Texans GM Nick Caserio drops truth bomb on trading out of first round of 2025 draft

The Houston Texans, led by general manager Nick Caserio, were quite busy during the 2025 NFL draft. The team ended up making nine selections over the seven-round event, while also swinging seven trades during the proceedings. According to Caserio, it sounds like the Texans had another trade in the works that did not end up coming to fruition.

Houston ended up not making a first-round pick in the 2025 draft after they traded the No. 25 overall pick to the New York Giants, who proceeded to draft Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. Prior to the draft, the Texans were rumored to be interested in trading up in the first round, which Caserio recently revealed was true. A deal didn't come to fruition, though, and they dropped out of the first round entirely in their deal with the Giants.

“It was pretty fluid,” Caserio said on “Up & Adams.” “We were kind of moving around, we were scheduled to pick at 25, we had about a handful of players during the course of Thursday who we felt comfortable picking … We tried to move up a little bit, it didn't really work out, then I'd say in about the 18, 19, 20 range we started to get some calls about our pick.”

Nick Caserio, Texans were forced to adapt quickly in 2025 NFL draft

While Caserio and the Texans wanted to move up the board, they ultimately were unable to make a deal happen, which could have been due to them not getting a deal they liked, or watching one of the players they were targeting getting selected before them. Rather than forcing a deal, Caserio opted to trade back and add another second-round pick.

The good news is that Houston still managed to land some potential star playmakers, as they selected the dynamic Iowa State wide receiver duo of Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in the second and third rounds, respectively. There were a lot of moving pieces in this year's draft, and had things played out differently for the Texans, they may have ended up moving up the board rather than trading out of the first round entirely.