The Houston Texans gave away the No. 1 overall pick with their 32-31 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Chicago Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings, and thus finished with a worse record than Houston: 3-14 to 3-13-1. The Bears’ tiebreaker over the Texans from Week 3 was immaterial as Houston had the better overall record.
According to Trevor Sikkema from Pro Football Focus, that loss of the No. 1 overall pick costs the Texans in his latest mock draft. Houston, paranoid the Colts will try to jump them to go to No. 1 overall and take Bryce Young, work out a deal with the Bears to jump back to the top spot in April’s draft.
One commentary about mock drafts that involve trades for the No. 1 overall pick is they don’t have any concept of compensation. The PFF mock draft at least has Houston trading their proprietary Round 1 (No. 2 overall), Round 2, and 2024 Round 4 selections for the top pick overall. According to the Drafttek trade value chart, the Texans would be overpaying by 180 points just on the No. 2 and No. 33 overall picks alone. The draft value chart does not take into account how much picks in future drafts cost, which means the Texans overspend even more for the chance to take Young.
The Texans use No. 12 overall to take TCU receiver Quentin Johnston.
He’s a good vertical receiver who can provide plenty of explosive plays. Plus, he moves well for a bigger receiver and is dynamic enough to rack up yards after the catch. The Texans’ pass-catching group looks barren right now, especially if Brandin Cooks remains disgruntled. They’d need all the help they can get.
The Texans would not pick again until Round 3 where the club has Nos. 65 and 73 overall.
