There are a lot of names currently up for debate regarding the Houston Texans’ third overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Many analysts, especially nationally, project NC State’s Ikem Ekwonu or Alabama’s Evan Neal as the first pick to provide a young, foundational tackle as the team enters a rebuild. Others project Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux and Georgia’ Travon Walker to be a force at the point of attack for new coach Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 defense. Everyone wants to build the trenches.
However, everyone is also taking note of how Smith talked about his secondary last week. In particular, he addressed weakness at the cornerback position during 2021 and the necessity to improve if teams want to win more games.
Smith’s April 11 meeting with the Houston media also included talking about his optimism for safeties Jonathan Owens and Eric Muray, the latter of which has proven himself not to be a starting NFL-caliber safety during his tenure in Houston.
These comments, paired with an excellent draft-season process, have elevated former Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad Gardner firmly into contention for the Texans’ selection at third overall. Previously it was discussed that he was a lock for the top-5 by virtue of the New York Jets.
Gardner is one of two consensus elite defensive backs in this class alongside Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton. However, Hamilton’s stock looks very different. Hamilton opened the draft season as a top-8 lock and, since running his 40-time, is now no longer considered likely to go in the top-10.
This juxtaposition is particularly interesting when examining the prospect profiles. There are very few analysts that would say Gardner is a better prospect than Hamilton, in fact Hamilton is nearly consensus ranked higher. NFL.com (1st vs. 6th), The Draft Network (1st vs. 10th), ESPN (4th vs. 5th) and Sports Illustrated (3rd vs. 7th) all have Hamilton graded as a better prospect than the Cincinnati corner.
Entering the draft prospect it was…