Houston Texans
Unrelated to the Texans, and speaking in general terms, an exec from a team picking inside the top 20 made a comment we regularly hear this time of year.
“Call it pick 20 to pick 40, shake them up and throw them out, they are all similar players,” he said.
Whether or not that is true, execs agreed the 2025 draft should be deeper than the current one, so that acquiring picks next year carried additional value.
These are interesting considerations for the Texans, who traded the 23rd pick with a seventh-rounder to Minnesota for the 42nd pick and a sixth-rounder, plus the Vikings’ second-round pick next year. Houston previously traded its own 2025 second to Buffalo for Stefon Diggs.
The net effect was acquiring Diggs for the short term, moving up in the 2025 second round unless Minnesota outperforms Houston this season, and then living with whatever downgrade comes with drafting Kamari Lassiter at 42 relative to the corners available in the 23rd slot; Philadelphia made Quinyon Mitchell the first corner chosen at 22, before Detriot traded up to take Terrion Arnold at 24, before Baltimore took Nate Wiggins at 30.
“The only issue there is, I would have gone Max Melton (chosen 43rd by Arizona) over Lassiter for his speed and ability to cover,” an exec said.
That could simply be a matter of personal preference.
“Lassiter ran slow, but his tape is really good,” another exec said. “He was one of my favorite corners in the draft. Houston did a really good job overall of adding character with talent. Cade Stover was a good example of that, and so was Lassiter.”
