B-
Houston Texans
The Texans did the meat-and-potatoes work well: B-.
by Powerful ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 3 steals
· 5 reaches
The tape said wait; the Texans did not. De'Corian Clark went at No. 127, a good 73 picks before the board was ready.
On value alone, Shipley makes the weekend a net positive. That edge rusher hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
They left with running back solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 23 they get a press-man option on the boundary, and a steal at that. Need was not the driver here.
Payton Wilson at the Round 2 slot jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Leonard Taylor III this early at pick 85. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They liked Malik Mustapha enough to skip the value, taking him in pick No. 123. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, De'Corian Clark well ahead of where he belonged. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A top-tier running back at a bargain, Will Shipley in the 164th overall pick, plain and simple. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Value with a capital V on Blake Watson in Round 7, Pick 19, a genuine coup. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A wild overpay on Tanner McLachlan in pick No. 248, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.