Input from the players matters to the Houston Texans.
General Manager Nick Caserio and the team are a few days removed from a weekend that saw them execute eight trades and nine player selections. Second overall pick C.J. Stroud, a quarterback from Ohio State, vouched for University of Houston wide receiver Tank Dell, who the Texans took in the third round.
In a recent interview with Texans Radio, Caserio explained how he sought out input from Stroud about Dell.
"When C.J. was here on Friday for the introductory press conference, he finished up and we grabbed him for a few minutes," Caserio said. "We said 'Hey, can you just check on two or three guys? Because there's a few that have reached out to him. Just out of curiosity can you touch base with them and see what they think is going on?' He got back to us and said 'Here's what's going on.' And he was pretty close to being right."
Dell, who electrified at the University of Houston the past three seasons, was the NCAA leader in receiving yards (1,398) and touchdown catches (17) in 2022. In a Saturday interview with Deepi Sidhu, he described his Friday interaction with Stroud.
"He was just asking me about what the other coaches were saying and where they got me projected to go," Dell said. "I was just telling him 'Just make sure they come up and draft me.' I told him, I want to play with him. I told him we'll have fun together for sure. I feel like we going to do our thing. We're going to start winning some games."
For Caserio, it was one more instance he was able to grab information that could help the franchise.
"If you trust the person that's giving you the information, then you're going to utilize that," Caserio said. "Some have a better feel and grasp than others, but part of our responsibility is to use the people and the information and the resources that we have. If it's helpful to us, why wouldn't we do it? Why would we put our heads in the sand?"
The Texans used those nuggets of info from Stroud and made Dell the choice at 69th overall.
Those two rookies, as well as the other seven from the 2023 Texans Draft class, plus the undrafted free agents and tryout players will start rookie minicamp in just under two weeks.
