Brian Gaine, Bill O’Brien Discuss Handling The 2018 NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns possess the Texans’ first and second round picks after Houston traded up to draft Deshaun Watson in 2017 and dumped Brock Osweiler last March. Most Texans fans will agree that both trades were worthwhile endeavors, but now Houston is a team with significant holes and an expectation that a shiny, new GM, paired with a seasoned curmudgeon head coach, will find players to fill in those (numerous) gaping holes and right the Texans’ ship in 2018.

Any time a general manager and head coach go into a draft not expecting to make a selection before the second half of the second day, strategies have to change. You’re not likely to get an immediate savior at the 68th pick, but that’s what the Texans will start with.

Over at the Mothership, Gaine and O’Brien discussed the different strategy they’ll have to employ this time around.

Gaine, in his first draft as the Texans’ (or any team’s, for that matter) general manager, emphasized the importance of getting to know all potential players so that he and the Texans can feel comfortable with the men being selected.

For the most part, we want to get to know who they are, we want to get to know what their support system is and we’d like to talk about football as much as we can, but we need to know everything we can to find out about these players so when they come into our building that they’re a good fit for us in the locker room, in the weight room, in the training room, in the meeting rooms and on the practice field. — GM Brian Gaine

O’Brien, who’s been a part of four NFL drafts with the Texans and has a fairly good idea of what kinds of men and players he’s looking for, admitted that there are some time-investment differences between looking at a first-round pick and those in the later rounds.

I think once you get into the middle of the second round all the way through the third, fourth and down the road there, you really have to put your due diligence into the tape, the school visit, bringing them on campus, the Combine interview, how much football does he know, if there were some character questions in the past or some medical questions, you get them answered here or things like that... It’s not like it requires more work, but it’s a little bit more time-consuming than the first-rounders. — HC Bill O’Brien

The Texans currently have eight selections, including three compensatory picks. We don’t yet know if Gaine is a draft-day dealer.

• 3rd Round (68th overall)
• 3rd Round (80th overall, from Seattle)
• 3rd Round (98th overall, compensatory)
• 4th Round (103rd overall)
• 6th Round (177th overall)
• 6th Round (211th overall, compensatory)
• 6th Round (214th overall, compensatory)
• 7th Round (222nd overall)

We know, of course, that this could all change tomorrow, the second the draft starts, or during the draft, but for now, this is what the Texans working with.

Are there are any strategies (I gauge the realism of them) you think we should employ in this draft?