The Houston Texans whiffed on the opportunity to protect Deshaun Watson in the NFL Draft, setting for Tytus Howard after Andre Dillard came off the board ahead of them.
As the NFL Draft approached, mock drafts began to hone in on one specific prospect for the Houston Texans, Washington State offensive lineman Andre Dillard. The vast majority of analysts projected he’d be available for the Texans to snag at No. 23 to the point where there was little variation.
Then the Philadelphia Eagles traded up and stole Dillard from under the Texans’ nose, picking him at No. 22, one spot above Houston.
With two second-round picks, Houston had plenty of ammunition to move up one spot to secure the future. Deshaun Watson needed a left tackle desperately. When Dillard went off the board the last first-round caliber left tackle was gone.
Houston was sent scrambling. There were some options on the interior line, but nobody on the outside worth spending a first round pick on. They opted for Alabama State tackle Tytus Howard. Not to be confused with elite Alabama tackle Jonah Williams, Howard is a project player most analysts projected for the second round, at the earliest.
Credit is due to the Texans in some regard. They stuck to their board and filled their biggest position of need, but the immediate impact of Howard compared to the ready-to-play skillset of Dillard is a crushing blow. Howard might turn out to be a solid NFL tackle. Houston doesn’t have the luxury of time to wait and see.
This is a big a miss for an organization which only had two major holes entering the draft. If the Texans can’t find a corner in the second round this draft could go down in flames before they reach Round 3.