It's the Houston Texans' world and we're just living in it. The Texans had the No. 2 overall pick heading into the 2023 NFL Draft and used it to select quarterback C.J. Stroud out of Alabama.
But they were not done yet.
The Texans surprised by trading up with the Arizona Cardinals to go back-to-back with the No. 3 pick. Houston used that pick to take a top defensive player in the draft, edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. out of Alabama.
Selecting two players have picks in the top 10 in the same draft is rare. It had only happened 19 times in the common draft era before Thursday. Most recently the New York Jets had two selections in the top 10 in 2022: No. 4, which they used to take cornerback Sauce Gardner, and No. 10, where they selected Garrett Wilson.
The New York Giants also had two picks in the top 10 last year, taking defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux at No. 5 and tackle Evan Neal at No. 7
Even less common than having two top-10 picks is having two picks in the top three. Only three teams, including the Texans, have taken two players in the first three overall picks.
Before the Texans did it, Washington did it in 2000, drafting linebacker LaVar Arrington and offensive tackle Chris Samuels, and the 1992 Colts selected defensive end Steve Emtman and linebacker Quentin Coryatt.
Houston also joins an exclusive group of teams to draft a defensive player in the top 3 in back-to-back years. In 2022 the Texans picked cornerback Derek Stingley at No. 3, and this year picked Anderson also at No. 3.
In 2000, the Cleveland Browns had defensive end Courtney Brown fist overall and defensive tackle in 2001 at No. 3. Defensive end Art Still was taken by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1978 at No. 2 and the next year the team picked defensive lineman Mike Bell at No. 2. The 1974 Dallas Cowboys used the first overall pick to take defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones and in 1975 took defensive tackle Randy White at No. 2.
