2023 NFL Draft Grades: Rating every first-round pick by value
By Kinnu Singh
2023 NFL Draft Grades: Rating every first-round pick by value
2. With the second overall pick, the Houston Texans select…
10. No. 5 in Top 50. QB. C.J. Stroud. player. Positional Ranking: 2. Ohio State. A+
The Texans unfortunately earned their No. 2 overall pick this year after an abysmal 3-13-1 season. After two seasons with Davis Mills, the Texans decided to move on and select C.J. Stroud, a vaunted Ohio State quarterback who was certain to go early in the first round. Stroud is talented, but he’s still experiencing some of the hiccups common for young quarterbacks, such as fully reading the field. Stroud is already slated to be a skilled pro, but he’ll benefit from further development in the NFL.
The only question here would be how well the Texans can make the most of Stroud, as Davis Mills put up promising rookie numbers yet still lost the overwhelming majority of games. If the Texans can turn around their dysfunctional franchise with Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans at the helm, they can certainly get the best out of what Stroud has to offer.
3. With the third overall pick, the Houston Texans select…
player. 10. Positional Ranking: 1. EDGE. Will Anderson Jr.. B+. No. 1 in Top 50. Alabama
If the Texans didn’t trade the No. 6 and No. 33 overall picks for Will Anderson Jr., this would have be an A+ selection. Anderson Jr. is the best player available in the NFL Draft, and any team fortunate enough to land him made a wise choice in snagging him.
Like Stroud, Anderson is poised to transform the franchise, and it means the Texans took the best available offensive and defensive players with their two picks.
But in order to land Anderson at No. 3, they traded their No. 6 pick, their No. 33 pick in the second round (which the Cardinals flipped again and were still able to land BJ Ojulari), and their first-round and fourth-round picks in 2024.
That’s a lot of draft capital, even for someone like Will Anderson Jr. He’s a fantastic player, and it was a necessary trade to make in order to get him, but every draft is still a gamble — and the Texans gave up four rolls of the dice for one player.