The 2025 NFL Draft is officially underway, as the three-day event continues from Green Bay, Wisconsin this week. The Houston Texans held the 25th overall pick to open the first round on Thursday night, but it did not last too long. After the Minnesota Vikings took Texans offensive line target Donovan Jackson one pick before at 24th overall, Houston decided to trade out of the first round.
The Texans then traded the 25th pick to the New York Giants and gained a sizeable haul for it. The Texans received the 34th overall pick, the 99th pick, and a 2026 third round pick. This coming after a deal earlier today, where they traded two sixth rounders and a 7th rounder to the Browns, in exchange for the 166th pick this year, and a 2027 5th round pick.
Adam Wexler of SportsTalk 790 says the move out of the first round helps the Texans bolster their stock. "The Texans had seven selections in the 2025 NFL Draft coming into the night…as we sit here now, they have gone from seven picks to ten picks," he says. Houston now has two second-round picks, three third-round picks, two sixth-round picks, and three seventh-round picks in 2025.
But even more important, after Jackson went off the board, it allows the Texans to reset and figure out their next steps. "You have all night, into the beginning of the second round, to put together whatever else you want to do," says Wexler. "You have the second pick of the day.
There are a lot of options with all the picks you have acquired and gives everyone else a chance to recalibrate what they might like to do." Meanwhile, a Houston-area native was taken first overall in the draft. Quarterback Cam Ward, from West Columbia in Brazoria County, was taken with the first pick by the Tennessee Titans.
Ward played at Incarnate Word and Washington State, before spending last season at the University of Miami. He is the first Houston-area native to be taken 1st overall in the draft since Andrew Luck in 2012. The Texans will now be the second pick on the board when the second round begins on Friday night.
Coverage of the draft will be held on SportsTalk 790.
