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The Houston Texans were without a doubt the most aggressive team on Day 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft. Heading into Thursday night, the club was armed with the No. 2 and No. 12 overall pick in the first round. Throughout the pre-draft process, Houston's odds of taking a quarterback or the top defensive player available seesawed as it relates to what they'd do at No. 2. Well, the club went with a signal-caller at that spot, selecting Ohio State's C.J. Stroud. 

While that seemed to end that debate, the Texans then threw the NFL a curveball by leaping back up to the No. 3 overall pick to come away with Alabama pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. in a blockbuster trade with the Arizona Cardinals. 

"I walk on the stage and see some of my friends and I'm just like, 'I just got picked,'" Stroud said Thursday about the moment he realized his new teamed traded up to take Anderson. "I do the interview. I'm walking down and I go say what's up to the Texans fans. They said I was the only one to do that, to go down, so I thought that was kind of cool. And then I look up and I see 'The Pick Is In' but it says the Texans. I'm like, 'I just got picked. That can't be true.' And I'm like, 'Nah, they just traded. They finna get Will [Anderson Jr.].' I had the biggest smile on my face. I was super stocked."

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The trade did cost Houston a pretty penny. In exchange for the No. 3 overall pick and the ability to select Anderson, the Texans shipped away the No. 12 overall pick along with the No. 33 overall pick, Houston's 2024 first-round pick, and a 2024 third-rounder. The Texans also received a fourth-rounder in the deal (No. 105). 

"God makes no mistakes," Anderson said when asked about Houston trading back up to No. 3. "All I've been praying about was, 'God, I know you got me. Whatever fit that you put me in I know it's the right fit for me. I know it's the right place for me.' And I think it just proved that the Houston Texans was the right place for me. 

"It just showed me that they think I'm a special player, that I'm a high character guy and they believe in me to go in there and just do everything I said -- keep my head down, work hard, and just bring energy every day. I appreciate it so much. I told them a dozen times. ... I'm so appreciative of them. I don't take this for granted cause that just showed me how much they actually wanted me here. That's all I wanted. I wanted to go somewhere where I felt wanted, where I felt like it was family and that's what I'm big on. So, just getting that feeling from them it means everything." 

This deal made the Texans just the third team in the Common Draft Era to have two picks inside the top three and the first since Washington in 2000. Given their draft pedigree, both Stroud and Anderson are now looked at to be pillars of the Houston organization going forward as the franchise aims to get back into postseason contention.