Five Good Texans Questions with Lance Zierlein

The local draft expert joins BRB for five questions.

Lance Zierlein has been one of the foremost NFL draft analysts for a number of years now. He also happens to be a local radio host with John Granato on 97.5 FM every weekday morning. John and Lance have been a Houston institution on multiple stations for over twenty years. You can also catch him on NFL.com and occasionally on the NFL Network and NFL Radio on SiriusXM.

He was kind enough to take time away from his busy schedule to answer our draft questions with the draft less than two weeks away. Even though the Houston Texans have no first round picks, there is still plenty to pay attention to as Nick Caserio managed to maneuver his way to additional picks in the later rounds. We started our conversation with some general draft philosophy and moved onto the Texans.

Battle Red Blog: In general, where do you stand on the debate between drafting for need and drafting best player available?

Lance Zierlein: The answer should always be that you draft for the best player available at a position of “relative” need (doesn’t just have to be your most pressing need) unless there is a player you believe is special that you can take.

BRB: The Texans have obviously made a lot of moves this offseason. How do you see that impacting their strategy on days two and three?

LZ: The moves the Texans have made will allow them to be more wide open in the draft process whether it is looking for a player who helps the back-end, taking someone on the offensive line to compete for a starting LG spot, adding another weapon on offense (RB/TE) who can create even more pressure on defenses or trading back in order to gain future draft picks and create more freedom next year when you could lose a guy like Nico Collins to free agency.

BRB: Which positions are the deepest in this particular draft and how will that positively or negatively impact the Texans?

LZ: Offensive tackle is the deepest which is one of the reasons I was so adamant about not extending Tytus Howard early. They could have let him play out his final year and then make a decision on what they wanted to do relative to what the tackle class looked like (and it is strong). For now, I think the class is deep at wide receivers in the 2nd/3rd/4th which could create opportunities for the Texans to target one as they prepare for the departure of Diggs after the season. It would also be nice to have a talented WR4 to step in if there is an injury. It’s also a decent G/C draft which gives the Texans some freedom to target the trenches and come away with a future starting LG or depth a G/C since there are a few players who can play both positions in the 3rd/4th and 5th.

BRB: Dameon Pierce struggled this past season. Do you feel he will bounce back or do you see the Texans taking a running back later to backup Joe Mixon?

LV: I see the Texans taking a RB within the first four rounds. I don’t think we will see much of a bounce-back because I feel like the staff has lost confidence in him and he just may not be a great fit for the amount of wide zone they want to run.

BRB: While the Texans are not in the market for a quarterback, most fans are interested in the position. How would you rank the quarterbacks coming out this year?

LV: 1A. Caleb

1B. Jayden

3. JJ McCarthy

4. Drake Maye

5. Bo Nix

6. Michael Penix

We want to thank Lance again for taking the time to answer our questions as he does last minute evaluations for his own draft board and profiles. You can catch his mock drafts on NFL.com and can hear him every day between 7 AM and 10 AM Central time on 97.5, Twitch, or through the website and the podcasts.