The Houston Texans put a heavy emphasis on the offensive side of the ball during their selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, with six of their total picks going offensively, five of those being skill positions.
However, one of those six additions to land some big praise from Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans following the three days of action was running back Woody Marks–– Houston's 116th-overall pick in the fourth round out of USC.
During his post-draft presser, Ryans shared some of his thoughts on Marks, and what gave him and the Texans' brass the appeal to pick him up on day three.
"Really like Woody [Marks], and what he's able to provide," Ryans said. "Really like him out of the backfield catching the football. Great hands, has the ability to make guys miss at the line of scrimmage, and the ability to play behind his pads, play physical. So, like the addition of him to our running back room."
During his final season at USC, Marks put together 198 carries in the backfield for 1,133 yards and nine touchdowns, while also making a dent in the passing game with 47 receptions for 321 yards through 12 games.
As a piece in the Texans' running back room, he projects to be a young, explosive spark to add next to veterans Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce, and could emerge with a larger change-of-pace role in Houston's offense down the stretch of his rookie season, and even presents some dual-threat upside as a receiver as well.
For Ryans and the Texans' draft war room, they clearly liked what they saw from the USC product, now bringing him in as one of many new offensive pieces at his disposal for the 2025 season and beyond.
DeMeco Ryans Shares Thoughts on Texans' Draft Class
The 2025 NFL Draft is finally wrapped up after three days of action in Green Bay, and with it, the Houston Texans picked up nine new rookies onto the roster.
All in all, the Texans picked up six new offensive pieces and three defensive, headlined by the pickups of Iowa State receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, tackle Aireontae Ersery, and defensive back Jaylin Smith through their first two days.
It's not a star-studded draft from Houston, nor is it one that included a first-rounder, thanks to their trade down with the New York Giants to acquire Jaxson Dart. But, in the eyes of Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, it's a draft class that the team feels pretty confident in.
"We feel really good about this draft class. Put a lot of work in," Ryans said. "Starts with our scouts, our coaches; guys put a lot of work in and did a great job evaluating talented guys. Not only about the talent, but also the people. We brought in a ton of great people, also great players, and that's the formula that we like. It's worked well for us, and we think these guys can come in, contribute, and help our team get better."
Perhaps one of the biggest driving factors in the Texans' scouting process was finding players with an ambitious mindset; a critical component in the eyes of Ryans for the team's culture.
"The mindset is definitely everything," Ryans said. "If you have the mindset to work, the mindset is you really enjoy and love playing football, that fits our building. That works for us. That works with the guys that we already have here. We have a ton of guys in our locker room already who love football. I just believe that when you love the game of football, we're going to get your best."
The Texans had two big needs entering this year's draft: wide receiver and offensive tackle. On day two, Houston was able to land a pair of Iowa State pass catchers with a diverse skillset to plug that receiver need, and Ersery can be the aspired developmental tackle the team can place in front of C.J. Stroud for the foreseeable future.
For the surrounding division in the AFC South, it was a splashy outcome: the Tennessee Titans landed their franchise quarterback in Cam Ward, the Jacksonville Jaguars moved up for a generational talent in Travis Hunter, and the Indianapolis Colts could've lucked into the best tight end in the class with Tyler Warren.
Still, Ryans, Nick Caserio, and the rest of the Texans brass were able to capitalize on value down the board and plug the necessary holes en route to their hopeful third-straight division win in 2025.
Time will tell how the results of this year's group of Texans rookies will pan out, but in the mind of Ryans and the Houston brass, it was an overall success in Green Bay.
