Everything Texans GM Nick Caserio said ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft

Here's everything Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio, assistant general manager James Lipfert and assistant general manager Chris Blanco said ahead of the upcoming NFL draft, including the thought process on the draft, an update on C.J. Stroud and more.

Jun 10, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans executive vice president and general manager Nick Caserio, left, speaks with defensive coordinator Matt Burke, right, during an NFL football minicamp at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Question: On what goes into the mindset of making a trade and how it is decided

Nick Caserio: “There's never one particular thing. Our process and approach is to understand as many players as possible, what's the commensurate value for the player, and where do you have an opportunity to pick the player. If you move off of a pick, what's the cost-benefit analysis associated with that, and what's the risk/reward and what do you get in return? So, we're always prepared to pick. If we made zero trades, I don't think any of us -- you all might be surprised, but we wouldn't be surprised because none of us really know how it's going to go. What we try to do is understand as many players as possible. A lot of it is positioning and just having an understanding of where we think the value of the player lies. So, if we make a trade, we put it up on the board and say, ‘What do we get in return, are we comfortable with it?’ Again, we're making these decisions very, I would say, organically, and it's very fluid. Multiple people are involved in the discussion, and ultimately, at some point, we've got to make a decision –DeMeco and I have to make a decision on what we feel makes the most sense. Do we pick? If we pick, here's who we're going to pick. If we don't pick, if we move back, okay, we'll go back this many slots. What players could we potentially lose? Are we okay with that? Are we not? Look, this is just understanding the value of the players, understanding the value associated with the pick, and ultimately, just doing what we feel makes the most sense. So, I would say there's never a prescribed we're going to do A, B, and C, we're going to make this number of trades. It's not how we approach it. It's case-by-case. We take the information in real time. Where we are positioned right now, we're picking at 28. Honestly, we have no idea who is going to be available at 28. There's probably a group of 10 or 15 players, more than likely, unless you get to that level, they're off the board. So, then you're into the next tier and then go through that process. There's a reason we stacked the board. There's a reason we grade the players. We take the players as they come off. I don't want to oversimplify it, but that's the reality of the situation.”

Q: On the evaluation process of WR Jayden Higgins

James Liipfert: “With Jayden, he's an interesting player because he was only at Iowa State for a couple of years, started his career at Eastern Kentucky, was an under-recruited player, Miami kid, more of a basketball player. I'd say the thing that, talking to him specifically from our group, was how he practiced -- not only how he was spoken about -- him and Jaylin Noel were spoken about in very similar ways, different personalities, but the way they practiced, I would say, was one of the first things that stood out to us. He was very consistent, honestly. He had a lot of similarities to how ‘Hutch’ practiced. So, there's a trend among those three guys. But he was unique, and we as a group felt that, after only two years of Big 12 football, it wasn't a guy that had been at a Power Five or four for five years, was there more upside with this guy? Then you combine that with his intelligence, his work ethic, the type of person that his parents raised, we felt like he'd be a good person out our program. Year One was good and hopefully more from him moving forward.”

QL On how the moves to the offensive line in free agency will affect the draft

Caserio: “We feel, DeMeco and I have talked about this, before the draft you try to put the team in a position where if you had to go play a game tomorrow, we'd be able to go out there and play and what we feel is a competitive team. What happened in free agency, honestly, has no bearing in what goes on in the draft. The draft is the draft. We'll grade the players. Ultimately, we'll take the best football players, regardless of position. That's what we've always done. That's not going to change this year relative to previous years. We're a ‘BPA’ [Best Player Available] team. That's what we do, take the best player available. There's a reason that we grade the players and put them on the board and stack the board accordingly. So, you start hopscotching around, it goes against the integrity of what you're doing with the process from start to finish. So, our goal is to build the best football team we can for the 2026 season. There are some players we added in the spring that hopefully will be able to help us. Hopefully, there's some players that we add next week that will help us. There are probably some players we're not talking about that they're going to come in the building at some point and give us some quality snaps, like Tommy Togiai has done at different points, like Naquan Jones did last year -- going back a few years ago, Derek Barnett. It's a very, very fluid process. You just deal with it. The calendar says, ‘Okay, it's this time of year, all right, let's try to take advantage of our opportunities. Then move on to the next phase.’ So, it's a pretty fluid situation. We'll take the best football players. It's not going to affect our draft strategy. Whatever we feel makes the most sense at that time then that's how we do it.”

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs onto the field for first half against Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field in Detroit on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.

Q: On S Reed Blankenship and RB David Montgomery

Caserio: “Experienced players have been very productive. Have the right mentality, have the right mindset. They were both, I would say, thought of very highly within their programs. They have a certain level of toughness, certain leadership. We felt those players fit our program well. I think in the end, we talk about this extensively, we're drafting people. We're drafting people. We're adding people. We're signing people. That's the priority. Yeah, you have to have a commensurate level of skill, no question about it. But we're drafting people. Do they have mental, physical toughness? Do they have resilience? Can they handle situations when things don't go well? I think those two players sort of fall into that category. They go out and produce or have produced throughout the course of their career. What is that going to look like in a Texans uniform? We'll find out this spring and in training camp.”

Q: On how this draft fits into the philosophy of wanting to be good in the trenches on both sides of the ball

Chris Blanco: “Philosophically speaking, for us, building a tough smart football, S.W.A.R.M., relentless, that starts in the trenches -- offensive line and defensive line. As you guys have seen with the players that we've added over the years, it's extremely important for us. With this draft in particular, we've done a deep dive on both sides, really going back to once the draft last year concluded, just starting with the junior tape and working our way through the fall, through the all-star game and Combine processes. So, for us, we're very excited about really digging into it even more next week or so and adding good players to the team next week.”

Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

Q: On how picking up QB C.J. Stroud’s fifth-year option affects his future with the team

Caserio: “I don't really think that affects his future. He's our quarterback. We've said that from the beginning. DeMeco and I have both said it. I think that was really more of a procedural thing. I don't want to say it was a no-brainer, but it was kind of a no-brainer, so we're glad he's here. Again, it's more of a part of the process. So, we're excited about his offseason. I think he's had a good approach, had a good attitude here. I think he's put a lot of work in from, I'd say, March and April. I’m so excited to have him around here in the spring and I'm excited to keep moving forward.”

Q: On how college football’s transfer portal has affected the way prospects are evaluated and viewed from a scouting perspective

Liipfert: “I think for us, evaluating, it's been a positive thing. Now I don't come from a -- we don't come from a place of the college coaches and that world that has to deal with the everyday transactional nature of it. But from an evaluation standpoint, when players have been at multiple schools it's a whole other group of people you can ask them about, how are they on a daily basis? Honestly, not to speak for our group, but that's what we're curious about: How are they every single day; are they consistent; how do they work; how do they show passion for ball? So, at the end of the day we're trying to find that out, players A through Z. So, when you have, ‘Hey, he left school A and went to school B,’ we can talk to both schools, see if the information matches up. If it doesn't, ‘Okay, where is the gap?’ Then on a player-by-player basis it's a little window into how they make decisions, what's important to them. Really not worried about the NIL side of it. We don't get into that a whole lot. But the actual transferring, what was the reason for it, it's not a bad thing. Ten years ago, it might have been different conversation, but these guys transfer and we don't hold it against anyone. We just want to know what their DNA is, what they're made of and ultimately what will they be as a Houston Texan if we draft them. That's what we're in search of.”

Sep 15, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) celebrates after a defensive play during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On the process of acquiring QB C.J. Stroud and DE Will Anderson Jr. in 2023 after starting with two draft picks ten slots apart

Caserio: “The spots [are] probably more coincidence more than anything else, but speaking to the process, I would say as we went through it as a staff collectively -- and the great thing about how we do it, we put a lot of time between, let's call it, August until December. It's very scout-centric, scout-focused. So, we let the road scouts, college directors, [Co-Director of College Scouting] John [Ritcher], [Co-Director of College Scouting Mozique McCurtis] ‘Zique’, Liip, Chris, whoever, do their work, grade the player -- here's what we think of the player. Then the next layer, call it February to March, go through the same process with the coaches, get their lens, how do they see it. DeMeco obviously goes through his process. So, we arrive at the same endpoint where we basically said, ‘Look, these are the two of the best players in the draft. If we have an opportunity to add them to our team, it's probably something at least worth considering or thinking about.’ Then you start to put the wheels in motion. As you get a little closer, you start to say, what's it going to take to get to that point? What's the cost associated with it, going back to the original question about moving. So, once you have an idea of what that looks like, then ultimately you make a decision. We're interested in doing it and we're okay with it, or you know what, it doesn't make as much sense, and we're going to do something else. So, again, there's risk/reward, there's cost-benefit analysis that we go through. So, those conversations, we're pretty, I would say, fluid. The week of the draft, we said, ‘Here's what it looks like. Here are our potential options. Are you good with this? Great.’ Talk about it as a staff. ‘Hey, what do you guys think?’ because they might have a different perspective and a different lens. I think the one thing about how we do it, we take a little bit of a democratic approach, where we listen, we try to list a lot of ideas and we talk through it. As a matter of fact, we had a meeting on Friday where we went through the whole board and it was like, ‘Hey, what do you guys think? Well, we moved this player, here's the reason why. Does anybody else have a thought?’ You want to make sure we have a variety of opinions that we've gathered. We're not looking for necessarily groupthink; we're just trying to -- is there something we're missing here before we ultimately make the decision? I would say, just going back to your original question with those two players, we talked about it and we felt, you know what, in the end, it's worth whatever we need to do to get to that point, which is why we made the decision that we did. The fact that -- I didn't realize that we happen to have 10 spots in between these first few picks. That's happenstance more than anything else. So, we'll see how it goes. But I think you have an idea of if you're going to move from this spot to this spot, here's the cost associated with it. Then you have to look at what your inventory of picks is, whether it's this year or next year, and ultimately make a decision and go, okay, yeah, that's worth doing, or you know what, we're comfortable doing something else. Again, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. I think one of the things we pride ourselves on is being as adaptable and flexible as possible and not necessarily getting so caught up in, well, we’ve got to have this player. If we don't do this -- I would say in their particular case, we felt pretty convinced, these would be two pretty good players to add to the team if we had the opportunity.”

Q: On what ‘Best Player Available’ means to the Texans in the draft

Caserio: “It's trust the grades. There's a reason that we put grades on a player. Again, we grade the players, we stack the board, we do it vertically and horizontally, and then you work across. If you have two players that are similarly graded, great. If you have another player that's graded a little bit lower at a quote/unquote, position of need, you're going to take the lesser player, when our grades tell us let's do something else. So, again, it goes back to the integrity of the process. Trust the grades. There's a reason that we grade the players. We're not a round-based team. We assign a commensurate value to the player of what's the value relative to what we think the role is going to be. That doesn't mean we're going to be right about it. It just means this is how we see that player if we were to add them to the team. So, work across, work vertically and then pick the players off as they come. I guess that's what that means. So, I would say other than quarterback, there's no position that we wouldn't consider drafting if that's what the board told us. That's why we set the board. That's why we spend as much time on it as possible and say, here's the group we're picking from. Again, we're not picking every player. We're going to reduce it down to however many players that at some point we would consider drafting if we had the opportunity, and that's probably taking 10 or 15 out that they're probably not going to be there -- assuming you can't get in the Top 15. Well, if one of those players, let's say you had graded at a certain level gets down to a certain point, then you have a discussion. There's obviously a reason why or something, some mitigating circumstance that caused that player to end up/down where he is. So, it's just more about trusting our grades and trusting our process more than anything else.”

Q: On late round draft prospects

Caserio: “I'd say the late round to [undrafted] free agents, honestly, the fifth [round] through undrafted players, it's probably a similar pool of players. I would say, honestly, that's where you tip your hat to your scouting staff because they know the players as much as anybody, and we spend as much time talking about that group of players as we do the other players that are graded higher. Drafting and grading, it's really just, how do you get the guy on the team? Here's the grade. The grade probably tells you, ‘Okay, you're probably going to have to draft this player to get him on the team.’ Some of the later players, they're a certain grade maybe you thought based on what you see on tape. Here's a grade we think of the player. They're still valuable to your team. If they come in your building and play better than somebody else, that's great. We let the players… DeMeco [Ryans] said this countless times, and we both feel the same way, it doesn't really matter where you're drafted. If you’re drafted in the first round, great. If you’re drafted in the seventh round, great. If the seventh rounder beats out the first rounder, great. Now what happened that caused that to happen? Maybe a player didn't perform at level you thought he was going to perform, that's going to happen. We've all been around a lot of good players who were drafted early, who were drafted in the middle, who were drafted late. That's the way the league works. I would say the Saturday discussions, I would say, we spend as much time on those and are as in depth and it's the same thought process and mindset. It's not, ‘We're sitting here on a Saturday in a fifth round, the guy's character is horrible. Don't worry about that.’ You draft them in the fifth round, or you draft them in the third round, it's still the same person. It goes back to what I said earlier. We're drafting people. So, if you get the people right… When you look at some of those people that we've drafted in the late rounds, there's some of our top, borderline elite, makeup players. Henry [To’oTo’o], ‘Hutch’ [Xavier Hutchinson], Jarrett Patterson. There's a reason those players have stuck around beyond maybe where they were drafted. Again, it happens all the time. We're not the only team that goes through this. Let's look at Seattle [Seahawks]. Drake Thomas, who wasn't drafted, was a starting linebacker and just got a contract extension because he plays with his hair on fire and he represents the 12s the way they want to play. It happens all over the league. I would say as a scouting staff, I don't speak for ‘Liip’ and Chris, but you take a lot of pride in those players because those players have an opportunity to enhance your overall program, enhance your overall team. Again, just get them in the building. If they're on the roster, great. If they're off the roster in the practice squad, no problem. We've talked about this. You're going to need those players at some point to go in and play really important snaps, like Myles Bryant did when he was here. There’s a guy who wasn't drafted. You look at Myles. How did this guy make it six, seven years? Well, because he's smart as hell, he's tough as hell, he's instinctive and he's got the right mentality and a mindset. Those things are important. Are they more important than they are later than early? I wouldn't say that, but a lot of the times because of that, that's why those players end up… Look, there's a lot of players that we had the good fortune, ‘Liip’ and I both did, in New England that fit that profile as well. I know it's a long answer. I'm sure you guys are shocked by that, but it's a long answer to what you were hoping was a simple answer. But hopefully it helps.”

Q: On NIL

Blanco: “I'd say with NIL, to ‘Liip's’ point, to what Nick was talking about, it's another data point for us to understand who they are, what motivates them. Really, it allows us to see how they're going to be as a professional, because that is really a glimpse into a professional mindset. As we all know, money is a factor in some of these decisions that are being made. For players that can handle themselves very well when money comes into play, as long as their motivation stays true to football and everything's grounded in the football game, and they're making good decisions, then to us it's a good data point. On the flip side, if they give us evidence where it's, maybe they're not handling it as well as maybe they can, what's the reason behind it? Is it a maturity reason? Is it because they don't have access to the right resources? For us, as we evaluate the players, it's really about understanding, one, where they're coming from and how they can integrate into our program. The more data we have on them, whether it's NIL or something else, we want to know so that we can determine if they can have success with the Houston Texans.”

Q: On the possibility of trading up or trading back from No. 28 overall

Caserio: “I think we're prepared for anything. I don't know if there's a, ‘Well we're going to do this.’ We could go both ways. Again, it's always who you're trading up for. How far are you going and what do you have to give up in return? If you get past a certain cohort of players, ‘What's the next tier? Well, we're comfortable with these five or six, or you know what, maybe we'd rather have this player as opposed to that player.’ Look, I'm not trying to be cute here. We could go either way, but again a lot of it is driven… Trades are always a product of the player, they're very player-driven. We're going to sit in there. I'm sure what we'll do you get through 10 picks or so, and we'll keep having conversations and discussions as the players come off, ‘Okay, here are our options. Hey, what about these two or three players, what are our thoughts? What are our grades? What do you think? [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans], what are your thoughts on this one? Yeah, I like the player. I'm not sure. Okay, where are we collectively as an organization and is it worth doing?’ Then we'll put the scenarios on the board, ‘Hey, it will cost this,’ and ‘Okay, if we do that then that means we're going to be out of this and this and this.’ We're either comfortable or not comfortable. It's free-flowing and it’s a very active conversation. We don't just sit there looking at a screen watching all the fans jump up and down when somebody gets picked. [Commissioner of the National Football League] Roger [Goodell] does his big hug with the player and all that the handshake he's got worked out. We're working. We're thinking. We're preparing. We're always ready to go whenever we've got to pick.”

Jan 4, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz (86) reacts after a catch against the Indianapolis Colts during the first half at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On the Houston Texans’ tight end room and the tight end draft class

Caserio: “I'll hit our group, then I'll let ‘Liip’ talk about the tight end group. With our group, we've got a lot of guys in some different categories. Brevin [Jordan] had a couple of years, unfortunately, where he's had injuries set him back. He's a player that we'd like to have in the building. Honestly, it's probably to be determined with him a little bit. But he's a great kid, great attitude. He's been here working his tail off. He's got a great spirit. Everybody's rooting for Brevin. There's a little bit of an unknown there, of what we actually have. Cade [Stover] has played decent football at different points. He's going into year three. There are certainly some areas that he can improve. Foster [Moreau] has played pretty good football at different points in his career, whether it's in Vegas or with the Saints. Dalton [Schultz] has probably been our most consistent, probably the most steady player that we've had at that position over the last two to three years. He had a career year. He broke Owen’s [Daniels], unfortunately, ‘O.D.’ is a really good player. But there are some question marks if we're just being real. But we think there are some players there that potentially can help us. What other opportunities lead to in the draft, we'll kind of see what that looks like.”

Liipfert: “It's no different than any other position. We're going to scout the tight ends no differently than we're going to scout any other group. But I would call it a deep group. They come in all shapes and sizes. A lot of impressive guys we've talked to at all-star games, a couple of underclassmen thrown in there. You've got some more typical Y tight ends, your bigger bodies, your line-of-scrimmage players, your blockers. You've got some more, I'd call them, passing game players. I would say no one guy is exactly like the other. They're all very unique. I think, no different than the other 31 teams, what's your flavor? Which kind of guy do you like? What are you looking for? A lot of, I would say, high-quality humans in that group. It's a lot of good dudes and a lot of smart, mature guys that I'm sure we and a lot of other teams like. But we're going to scout the tight end group in 2026 the same way in '27 and '28. I think that's the direction from Nick and DeMeco [Ryans]. Our process really doesn't change no matter if you've got 10 on the roster or two on the roster. You've got to do the work. So, ultimately, whenever Nick looks at Chris and I and our group, like, ‘Hey, are we good on this player?’ We try to tell that to the rest of the guys in the room. Every player on the board needs to have conviction. Yes or no. That's our job for Nick and DeMeco.”

Q: On their approach to scouting HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities]

Blanco: “Particularly the HBCUs, we treat them like any other college football program. We go in and we evaluate them. Whether it's a school visit, tape visit, we'll see them at the all-star games. There's really no difference in how we approach HBCUs.”

Q: On if there is a position group that is deeper this year than most

Liipefert: “On the position-specific position, not to get anything too specific because I don't want to say too much, but there's definitely… I can think of a couple that come to mind that are, ‘Okay, it's light here.’ Nick and DeMeco and our group, we've had that discussion, honestly, dating back to the fall. ‘This particular group it's going to be a little light.’ I think the way that affects things is maybe get to day three and, ‘Hey, Nick, the way it's sort of played out, there's really only one or two left at position X that may make our team or be a factor. If we really want one, it's probably going to be early or it's going to be one of these two guys.’ We don't want to get into those positions. There's going to be the inverse of that argument, ‘Hey, there's still a dozen guys out there in this position. We don't have to go crazy and go get one immediately. We can be a little bit patient at this position.’ But I think that's part of our job is really knowing the landscape, pick by pick, ‘Hey, Nick, this is getting a little thin here. Hey Nick, there hasn't been a guy at this position go in 30 picks. We're okay here.’ He can probably do without me, but we try to feed him as much information as we can just because that's our role on game day, for lack of a better term.”

Jan 4, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio walks on the field before the game against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On how success in previous seasons contributes to the way moves are made

Caserio: “Our focus is on the 2026 team, just trying to put the best team together that we feel gives us the best chance to win. We're definitely proud of the program we've built. Our consistency over the last three years, ultimately, comes down to your ability to execute on game day. I think they put a stat out there, 70 percent of the games last year, league-wide weeks one through 17, were one-score games in the fourth quarter. It's as competitive as a league as there is. This isn't like the NBA. We've got a really competitive league. We try to put together a really good team, give our team a chance to hopefully play good football and put ourselves in a position where we've got maybe a chance to win in the fourth quarter. The margins are… You guys have seen a lot of football, you guys have followed us and you've followed the league. The margins are pretty small. In the end, it goes down to basic execution. When you look at the team that actually won the championship this year, they're really good on defense, they ran the football well, they took the football away and they played good situationally. Whichever team is the one team left standing at the end of the year, there's probably a good chance that they've done those things. Hopefully, we can put ourselves into position where we have the opportunity to do so. In the end, it's just going to come down to our execution in games that matter.”

Q: On evaluating offensive line prospects

Caserio: “I'd say just generally speaking, the offensive line, it's probably one of the, I don't want to say one of the harder positions to evaluate… This is where you can use multiple checks and balances. Everybody watches the tape. A lot of the college systems are the college systems. A lot of the things that these players are going to be asked to do, it's probably going to be a little bit different. What you see on tape, the one thing… Not just the Houston Texans, but league-wide, there's probably some benefit to the individual player workouts, because you might be able to see something in a workout [that you’re] not sure if he really has it or you didn't see him do it on tape that maybe put him through the paces and say, ‘You know what he actually does this better than maybe we thought.’ It's either a technique flaw, it's a body position flaw or his ability to take coaching. I think that position there's a certain level of instinctiveness and certain level of awareness, a certain level of toughness and to be able to take coaching and apply coaching. We've seen multiple examples of players who didn't have an extensive history playing offensive line, like [Philadelphia Eagles Jordan] Mailata is a good example, [former OL] Stephen Neal's a good example. They basically played another sport, but they were coachable, they had the right mentality, they had the right mindset. Even going back to [former Houston Texans G Shaq] Mason, unless the last time I checked, there's nobody that runs a triple option in NFL football, other than Georgia Tech. They don't run a triple option anymore. But you had to make a little bit of a projection while he's going to be able to actually do the things that are going to be required for an offensive lineman to have some success. I would say it's a pretty nuanced position. Look, in the end, you've got to be smart and tough and physical. You've got to be competitive. I would say those are some non-negotiables. Then there are some techniques that either a coach is going to emphasize or that you're going to focus on within your system. Then I would say to a certain extent you have to be able to extrapolate whether the player is going to be able to handle it or not.”

Q: On how the team if working with FIFA to share the stadium and if it has affected the players or OTAs

Caserio: “Yeah, fortunately, it's not affecting us all that much. I know it's an exciting time in the city of Houston. Unfortunately, I'm probably the wrong person to ask any soccer questions to because that's not my cup of tea. But I know there's a lot of interest. Chris and ‘Liip’ probably have a little more interest there. But they've been good to work with. We haven't had any issues. There's no roadblocks or anything. Our players are able to move through the building. We're in the offseason program. I think in the middle of June, FIFA takes priority over the Texans. That's probably your time to share there. But overall, it's been good to work with them. I'm sure Mike Tomon has more insight on this than I do. But it's an exciting time. A lot is going on in the city of Houston, for sure, I'm sure the stadium will be packed when the games are played, that's for sure.”

Aug 16, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (0) reacts after a defensive play during the first quarter against the Carolina Panthers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On if the evaluation typically in players change from when they first started in the previous year to the current draft and if it changes much

Blanco: “We trust the tape. The evaluation, that begins on the tape evaluation from the previous year and most of the current year. When you talk about the injuries, you talk about the character profile, as you're getting more information on these players, the evaluation of the total player is going to continue to grow and evolve. Then the other part of it, as Nick alluded to, when you talk about the offensive line, is when we get with the coaches, as the scheme evolves, as coaches' demands or the wants evolve, that's where the evaluation and their place in the building and their fit, that's where all that starts to come together. So the evaluation doesn't stay static, I would say in the fall, but it's always evolving and growing. Really this week and into next week we'll find out where the true value of the player lies.”

Caserio: “I would say there's not a huge standard deviation. When we go through our spring reports or spring process, they're going to watch however many players kind of initially assign that initial grade. Here's what it looks like. That's what the grading scale is for, kind of get them in the ballpark. Again, could a guy slide a slot or two? Yeah, if it's a significant gap, something happened. We either missed the evaluation or the player drastically improved. But I would say it stays within one to two sort of grade levels. It's not, well, we graded him at this level, kind of towards the bottom and then all of a sudden he ends up at the top. If that happens, you better have a pretty good reason why that took place or you just kind of missed something. Again, you're going to kind of have a little bit of a bell curve. You'll have the core in the middle and you're going to have some outliers. Are we sure on the outliers, good or bad? Something happened. Was it an injury or transfer? Did the guy just play really well? Then it’s a one-year production guy. There is a lot of different things to where your head starts to spin a bit. But for the most part we talked to the group about treat the spring as if the draft was at the beginning of June. Don't treat it, ‘Oh, it's in spring, I'm going to be a little more lenient’. Go through the same thing. ‘Watch two or three games. What do you see? Okay, here's the strengths, here's the weaknesses, here's the role, here's what we think the value's going to be.’ ‘Okay, great.’ Then you go into the school in the fall in training camp. Here's what I saw, it looks pretty similar. Then you just continue on. So, we try to stay true from start to finish and, again, put as much emphasis at the beginning as you do at the end.”

Q: On if they are seeing more positional flexibility in the secondary when it comes to the draft with how the players prepare and what he has seen from some of the big conferences, especially SEC

Lipfert: “I wouldn't say there's been a massive jump. But I think just speaking specifically to the secondary, you do see guys play some nickel, play some safety. You don't see much flexibility away from the outside corner position. It's more inside the formation, middle of the defense. There's a couple schools and some pods of players in this draft that, it's three players and they all kind of rotate. One snap you might be a nickel, the next snap he's at boundary safety. I'd say whether it's offense or defense, not to speak for [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans] or any of our coaches, but the more versatile a player he is, that's certainly a bonus. But at the end of the day, they have to do… Let's start with doing one thing at a high level. Then if you can do a couple things, that's great. But to answer your question, I wouldn't say it's a huge trend that we're noticing, but it does come up, talking about player X, ‘Hey, this guy's played 400 snaps at nickel when he was a freshman’. Like, that may not seem like a big deal, but that is a big deal because they may come to the NFL and they're not a complete fish out of water, they've actually lined up there. They've felt the speed of the game from there, even though they've been playing safety for the last three years, at least they… or played left tackle as a freshman or been a three-year start at right tackle. At least he's gotten that stance before. We do make note of it. We can only put so much stock in it. But I think just knowing the history of each player is a huge part of the job.”

Jan 19, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (3) celebrates after a sack against the Indiana Hoosiers in the third quarter during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Q: On what are the factors in the conversations that go into gap of age such as a 25-year-old who is a six-year player and a 20-year-old who is a junior

Caserio: “Great question. I would say, honestly, if you ask 10 people, you'll probably get 10 different answers. I would say there are definitely benefits to a player who has played more football and you have a better sense of what it's going to look like. A player who has played less football, maybe there's a little bit more of, not projection… Look, there's a projection element with everybody, but it only played two or three years, what do we think it's going to be? Then you kind of have to put that into your calculus. Honestly, it depends on your philosophy. I think to a certain extent, there's been some discussion about, well, NIL, players being in college more, it's kind of a negative. Maybe it's a positive. We can't control where they are, what they are. All we can do is understand who they are, what their situation is. If a guy's only played 10, 11 games, then what is that going to look like next year? Then you're going to have to make some, I would say, some estimation of what you think it's going to look like. Philosophically, it depends on what's the priority, what you are trying to do? In the end, you win with football players. It goes back to, regardless if they've only played two or three years, or they've played five or six years, mindset, physical, mental toughness, resilience and handling adversity. At some point, those are going to come up. So even if a guy is a 20-year-old kid, okay, not played much football, he's got all the talent in the world, but he's mentally weak, doesn't have a lot of resilience. What's that going to look like? Well, I'll tell you what it's going to look like. It's probably not going to end up looking that good. Is he going to get stronger? Is he going to get bigger? Is he going to get in the weight room? We're going to quote/unquote, develop him. The reality is these are all developmental players. Regardless of where they played, how long it is, as soon as they walk in our building, they're starting from ground zero and we'll get a baseline evaluation of everything and then kind of take it day to day and then see how it works itself out.”

Q: On when they got the free agents and going into the draft, how much decisions are based off of getting QB C.J. Stroud some sort of consistency on the offensive line

Caserio: “Yeah, I think we're just looking for consistency as a team. That's what the focus is. Again, there are multiple checkpoints. Build a team, add players, go through spring camps, going into training camp, and then once you get to training camp, you'll have a better idea what you think the team's going to look like. Again, [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans] and I talk about it all the time. We're trying to build as comprehensive a team as possible. That gives us an opportunity and hopefully we play good in all three phases. That's not going to change. So that's where the focus is and do the best we can to try to put together the best team for the 2026 season, which gives us the best chance to win. That's not going to change as long as the two of us are here working together, overseeing the team.”

Q: On how AI is playing a role in the draft process and the balance of not rely on it too much and trust yourself as well

Caserio: “Great question. Honestly, Chris is probably as versed on this as anyone. He spends a lot of time… I'll let him talk about this. I think we've all kind of, I'll speak for myself, experimented with some of the tools. There are different things that you can do, tools, models. Again, it's a data point, and what it does, again, I'm not very smart, but it seems like you can… Models are built. You can take massive amounts of information and distill them down into a digestible amount and maybe kind of guides your thought process and leads you in a direction that might be advantageous.”

Blanco: “To Nick's point, it's really helped in terms of research and helping us become more efficient. We have different groups in the building that have been using it in different ways. For myself, in particular, it's really helped me just sift through different news articles and whatnot and be able to create more comprehensive reports, as well as any type of work with the computer, [Microsoft] Excel. It's almost like a research assistant. I still believe it's very important for scouts, for personnel, people, for coaches to be very proficient experts in their jobs, and really just looking at AI just as another tool to really supplement and help us be more efficient with the work that we're doing. That has been the biggest, I would say, benefit for us at this stage. We have a good group upstairs, [Director of Football Analytics] Kevin Clark, [Senior Director of Football Technology and Innovation] Tim Brog, some other people who are working with it on a day-to-day and really helping us find different ways to implement it so that we can be more comprehensive with it.”

Oct 27, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) and wide receiver Tank Dell (3) react after a play during the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On if he believes that WR Tank Dell will be good to go for the start of the training camp and does his injuries affect the way he goes about potentially addressing the wide receiver position in the draft

Caserio: “Yeah, with Tank, I mean, honestly, it's probably a day-to-day, we'll kind of see where he is. Probably have a better idea as we get through the spring of what his availability is going to be in training camp. He's been here pretty religiously, since he's been able to do more once he's gotten out of the rehab stage. As far as a receiver position, if there is a receiver that we like that we feel we want to add to the team then we're going to take him independent of what's going on. In the end, the competition will sort itself out. DeMeco and I talk about this all the time. Get them in the building, they'll figure it out. Not us. Ultimately, it's going to be up to the performance of the players. We try to stay true to that and not get so, ‘Well, we have this.’ Well, honestly, that could change in a heartbeat. You get into a game… Well, what's our next option? You always want to be prepared and have some contingencies in place, but I would say a person's individual situation doesn't necessarily correlate to, well, we have to draft this over here and if we don't… If you draft it, you draft it. If you don't, you don't. There's a group of players that we haven't talked about after the draft, if they're not with a team, is there a player that we feel could add some value to our team and program? We signed [former Houston Texans RB Nick] Chubb, kind of, later in the spring last year, it was May or whenever it was and Nick ended up coming in here and doing a pretty good job and helping our football team. There's probably going to be the Nick Chubb grouping of players in May and June. There might be somebody out there who makes sense. We'll try to make an evaluation that we feel makes the most sense for the team.”

Q: On when evaluating players how much is playing time availability in 2026 important and also not trying to overrate a future role for the player

Caserio: “Yeah, that's the balance. Again, if we just stick to, let's get the players that we feel fit our profile and get them in the building. We can't ever have a shortage of whatever. At some point, if we have to make a decision to either, A, insert that player at the expense of another player, or, B, move on from another player. That's the cost of doing business. Again, it's a delicate balance of you drafting this player but maybe there's three or four other guys already at that position. What does that mean? I don't know, maybe it means one thing this year but it could potentially mean one thing next year. But you don't really know that. Get the right players with the right mentality with the right mindset, create as much competition as possible. In the end, keep the best 53 [players] that you think you want to move forward with, understanding there's probably going to be another 15 or 20 guys that maybe you want to work with. Maybe you've got to find another way to sort of keep them in the building. In the end, you can only play with, one of this, one of that, two here, five there. Who are those people? We'll see. You think it's going to be this person or people, it might be different. Again, I think none of us have a crystal ball. It's all we can do is just make as accurate an assessment as possible and in the end let the players sort out who is on the field on game day on Sundays.”

Q: On how they get the input from the coordinators and position coaches to decide what kind of players they want besides just the S.W.A.R.M. aspects of it

Caserio: “Yeah, there are certain characteristics and traits that are associated with each position. When we evaluate, when we talk as kind of a scouting group, I think what I've tried to do over the course of my career is kind of be able to sit in the middle a little bit and interpret and extrapolate information and to be able to provide that to the group so that it hopefully can help them when they're evaluating players. It's based on the input. We value our coaches' perspectives, their opinions. We've got a lot of really good coaches in this building who have a lot of success. Again, we want to hear, ‘This player reminds me of so and so, here's a reason why. This player does this well; here's an area that he's going to improve.’ But what we try to do with the coaches is give them groups of players. We don't give them everybody because it's not fair to them to just give them, ‘Here's 60 guys, evaluate them, tell us what you think,’ which does happen. It's ‘Hey, here's these 20 to 25 players. Start with this group. What are your thoughts?’ Then create some tiers. These five or six guys, this is how we see them. Are you comfortable with any one of them? Again, we're not going to force-feed a player. If a coordinator or a position coach says I want nothing to do with that player, but we think, " You know what, screw that, like, we're going to pick the player anyway, it's not going to work. We're not going to ever operate that way. Fortunately, I think I've had a lot of experience and sat in the middle and can kind of take that information and use it hopefully to our advantage. But you're taking in a massive amount of information. However many scouts evaluate a player, position coach, coordinator, sports performance, doctor, whatever other testing measures and metrics that you use. That's going back to the AI question, maybe that's something you can use to distill it down into something tangible and say in the end, what do we think we have with this player? Then we're prepared and then we're ready to go and we've got to make a decision. Going back, this is a little bit of a Vegas element here, a little bit of a roll of the dice. We're in the risk mitigation business as much as anything else. We try to make good decisions, try to make good, smart decisions and try to do things that are in the best interests of the Houston Texans organization. That's kind of what, I would say, is our ethos of how we operate and try to proceed.”

This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans GM Nick Caserio said ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft