The Houston Texans selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud No. 2 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, surprising a ton of experts in the process.
If that weren’t enough, the Texans made an absolutely huge splash mere minutes later by moving up from the 12th selection in the draft to No. 3 overall with the Arizona Cardinals.
With that selection, the Houston Texans picked former Alabama star edge rusher Will Anderson. Here are the details of the stunning blockbuster.
- Houston Texans get: 3rd pick (Will Anderson), 105th pick
- Arizona Cardinals get: 12th pick, 33rd pick, 2024 1st-round pick, 2024 3rd-round pick
That is a whole heck of a lot to trade given that the Texans’ second-round pick on Friday is at the top of the round. Yielding a first and third in 2024 adds another layer to this.
With that said, Anderson adds a new layer to the mix for first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans who had a ton of success working with fellow edge rusher Nick Bosa as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator over the past two seasons.
Related: Will Anderson NFL Draft profile and scouting report
Over the course of the past two seasons with Alabama, Anderson recorded a combined 48 tackles for loss and 27.5 sacks. He will be a Day 1 starter and a potential Pro Bowl performer for the Houston Texans out of the gate.
As for the Cardinals, they had been mulling several offers for the third pick leading up to the start of the draft. Arizona has a built-in franchise guy in that of Kyler Murray and no need to add another signal caller to the mix. Instead, first-year general manager Monti Ossenfort opted to add more draft assets to the mix as Arizona pretty much starts anew with a rebuild.
Arizona is coming off a disastrous 2022 campaign in which it won just four games. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim were fired due to their roles in those struggles.