B
Houston Texans
Grand theft in slot 187: the Texans steal Smith and grade out a B.
by Cleveland ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
The Texans did not reach, did not trade up, did not blink. They just waited, and Brashard Smith fell into pick No. 187. Nothing here to lose sleep over; call it a B.
Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. The Presley pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 19 they get a disruptive interior force. Exactly the need they had to hit.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Dylan Fairchild. The roster fit checks out.
A reach for Jake Majors in Round 3, Pick 21; a little patience would have been rewarded. It fills a real need, too.
Daylen Everette at pick 120 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They barely believed it either: Chris Paul Jr. still on the board at the Round 5 slot. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Circle this one: Brashard Smith at pick No. 187 is a fall that decides a draft. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Eli Stowers at the 196th pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Brennan Presley. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.