NFL Draft: Peter King dự đoán Houston Texans sẽ bất ngờ với pick số 2

Peter King đã tuyên bố Houston Texans có thể mang đến cho chúng ta một trong những bất ngờ lớn hơn của Dự thảo NFL với lựa chọn số 2 của họ.

Dự thảo NFL sẽ diễn ra vào tuần này và hầu hết các cuộc thảo luận gần đầu đơn hàng là về tiền vệ, với hai người đặc biệt được chú ý, Bryce Young của Alabama và CJ Stroud của Bang Ohio, những người được nhiều người tin tưởng nhất là hai tiền vệ tốt nhất trong lớp năm nay..

The two teams at the top of the draft are the Carolina Panthers, who haven’t found a solid option at the spot since Cam Newton’s prime days, and the Houston Texans who after two years of seeing Davis Mills’ struggles clearly need to find a solution there as well.

The common belief amongst most reports and mock drafts is that Young will be heading to the Panthers with the #1 pick, which you might think would leave the Texans with the obvious move to take Stroud with the #2 pick. However, according to NFL reporter Peter King, they might have different plans in mind.

Tyree Wilson wins out over Will Anderson Jr. for the Houston Texans?

Writing in his Football Morning in America column in which he ran through his mock draft, King didn’t think that a quarterback was going to be on their minds at the #2 spot, and perhaps more bizarrely, neither was the man that has been ranked by NFL.com as the #2 player in the draft process in Will Anderson Jr.:

I’ve gone back and forth, forth and back, on this pick and this slot. In the end, I think two things: One, GM Nick Caserio trained under Bill Belichick and learned that just because you have a crying need at a position, you don’t force yourself to choose a player you don’t love in order to fill that hole, because you may end up needing to fill the same hole again two years down the road.

Two: The Texans might see Wilson filling the mold of Nick Bosa, a difference-making quick-twitch rusher, more than Will Anderson. Coach DeMeco Ryans loved the impact of Bosa in San Francisco and knows that, aside from quarterback, the hugest hole on his team is at pass-rusher. The rush depth chart for the Texans is putrid. But obviously this pick would be a vote against C.J. Stroud as much as a vote for Wilson.

Things to watch for here: Is there a team, even with all the smoke about Stroud, that would want to trade up for him with Houston or Arizona? And would the Texans risk passing on a quarterback here or with their second pick in the round (12th)? Seems incredible to think Houston might exit the top 10 without a quarterback, flawed though they are. One other point to make here is that Anderson would win over Wilson—who also is recovering from a foot injury—in a vote of 31 GMs if the question was, Who’s the better pro prospect—Anderson or Wilson?

Houston Texans set to miss the obvious?

To miss out on a quarterback with their first selection is one thing, especially if one as talented as Stroud is going to fall into your lap the way it should for them, but to then go after someone who has been rated lower at the position of edge rusher than the other would be something of a shock. If you take a look at the two sets of numbers (Tyree Wilson’s first), it’s obvious which one has been the more productive (both taken from Sports Reference):

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