Dreams and Nightmares: Texans 2022 Draft

Seen my dreams unfold, nightmares come true.

Imagination. It’s the stuff of creativity and chaos. It inspires the greatest optimism and creativity, but can also lead to spiraling what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. No other event during the football season inspires such fanatical delusions as the NFL Draft.

In one weekend a franchise’s future is altered by the decisions of their general manager. A successful draft can propel the team to new heights or plummet them into years of rebuilding.

For the Texans, they have 11 picks to take their first steps towards rebuilding the franchise. I personally think the Texans should Go All In On Defense in the first three rounds and focus on immediately rejuvenating the defense. However, that is less likely than David Johnson getting more than five yards on a rush attempt.

While this draft will set the foundation for the next era of the Houston Texans, One can dream of all the possibilities in this draft. There’s experienced, high-impact players throughout the draft at a level the league hasn’t seen in years. Yet the fears and concerns that accompany any draft are present this year as well. Can the Texans truly capitalize on the wealth of draft capital they’ve accumulated this past offseason?

Increased opportunity raises the water level for the Texans to either sink to new depth or rise to new heights. And here are some of the highs and lows surrounding the speculation heading into the Texans draft.

Nightmare: Texans reach on high-upside WRs Drake London or Jameson Williams whose injuries never heal correctly

Dream: Texans trade OUT of the third overall pick, add another first round pick next year (making that three), and still land several top-tier athletes such as Kyle Hamilton, Sauce Gardner, and Jameson Williams

Nightmare: Texans draft defense at three, Charles Cross isn’t available at 13, and Tyler Linderbaum, Kenyon Green, Zion Johnson, and Bernhard Raimann are all selected before the 37th pick

Dream: Texans pass up on injury prone receivers for more consistent receivers later in the draft. There’s plenty of depth at this position without too many immediate all-world stars as last year. Selecting two mid round WRs wouldn’t be a bad move

Nightmare: Texans select a QB AND RB on Day 2. That would be two non-immediate starters the Texans would draft without solving other legitimate needs for the team

Dream: Texans comibine several of their fifth and sixth round picks and move up in the draft to select an athletic offensive weapon

Nightmare: Texans repeat 2018 draft and select two underwhelming tight ends. But, do expect the Texans to draft a tight end (or two) in the draft

Dream: Texans find a suitable backup QB late in this draft. Please oh please don’t draft him in the first three rounds. Give me a Jack Coan, Cole Johnson, or for fun D’Eriq King (fun fact, I played against him in high school, that’s how many years he’s been in college.

Nightmare: Texans don’t address the interior offensive line until Day 3

Dream: Texans find a gem of a running back between one of the dozen SEC running backs and add him to the offense. Give me Isaiah Spiller from A&M

Nightmare: Texans trade Brandin Cooks for a draft pick, but it’s a fourth round pick

Dream: Texans are patient and select a top-5 tight end in the third round who is a perfect fit for new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton’s offense

Nightmare: Texans draft Derek Stingley Jr., but he becomes disillusioned with a long rebuild, never buys into the team, and requests a trade after his third season

There’s plenty of other dreams and horrors to be had, and what’s worse is that we can’t even fathom the reality that will take place next week. All we do know is that the Texans have an opportunity. What they do with it will be completely indicative of the competence of the front office.