We are under a week away now from NFL free agency, and the Houston Texans have quickly become one of the discussed teams in the league, on the heels of two significant trades on Monday. Those trades have set off a chain of speculation around the league, with folks wondering what Nick Caserio has up his sleeve next.
As we recapped yesterday, the team sent right tackle Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns for a fifth round pick in next month’s NFL Draft. Later that morning, the team sent a fourth round pick this year, a seventh round pick next year, and guard Juice Scruggs to the Lions for running back David Montgomery.
Applying a firm report card to these deals is kind of futile, because there are so many more moves to come that will play off of these two trades. For example, the Texans right now have four starting spots on the offensive line open. They’ll obviously fill those, and how they choose to do that affects how we retroactively look at the Howard trade.
For now, though, there is some skepticism over these moves. Below, I am listing the three main ones that I’ve seen:
The Texans didn’t get enough draft capital in return for Howard
As mentioned above, the Texans received a fifth round pick from the Browns, which led to many Texans fans asking “That’s all we could get for our starting right tackle (and sometimes left guard)?” However, the one thing to remember is that the Browns promptly gave Howard a three-year, $63 million contract extension. This would seem to indicate that getting an extension was going to be part of any Howard trade, and this likely significantly truncated the list of possible suitors. In the end, I have no doubt that Caserio shopped Howard all around the league, and the league spoke — he is worth a fifth round pick.
Texan fans don’t trust Nick Caserio to fill the offensive line room
This part is understandable, as Caserio’s first three high picks used on offensive linemen all either busted or are trending that way. In 2022, he used the 15th overall pick on guard Kenyon Green, who was a disaster. In 2023, he used a second round pick on Scruggs, who was a throw-in in the Montgomery deal. Finally, in 2024, he selected tackle Blake Fisher in the second round, and Fisher is closer to being cut than he is to starting for the Texans. The saving grace right now is 2025 second round pick Aireontae Ersery, who projects as the team’s starting left tackle.
The Texans gave up too much for an aging running back
The initial reports on the trade for Montgomery had the Texans sending a 5th round pick to the Lions in exchange for the 28-year-old running back. However, reportedly another team swooped in and upped the ante, forcing the Texans to offer their final package of a fourth round pick, a seventh round pick, and Scruggs to get the deal done. While this feels a little pricy for a back who was forced into a secondary role in Detroit, Montgomery didn’t lose playing time because his level of play diminished. The team wanted to get Jahmyr Gibbs the ball more. Also, Montgomery is on the books for two more years at very reasonable $6 million and $7.5 million salaries. In the end, Caserio would rather give up picks for that price angle than get into a bidding war in free agency for a guy like Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, who will likely get upwards of $13 million per year.