Houston Texans general manager will probably rebuild the team over 2023. However, 2024 represents an opportunity to turn the team into contenders.
Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio has been adept at turning nothing into something with the haul of draft picks the club has through the 2024 NFL draft.
Forget 2023 — the year after that has great draft capital as Houston will have two first-round picks, four top-100 selections, and a total of 10 selections for the draft, which will be held in Detroit.
The Texans entered the 2022 draft with the most selections with 13. However, Caserio managed to build packages with the picks to take nine players to infuse talent into the roster.
If Caserio already has 10 draft picks lined up for a draft that won’t even take place until two years from now, who knows how much more capital he will assemble?
The 2024 draft picks also are a chance for Houston to launch themselves into the contender category. Presumably the Texans should be able to complete the rebuild by the end of the 2023 season.
Just as Caserio is able to build packages to take specific draft prospects, he can use the 2024 picks to target specific veterans who could elevate the roster. If a salary cap-strapped team knows they can’t afford to pay their All-Pro talent, who may be in the final year of his contract, Caserio will have the picks and the cap space to acquire the veteran and give Houston another shot in the arm.
Coach Lovie Smith and the coaching staff have been citing the Cincinnati Bengals as the model for a quick turnaround, but even their success was attributed to doing it the Los Angeles Rams’ way: acquiring proven veteran talent. Homegrown talent can only carry a team so far. At some point, the front office has to take a chance and bring proven veteran talent to the roster to push the team over the top.
The Texans, thanks to Caserio’s draft-pick-flipping, will be able to target proven veterans in 2024.
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