The Houston Texans have posted four wins the past two seasons. That tends to happen when a team doesn’t have a first-round pick the past two drafts and didn’t get to make their initial selection until Round 3 in 2021. Throw in the customary attrition and inadequate depth replacement by the previous regime, and it is easy to understand why Houston is stuck at four wins.
However, the Texans are expected to do worse in 2022 — even with a new coach, two first-round picks, and a second-year quarterback who was responsible for two of their wins last season through 11 starts with a worse roster.
According to Nate Davis from USA TODAY (subscriber only), Houston will finish 3-14 and end up picking No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL draft.
Houston Texans (3-14): They finally appear to be moving beyond Watson’s specter, the franchise recently settling its own rash of lawsuits connected to the former face of the franchise. The focus can now finally turn to football, but retread coach Lovie Smith and promising sophomore QB Davis Mills are still working with a weak hand even as GM Nick Caserio tries to lay a new foundation with his Watson trade bounty. Just not much to lay your 10-gallon hat on here, but the 2023 draft is only nine months away … and Houston might just be picking first.
There isn’t any position on the Texans’ roster that is teeming with depth. The Texans also don’t have a face of the franchise, not since they released defensive end J.J. Watt in the 2021 offseason. There isn’t one position that analysts can point to as upper echelon when compared to the rest of the NFL, and that is what makes Houston a trepidatious pick when looking for improvement.
Mills will have his chance to show Caserio he can be the solution at quarterback. In doing so, it may end up Houston has to find a different answer under center, but they will have the draft capital to do so.