Perfect Picks 2026 - Houston Texans
By Rhys Knott
Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans have constructed arguably the best defense in the league, but the Texans’ offense needs a lot of work. They really need to find a consistent run game to allow C.J. Stroud to flourish.
Nick Caserio has acquired David Montgomery in a trade with the Lions, but that’s only more evidence that the Texans don’t know really what they’re doing.
The “run game by committee” plan has never really worked in Houston. Last season, Nick Chubb accounted for 26% of the carries and Woody Marks had 41%. The Texans only ranked 22nd for yards on the ground and a dismal 27th for rushing touchdowns. Montgomery appears to be the latest guy to try to fit into the role Chubb played in 2025. But that committee still needs a Chairman.
It’s not fair to lay the blame at first year offensive coordinator, Nick Caley’s door, though. An inability to run the ball has been an issue in Houston since Arian Foster left in 2015 when they fell from 5th in the league to 15th!
The Texans’ run attack was marginally better in 2024 under Bobby Slowik (when Joe Mixon spearheaded the attack with 56% of the carries), ranking 15th, a significant improvement from 22nd in 2023.
Even before Ryans arrived (in 2023), Houston’s run game lagged behind the rest of the league, ranking 31st in 2022 and 32nd in 2021!
Ryans and Caserio have technically improved it, but the run game isn’t good enough to stress defenses in the postseason.
The Divisional round game in New England highlighted how the offensive line struggles when Trent Brown isn’t there. And it isn’t exactly dominant when he is there!
Brown’s run blocking earned a 71.3 grade from PFF, ranking him 28th of 89 tackles graded in 2025. And, despite being ranked the fifth-best pass-blocking unit in the league, PFF ranked the Texans’ 2025 offensive line 27th best in the league!
Time to start that rebuild.
Round 1 – Monroe Freeling (OT, Georgia)
Monroe Freeling currently projects as the 31st overall pick in the 2026 draft; luckily, the Texans pick 28th.
Freeling could be the fifth offensive tackle taken in this loaded class, but he is the most athletic. 21-year-old Freeling clocked a 4.93-second 40-yard dash at the combine!
The 2023 All-American received a 71.2 overall grade from PFF in 2025. His run blocking grade, however, lags behind his pass blocking. Freeling’s 61.3 grade for run blocking is almost 25 points lower. It’s still better than Teaxans’ new signing, Braden Smith’s 58 though.
It is difficult to say Freeling’s run blocking is consistently poor when his Georgia team ran for more than 170 yards on nine different occasions last season.
Even an average run blocking left tackle will add value to the Texans’ offense, but an average run blocker who only allowed five sacks in 37 games will definitely add value to the roster. Line him up alongside Ed Ingram (a top 12 interior offensive lineman with a 79.9 run blocking grade, whom the Texans must retain in free agency), and the Texans’ run game will improve immediately.
Round 2 – Max Klare (TE, Ohio State)
Dalton Schultz is a steadying influence on the Texans’ offense, but what they really need is an explosive tight end. Harrison Bryant, who played 12 games (and only caught two passes) in 2025 signed with the Eagles in free agency. And while Brevin Jordan is a valuable asset, he struggles to stay healthy.
Adding another receiving tight end (maybe two) would allow Nick Caley (a former tight ends coach in New England and Los Angeles) to run more 13 personnel.
According to Sharp Football, every single team in the league lined up in multi-tight end personnel more than the 2025 Texans!
Having three tight ends on the field will not only simplify C.J. Stroud’s job when it comes to identifying defensive personnel and alignments, but it will provide extra blockers when the Texans run play-action.
Ohio State product, Klare is 2026’s Terrance Ferguson, but he projects as the 75th overall pick. The Texans should make that reach.
Round 2 – Blake Miller (OT, Clemson)
While the Texans have signed Braden Smith to backup Trent Brown, they should still upskill the tackle position. Brown will be 33 when the season begins, but Smith is no spring chicken either at 30.
Clemson tackle Blake Miller is already flying up 2026 big boards. His stock is rising almost exponentially; he’s gone from a late second round pick to a lat efirst round pick in just six weeks. Some experts believe the 49ers could even take him at 27! It seems unlikely six tackles will be picked that early though.
The 21-year-old tackle has elite athleticism, really moving well in space and making getting to the second level look far easier than any 315 pound man should.
Miller played 808 snaps on the Tigers’ offense in 2025, allowing just two sacks and only drawing five penalty flags.
The concern surrounding Miller is not how high the ceiling is, but how low his floor is. A two-time first team All-American, Miller received a near-perfect 92.6 grade from PFF for his performance against Boston College in Week 7 last year. That came just three weeks after his 53.5 overall grade against Syracuse!
Miller should still be available at 38, but one draft analyst has mocked him to the Texans at 28!
Mid Round Gem – Jonah Coleman (RB, Washington)
Coleman reminds ESPN’s Benjamin Solak of Javonte Williams! That might be because they have comparable 40-yard times (4.58 seconds and 4.57 seconds). They’re also very similar sizes, and with their low centre’s of gravity, they both bounce off tackles.
22-year-old Coleman is an inch shorter and eight pounds heavier than his Cowboys counterpart, though. But he hasn’t had his right knee reconstructed. After tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior lateral corner and lateral medial ligament, Williams’ outlook was uncertain. Most observers will agree his 2025 season was a return to his previous best.
Coleman hasn’t completely avoided knee issues himself. The Washington Huskies running back suffered his own knee injury that impacted his workload and efficacy in November last year (because humans aren’t meant to weigh 100 kgs when they’re under 6 feet tall).
Had the former Arizona Wildcat maintained his early-season dominance (497 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns on 59 touches) throughout 2025, people would be talking about him as a potential first-round pick.
Bizarrely Coleman’s draft stock has fallen in recent months as draft analysts jump on the Jadarian Price bandwagon. That’s great news for Caserio and the Texans. Coleman should be the bell cow Nick Caley sorely needs.
Late Round Sleeper – Logan Jones (IOL, Iowa)
It’s scarcely believable that Jones was once projected as the 140th pick in this draft. The 2025 Rimmington Trophy winner for the best centre in college football on the Joe Moore award-winning offensive line is climbing the rankings all the time.
The latest projection has 24-year-old Jones as a fourth-round pick!
Landon Dickerson, Jackson Powers-Johnson and Garret Bradbury are all previous Rimmington Trophy winners, and they were all taken in the first two rounds!
If Jones makes it all the way to the second day of the draft, someone is getting a bargain.
Full Draft
28 (R1) – Monroe Freeling (OT, Georgia)
38 (R2) – Max Klare (TE, Ohio State)
59 (R2) – Blake Miller (OT, Clemson)
69 (R3) – Jonah Coleman (RB, Washington)
106 (R4) – Chris McClellan (EDGE, Missouri)
128 (R4) – Domani Jackson (CB, Alabama)
165 (R5) – Logan Jones (IOL, Iowa)
243 (R7) – Trebor Pena (WR, Penn State)
244 (R8) – Xavian Sorey Jr. (LB, Arkansas)
RHYS KNOTT
NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST
Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes