The Houston Texans are a professional American football team from Houston, playing in the National Football League (NFL). They joined the NFL in 2002 as an expansion franchise. [a] [2] Following the controversial relocation of the Houston Oilers to Nashville [b] [3] and the NFL's need for a 32nd team in the league, Houston was awarded the upcoming franchise, at a cost of $700 million paid by then-owner Bob McNair. [4] [5] [2] The Houston Texans made their first selection as an NFL team in the 2002 NFL draft, selecting Fresno State quarterback David Carr number 1 overall. [6] The team's most recent first-round selection was C. J. Stroud, an Quarterback from Ohio State and Will Anderson Jr., an Outside linebacker from Alabama, selected in 2023. [7]
Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting," which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the team with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, with the loser of the big game always picking 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades. [8]
The Texans have selected number one overall three times, David Carr in 2002, Mario Williams in 2006, and Jadeveon Clowney in 2014. [6] [9] [10] The Houston Texans have only three times drafted two or more times in the first round, which occurred in 2004, 2022 and 2023.
Andre Johnson is the Texans' only draft pick to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
B | Back | K | Kicker | NT | Nose tackle |
C | Center | LB | Linebacker | FB | Fullback |
DB | Defensive back | P | Punter | HB | Halfback |
DE | Defensive end | QB | Quarterback | WR | Wide receiver |
DT | Defensive tackle | RB | Running back | G | Guard |
E | End | T | Offensive tackle | TE | Tight end |
^ | Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame | ||||
* | Selected number one overall | ||||
† | Indicates the player was selected for the Pro Bowl |
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team plays its home games at NRG Stadium.
The history of the Houston Texans began in 2002, bringing the National Football League back to Houston, Texas after the city's previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to eventually become the Tennessee Titans. The Texans are the newest franchise in the NFL. Despite some growing pains in the first nine years of their existence, the Texans became a more dominant team in the NFL's AFC South division in the 2010s, though they have yet to appear in a Super Bowl or a conference championship game.
Derrick Deshaun Watson is an American professional football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Clemson Tigers, leading the team to a national championship in 2016. Watson was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Houston Texans.
The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May 1, 2021.
The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and was followed by the second and third rounds on Friday, April 29. The draft concluded with rounds 4–7 on Saturday, April 30. It was the first draft to be held in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and the state of Nevada.
The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 season. The draft was held outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, from April 27–29, 2023.
The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendance of over 775,000, breaking the overall record previously set in 2019.
Daniel Calhoun "Cal" McNair is an American businessman and sports executive. He is the principal owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL).
The 2022 season was the Houston Texans' 21st in the National Football League (NFL) and their only season under Lovie Smith, following the firing of David Culley at the end of the 2021 season.
The 2023 season was the Houston Texans' 22nd season in the National Football League (NFL) and the first under head coach DeMeco Ryans. While the team went into the season with low expectations as a rebuilding period and started 0–2, they not only improved on their 3–13–1 record from last year with a Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Texans qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2019 with a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18, ending with a 10–7 record. After the Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Tennessee Titans the day after, the Texans also clinched the AFC South for the first time since 2019. The Texans became the fifth team in NFL history to make the playoffs with both a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach, as well as making history as the first team in NFL history to win a division entirely with a rookie head coach and rookie quarterback.
The Deshaun Watson trade was a significant National Football League trade made on March 18, 2022, centered on sending quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans to the Cleveland Browns. The quarterback and a Texans 2024 sixth round selection was exchanged for Cleveland's 2022 first and fourth round selections, 2023 first and third round selections, and 2024 first and fourth round selections.