2020 NFL Trade Deadline: Trading Texans Plus Draft Picks For Draft Picks

While many believe the only way for your Houston Texans to get back into the first and second round of the 2021 NFL Draft is to trade a big name player for a high draft pick (unlike Bill O’Brien’s thinking of trading big name players for waiver wire guys and overpriced tailbacks), there is another way.

Currently, Houston is sitting on a 3rd round pick, two 4ths, a 5th, three 6ths, and two 7th round picks in 2021. Depending on which draft trade calculator you use, a player’s value can climb in a trade scenario by packaging a draft pick in the deal. For example, a team that’s desperate for a pass catching running back wouldn’t want to give up a third round pick for David Johnson, but add if the Texans sweeten the deal by adding a 4th and 5th round pick, Johnson might be worth a 3rd or 4th rounder to the right team.

Kahale Warring, the Houston Texans’ poster child for Bill Parcells’ definition of potential, could be worth even more if packaged properly with later round picks, especially to a team that relies heavily on athletic tight ends and has the coaching in place to bring the most out of Warring.

Bill Parcells:

Potential just means you haven’t done anything yet.

With guys like Warring and A.J. Moore, both recently activated from IR, the opportunity to get something of value back for them is out there if you package them with draft picks. While trading Will Fuller V is a high profile move, there are plenty of other names on the roster who don’t garner as much attention, but could still help build draft capital and free up cap space for 2021.

• Whitney Mercilus
• Duke Johnson Jr.
• Roderick Johnson
• Keke Coutee
• Carlos Watkins
• Dylan Cole
• Brennan Scarlett
• Vernon Hargreaves III
• Lonnie Johnson Jr.

And more.

If the Texans can get a 7th rounder for Eli Ankou, a guy who never even saw the field in battle red, some clever wrangling could get them further down the rebuild road. Surely, in a pass happy league, some team sees value in Lonnie Johnson or Hargreaves (well, maybe he’s a bad example). Keke Coutee could excel in the right system, as could Duke Johnson Jr. With assets ranging from starters to backups to later round draft picks, the Texans have the ability to make some moves before today’s 3 p.m, CST trade deadline. While Fuller remains under the spotlight of the rumor mill, as with all things NFL, expect the unexpected.

Or don’t, because Cal McNair says nothing big will happen today.

We can still dream. Putting on your Emperor of the Universe hat, who would you move, what package would you put together, and what best case scenario outcome would you target?