2022 NFL Draft: Week Sixteen Updated Draft Order

All it took was the first kickoff return for a touchdown in twelve seasons, two Brandin Cooks touchdowns, and a partridge in a pear tree for the Texans to beat the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars this past weekend. By doing so, your Houston Texans stepped further from the #1 overall pick in next April’s draft and handed the Glitter Kitties the key to said pick. Oh, and the Detroit Lions helped by beating a Texans-less Arizona Cardinals team in shocking fashion.

While falling further from the top draft pick seems sad on the surface, as Kenneth prognosticated last week, it’s actually a good thing. Wait... winning is actually a... win? In this Twilight Zone era of Texans fandom, that hardly seems right.

Bleacher Report

Projected 2022 NFL 1st-Round Draft Order

1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. Detroit Lions
3. Houston Texans
4. New York Jets
5. New York Giants (via Bears)
6. New York Giants
7. Carolina Panthers
8. New York Jets (via Seahawks)
9. Atlanta Falcons
10. Philadelphia Eagles

Now, Nick Caserio could play his cards right and get a player who, maybe, just maybe, could sort of try to fill J.J. Watt’s shoes. If that’s possible.

However, based on what Caserio has done so far and his pedigree of doing things “The Patriot Way”, he’s far more likely to trade back and collect more picks. How the impending Deshaun Watson trade impacts all this is certainly an x-factor, but for now, we should expect Caserio to trade out of whatever top five spot Houston eventually locks up.

Speaking of Watson, with the Miami Dolphins still rumored as the only team Watson will allegedly waive his no-trade clause for, their first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft is currently slotted at #21. That’s hardly appealing in a trade involving a franchise quarterback like Watson.

Now, if Watson would waive his clause for a team in the Big Apple, both the New York Giants and New Jersey York Jets hold two top-ten draft picks at the moment. If I was the GM of a team in desperate need of a long-term answer under center, I’d give up both of those picks to land a player like Watson in a heartbeat. That doesn’t mean the GMs of the Giants or Jets, especially a year after the drafted Zach Wilson second overall, agree. Let’s face it, I’m just a blogger, not an NFL front office exec. What do I know?

Another team that Watson has seen his name linked to through all this is the Philadelphia Eagles, who currently own the tenth and twelfth picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. While that’s not as appealing as the Giants’ current fifth and sixth spots, it comes down to how these particular general managers crave Watson’s services.

In the meantime, we should all hunker down and count the minutes until the offseason begins. With the Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Not-The-Oilers on the schedule, it’s very likely Houston won’t win another game under head coach David Culley.

That is, if Culley’s career in Battle Red lasts beyond next weekend.