - Davis Mills).
This is the 1st time in team history that the Texans have gone into the draft with two 1st round picks. They have made two 1st round selections before (2004), but they traded up during the draft to get back into the 1st round after taking Dunta Robinson with their #10 pick. They gave up 4 picks in the same draft (2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th) to move up to #27 to take Jason Babin, who never amounted to much. Yeah, they were making dumb moves back then too.
This is GM Nick Caserio's 2nd draft with the Texans. His 1st year with the Texans was more of a come in and cleanup the mess that was left for him sort of situation. He didn't have a pick in last year's draft until the 3rd round, and the Texans only ended up making 5 selections last year. With a full arsenal of picks this year, including two 1st rounders, in my opinion, this is the official start of the Texans rebuild. Of course, don't say the "R" word around Caserio.
A lot of speculation on what the Texans would do with their #3 pick. Would they keep it, trade back for more picks, or even try to move up to #1 or #2? The latter seemed the least likely, but you never know with the Texans.
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| Derek Stingley Jr - LSU |
The Texans do stay put at #3, and with the 3rd pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Texans select LSU CB Derek Stingley Jr. In 2019 (3 seasons ago) Stingley was a stud for the national champion Tigers. Not only playing in, but starting all 15 games as a true freshman, Stingley was 1st team All-American, and tied for the 5th most INT in the nation (6), including 2 in the SEC Championship game against Georgia. Stingley, however, has only played in 10 games since that 2019 season, and doesn't have a single INT since. A foot injury had Stingley playing in just 3 games last year.
Stingley has outstanding speed, explosiveness and ball skills, well, if you're going by his game tape from 3 years ago, that is. The last 2 years, there's been flashes. Again, last year he only played in 3 games because of his foot injury. That foot injury, by the way, was a Lisfranc injury, which he's had surgery on. If Lisfranc sounds familiar, it's what ended Matt Schaub's season in 2011, the one year the Texans might have actually been Super Bowl contenders.
Stingley did not participate in any drills at this year's NFL Combine, but he was able to work out earlier this month at the LSU Pro Day, where he showed he still had the blazing speed, running a 4.37 40.
Most of the more trustworthy "experts" I look to have Stingley as a potential boom or bust. If he finds his 2019 form, he could turn out to be something special. If he's what the tape has shown the last couple of seasons, inconsistent finding the ball and lackadaisical in coverage, this will be a big miss by the Texans.
I already think it may not have been the wisest selection at 3rd overall, considering the talent available at that spot. A trade up from their 13th selection, to get into the 8-10 range, may have been a better spot to take Stingley, and even then, giving up picks to make that move may have not been worth it either, but 3rd overall seems to be a reach to me. I'm not sure Stingley was the best CB on the board (Sauce Gardner), never mind passing on the 2 big o-linemen (Ickey Ekwonu, Evan Neal).
So personally, I'm not too pleased at all with this pick. And part of it is because I know the Texans have to get better in the trenches if they're truly going to elevate to being contenders. And let's be clear, it's the pick and who was still available, not necessarily the player that I have an issue with. That said, Stingley will have to find that 2019 form for this pick to be worth it. Again, he could be a Pro Bowl/All Pro at some point, but you just had better talent on the board and passed on it for a guy that likely would have gone at the back end of the top 10 and is coming off a foot injury.
So the Texans go a little on the risky side with what they did at #3, but at least they have another pick at #13. Well, that was before Caserio trades that pick to the Eagles. The Eagles move up 2 spots to take the Texans pick at 13. The Texans will now have the #15 pick that the Eagles vacated, and the Texans also receive a 4th round pick (#124) and two 5th round picks (#162 and #166). That still gives the Texans two 1st rounders, their 2nd rounder, two 3rd rounders, three 4th rounders, and now three 5th rounders. I'm guessing Caserio will use a few of those picks to move up at some point.
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| Kenyon Green - Texas A&M |
So with the #15 pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Texas A&M OG Kenyon Green. Green is from the Houston area (Humble) playing at Atascosita High School. The Texans do address the trenches with this pick, so that's good, but Green, despite some experience at tackle, is a guard, so he won't be Laremy Tunsil's replacement if/when that time comes.
Green started all 13 games for the Aggies in his freshman season, all at RG, and made the SEC All-Freshman team. In 2020, Green was moved over to LG. Last year Green started games at 4 positions on the o-line (2 @ RT, 1 @ LT, 2 @ RG and 7 @ LG), and still made the AP 1st team All-American team. His starts at tackle were not because they were just moving him up and down the line. It was because of injuries at those positions. Most of the bad tape on Green comes from the few games he played at either tackle position. Green is a guard and at guard the tape shows he's pretty top notch.
If nothing else, Green should help improve the Texans run game because dude is a bulldozer. The 6'4" 323 pounder can move defenders against their will and has the patience and control to connect on the 2nd level, according to one expert. Something the Texans have been missing for some time. Green has the base and power to wall off pass rushers, but his instincts in pass pro could use some improvement. Green also has a bit of an issue with holding penalties. Hopefully something coaching can fix.
Green should be a starter on day 1, especially on this team. Trusted experts think he will be a really nice player by year 2 at the latest, which should be around the time the Texans should be becoming contenders again...hopefully.
This is a pick I can get down with. It's not one of the studs they could have gotten at #3, and like I said, he won't be Tunsil's replacement if he's a cap casualty next year, but Green is a solid player and he does fill a need, particularly on the interior o-line. This could finally get Tytus Howard out to RT, where he should have been since he was drafted in 2019. It could also mean Max Sharping's time is coming to an end.
So that will take care of Day 1 for the Texans. A day the Texans haven't been a part of in 3 of the last 4 drafts. Even though I personally was not pleased with the #3 pick, it did address a need. Of course, with a team like the Texans, there's needs all over the place. With the pick they got for Deshaun Watson, they move back 2 spots, pick up 3 extra picks, and grab a solid interior lineman, another need. And if nothing else, the Texans add 2 players from the vaunted SEC, the most talented conference in the nation, considering 12 players from the SEC were drafted in the 1st round, 5 more than the conference with the 2nd most.
Day 2 will start with the Texans having 3 picks (1 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd), and it gets started early as the Texans will have the 5th pick of the 2nd round. And still plenty of needs.
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