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The Houston Texans are not a very good football team.
In fact, some may tell you that the Houston Texans have never been a very good football team.
But they’re trying to change that, and it starts with the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Texans made waves during the draft when they used the No. 2 overall pick on Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud before trading back up to No. 3 and drafting Alabama defensive end Will Anderson.
Depending on where you looked, some analysts had Stroud and Anderson as the top two prospects in the entire draft. It was a massive swing for the fences.
But for a while, it appeared it wouldn’t happen.
Reports leading up to the draft stated that Houston would not take a quarterback No. 2 overall and that Anderson or Texas Tech defensive end Tyree Wilson would be the selections.
On draft night, however, the Texas pulled a swerve and selected Stroud, who starred for two seasons as the Buckeyes’ starter.
That sparked speculation that maybe the call had come down from on high with owners Cal and Hannah McNair telling them to selected a quarterback.
Cal McNair now denies those allegations.
“Hannah and I don’t make the picks. We’ll make it clear there,” he told ESPN. “We have a great group of scouts led by Nick [Caserio] and James Lippert, and they did a lot of work on the draft board, and then they followed that on draft day, and they moved up when they saw the value was there and moved back.”
McNair wanting a quarterback while everyone else wanted Anderson would explain the massive trade up to No. 3. Fans and media members alike were stunned by how much Houston was willing to give up to get Anderson. But if he was the team’s target at No. 2 all along, it makes more sense.
Whether McNair is telling the truth or not, it appears both sides left the draft happy,