(Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
A team may not have improved more during the NFL Draft than the Houston Texans.
They held the No. 2 and No. 12 overall picks in the first round heading into the draft but had no interest in picking 12th.
After selecting quarterback C.J. Stroud second overall, the Texans traded up to No. 3 to select edge rusher Will Anderson Jr.
Selecting two of the top three players in the draft rarely happens.
But, now Houston has a cornerstone player on each side of the ball that they can build around.
The draft did not just stop after those two picks though.
Houston went on to add plenty more talent on days two and three.
One player in particular that caught the eye of Stroud was wide receiver Tank Dell.
Stroud and Dell worked out with each other at the NFL Combine and Stroud was impressed with the receiver.
According to Chancellor Johnson, Stroud even told the Texans that he would love for them to draft Dell.
CJ Stroud and Tank Dell’s relationship goes back to the NFL combine.
⁰After Stroud was drafted by the Texans, he told the front office he wanted the Houston Cougar wide receiver and they delivered:@Tankdell4 | @CJ7STROUD pic.twitter.com/zqscFluXkc
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) May 2, 2023
That is exactly what the Texans did in the third round.
For Stroud to have the team pick a player that he likes should give him plenty of confidence about how the team feels about him.
For instance, some franchise quarterbacks do not have that much say in who their team drafts.
Being from Houston, Dell could have been a target of theirs all along.
But, giving Stroud a receiver he trusts and wants to play with is a great start to his tenure as a Texan.
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