Texans owner says he didn’t force Stroud pick

DJ Bien-Aime, ESPNMay 8, 2023, 01:23 PM ET

HOUSTON — Texans owner Cal McNair said Monday that neither he nor his wife, Hannah, forced his team’s front office to draft Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.

“Hannah and I don’t make the picks. We’ll make it clear there,” McNair said during the 20th annual Houston Texans Charity Golf Classic. “We have a great group of scouts led by Nick [Caserio] and James Lippert, and they did a lot of work on the draft board, and then they followed that on draft day, and they moved up when they saw the value was there and moved back.”

During the first round, the Texans selected Stroud with the No. 2 pick and then traded their No. 12 selection, the No. 33 pick, and a future first-rounder to the Arizona Cardinals to move up to the No. 3 pick to select Alabama defensive end Will Anderson Jr.

There was speculation that the McNairs forced Caserio, the team’s general manager, and coach DeMeco Ryans to select a quarterback since the Texans’ quarterbacks posted the worst QBR in the NFL last season.

McNair expressed optimism about the Texans’ moves throughout the offseason and expects the team to show improvement from the past three seasons, when the organization went 11-38-1.

“I think you just have to look at the roster, and I think it’s a better roster this year, very competitive,” McNair said. “They want to have competition spots on the roster. So, I see a lot of progress. A lot of good things.”