One hundred and ninety four. That's how many rookies were drafted ahead of Roy Lopez, in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Arizona talent fell into the sixth round until the Houston Texans scooped him up with their final pick. In a small draft class - just five rookies in total - there were certainly not very high expectations for any of the newbies.

Lopez, however, has far exceeded what seemed realistic and is shining not only as a starter, but as the best rookie in the Texans' class. Let's break down what this star pupil has been doing well, why his game has translated so quickly and some improvement areas to look forward to in the future.

With the Houston Texans enjoying a bye week, let's look ahead to the 2022 NFL Draft and analyze the man who will be making nine picks (for now). Has Nick Caserio finally stepped out of the powerful shadow casted by Bill Belichick and become ready to reinvent his draft process?

Caserio has completed 13 drafts since becoming the New England Patriots Director of Player Personnel back in 2008, to becoming the Texans General Manager in 2021. With over a decade of experience, one would naturally think Caserio has gotten positive results, but in fact, more of his picks have "busted" than succeeded.

This article isn't intended to be all doom and gloom - I'm going to do my best to explain why the Patriots have had mediocre draft success, what attributes Caserio has valued in prospects...

No matter what the players, coaches, or general manager Nick Caserio said, the outlook of the 2021 season was going to be a bleak one for the Houston Texans.

Rookie quarterback Davis Mills has had a rollercoaster-like 6.5 games for the Houston Texans and his evaluation is one of many debacles that divides the fanbase this season.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't hate Davis Mills. I don't want to see him fail - that's a pretty sad way to think about the quarterback for my favorite sports team in the world. What I do want is to be realistic, so that we aren't setting too lofty of expectations for the kid and end up getting hurt in the process - we've endured enough pain already.

In a nutshell, Mills has had some bright moments this season no doubt but if the Texans are going to put their faith into him as their franchise quarterback of the future, they'll fall into the dangerous trap of mediocrity and struggle to win a Super Bowl.

To see how I came to that conclusion, let's discuss Mills' performance so far, attempt to project his future and see what that potentially means for the Houston Texans hope of turning around the organization.

We are officially mid-way through the 2021-2022 college football season, thus it’s time to check in on NFL Draft prospects’ stock. This one is simple, I give you my midseason top three players at each position and if you have any thoughts, please feel free to @ me on Twitter to discuss! Let’s begin.

Hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but I have more questions than answers at this time regarding the Houston Texans and Deshaun Watson’s trade saga.

After starting just one game and playing 24% of the snaps as a rookie in 2020, Jonathan Greenard is making the most of his starting opportunities in 2021. Six games into the 2021-2022 NFL season, Greenard has started the last four matches - he only played in 25% of the snaps vs the Bills so it's kind of three starts - in which he's tallied an impressive 13 tackles, four sacks, six tackles for loss, five quarterback hits and eight pressures.

He's done all this while still not playing as much as the typical "starter" does, averaging 55% snap count in his three starts and being incredibly efficient to the point of being 2nd in the NFL in snaps per sack (per Ryan Riddle).

The Houston Texans have a delicate matter to manage between the present and the future.

The Houston Texans have a non-existent run game and it's killing their offense

Peanut butter is pivotal to many effective dishes - a PB&J just wouldn't have the right balance without peanut butter, a Pad Thai just wouldn't have the same nutty flavor without peanut butter and the Houston Texans offense just doesn't run smoothly without peanut butter.

In many ways, an offensive coordinator's run game is similar to a chef's peanut butter. They are moldable to the personnel they're paired with, both can be versatile in how they are deployed and often times neither are the center of attention, but the carefully crafted masterpiece would fall apart without it.

Just like peanut butter, the run game is supposed to be a reliable element that offensive coordinators use as a foundation to build off of. The best minds in the game force defenses to respect the run and put them in conflict of assignment to create advantages in the passing game.

We've all heard the phrase, "Establish the run" and I think Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach, Brandon Staley talks...

Centers are becoming a premium position and the 2022 NFL draft class can provide teams with the pivot they need

As the Houston Texans head to Cleveland to take on the Browns, I've done my best to construct a rough game plan that can improve our odds of winning. If you missed part one, I highlighted the Texans defense versus the Browns offense which is going to be a tough task to handle.

In this article, I'll look at the other side of the ball and break down what Tim Kelly, Tyrod Taylor and co. can do to put some points on the board, let's dive in.

The Houston Texans sit atop the AFC South after their victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Week One commencement of the 2021-2022 NFL season. In Week Two, they head to Cleveland to take on the 0-1 Browns, who fell to the Kansas City Chiefs.

While I would be lying to you if I told you I was very confident in a Texans victory this week, I'm not counting us out and believe that on any given Sunday, any team can win or lose to any team. With that being said, I've constructed a game plan (defensive keys Friday, offensive keys Saturday!) that can improve the Texans' odds in achieving victory - let's get into it!

The Houston heat is bearing down on two men; quarterback Deshaun Watson and general manager Nick Caserio stare into each other's eyes like a classic Western showdown, awaiting the first blink. Deshaun and his camp have emptied their clip, utilizing the media like a 35 revolver in an attempt to shape the narrative in their favor. Nick doesn't care, hasn't budged, and when asked to comment, replies, "what's a Tweeter?".

With less than a week to go until the start of the 2021-2022 NFL Season, the Houston Texans just officially named Tyrod Taylor as their starting quarterback. There was little shock involved with this announcement and confirms that the most likely scenario the team is heading towards is paying Watson around 10 million to be inactive for the rest of the season. The Texans will likely provide the...

Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux has the inside track on being the best prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft Class and the type of blue-chip EDGE player who you can build a dominant defense around. As I continue to break down the top college prospects who could potentially be a foundational building block for the Houston Texans rebuild, Kayvon playing the most important non-QB position in football creates serious intrigue, which he backs up.

It's time to discuss who Kayvon is, how he harnesses his elite athleticism to win on the field, what areas of his game I'd like to see him improve upon going forward and why I'm confident he has the tools to take those steps.

With the college football season starting today it brings me great joy to officially kick off what will be one of the most important draft cycles for the Houston Texans.

While the team has been showing a much better performance in preseason than majority expected - don't pencil in the #1 pick just yet - building through the draft is the best proven way to build a sustainable contender.

Thus, the anonymity of where our first round pick (and the rest of our draft capital that Nick Caserio loves trading for) lands motivates me to cast a decently wide net in regards to this article.

I am going to provide an early name for each position on offense and defense (sorry special teams) that I believe fits the Texans identity and scheme.

They won't all be projected first rounders or the top players at their respective positions, but that's the fun part - let's learn about some names to keep an eye on this year!

I saw a different Houston Texans team than in years past...

The energy and passion was evident on the field as teammates rallied to the ball, fought physically in the trenches and celebrated doing what they love to do - play fun football.

Simply put, this Saturday was FUN. In a preseason match vs the Green Bay Packers who went 13-3 last year, not many expected the Houston Texans to come out victorious, let alone in the convincing fashion they displayed.

I know, I know, it's only one game in preseason, but a W is a W. If we had lost, the narrative by the NFL media - and some fans - would be that we're the same ol' Texans and a poverty franchise that is going nowhere.

So you BET I'm going to be happy when we start off the season on the right page and display a drastic change from the dumpster fire that was 2020.

With the unresolved Quarterback problem at the helm of the Houston Texans stratosphere, I felt compelled to evaluate some of the top college QBs in the 2022 NFL Draft Class.

This will be the first edition in a multi-part series breaking down who the experts have among the top of the prospect food chain, and some sleepers who could potentially rise and surprise - I hope you enjoy.

As voted by y'all on Twitter, let's start with the cream of the crop, Spencer Rattler, the - for the most part - consensus top QB in all of college football.

I watched the All-22 view of 4 of his 2020 games; Kansas State, Texas, TCU and Baylor....

Rookie seasons in the NFL are incredibly tough. In a 2020 year that many will want to forget, Houston Texans rookie DT Ross Blacklock, had just about every obstacle imaginable in his path to success. Virtual rookie minicamp, a defensive system that didn't fit his skillset and multiple injuries to teammates that forced him into uncomfortable positions.

Despite the challenges that led many to question the impact of the Texans 40th overall pick, Ross' keen self-awareness and understanding that "it's a marathon not a sprint" will prove valuable for the 2021 season.

It would've been very easy for Blacklock to buy into the negativity surrounding him and the Texans as a whole. Instead, he's blocked out the noise, put his head down and worked incredibly hard to prove his doubters wrong.

Ross has been one of...

Hello, it's been a while - about two months - since my last article. I took some time off to clear my head of the constant negativity surrounding the Texans, work on myself a bit and focus on some career opportunities. NOW IM BACK BABY!

With the 2021 NFL season knocking on the doorstep we've got one big checkpoint to pass, training camp. Our Houston Texans will meet back up and look to implement new schemes, build more chemistry among players+coaches and of course, COMPETE. To keep this intro relatively short and sweet, here's my preview for what to look for and expect out of the next month.

IF you aren't a big fan of reading, I get it! Here's a video version of this article for my fellow Texans fans with poor attention spans like me!

Welcome to our first Houston Texans mailbag! Thanks to the Texans fans who participated, we have plenty to talk about for our first feature.