If there is one certainty Houston Texans fans can carry into the 2022 NFL draft, it is that general manager Nick Caserio will make trades.
Caserio, who will be running his second draft with the organization, and the first with actual first-round and second-round selections, outlined for the media at the team’s pre-draft press conference on Thursday how he goes about trades.
“I think what you do, kind of what I do, is you look at the teams around you and try to get an idea,” said Caserio. “If you’re going to move back six spots, what’s the cost associated with that? Or if we’re going to move up four spots, what are you giving up in return?”
According to Caserio, the thought process and exercises provide the Texans an opportunity to take in as much information on the fly and reach the best conclusion.
“I think those are things you do on your own just to kind of have an overall awareness and understanding so that the first time you’re talking about a trade up or down, you’re not sitting on the clock with seven minutes and said team calls you and says, ‘Yeah, we’re interested in pick No. 37, here’s what it’s going to take,’ and you’re scrambling around going, ‘Wait a minute, I haven’t really thought about that,” Caserio said. “We try to do some of that now, but you really can’t get too caught up in it because there’s so much that can happen.”
While fans and media may look at the costs associated with wheeling and dealing picks, Caserio believes the trades all revolve around the players.
Said Caserio: “I’d say trades are really player-driven anyways, so a lot of it is going to be based on what you’re looking at, what teams are looking at, and ultimately the decision they’re going to make is going to be what they think is the best for them.”
Houston has six selections in the top-110 of the draft at Nos. 3, 13 (Round 1), 37 (Round 2), 68, 80 (Round 3), 107, 108 (Round 4). The Texans also have selections in Round 6 (Nos. 108, 205, 207) and Round 7 (No. 245).