Opposing GM blasts Texans for Week 18 victory

It turns out fans of the Houston Texans were not the only ones bothered that the club did not phone in the final game of the 2022 season in order to "earn" the top pick in last month's draft. 

"Earlier in the offseason, I had a conversation with a general manager who told me he’d be furious at (former Houston head coach) Lovie Smith if he were (Texans GM) Nick Caserio over the way Houston’s Week 18 game was handled," Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer explained in a column published Wednesday.

"He said that he wouldn’t tank a whole season, under any circumstances, but in the case where he was that close, and winning a game had lost its meaning, he saw it as borderline malpractice to not do what you could to get the first pick." 

While the Texans controversially used a two-point conversion to defeat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18 and finish with a 3-13-1 record, the Chicago Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings that same afternoon to end their campaign with a 3-14 record and in possession of the draft's first-overall choice. 

Houston subsequently fired Smith and the Bears ultimately received multiple noteworthy assets from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for the aforementioned No. 1 pick. Carolina used that selection to take Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young, while Houston in turn grabbed Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud with the second overall selection.

"Now, to be clear, I’m not saying any player should ever be told to go into a game and give less than his best, nor should a coach ask that of him," Breer added. "What I am saying is that these are things that can have long-lasting impacts on franchises—and, when an elite quarterback prospect is involved, can quite literally be franchise-changing." 

The Texans decision to draft Stroud and then move back up to snag pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. at pick No. 3 could make the organization a big winner of this year's draft regardless of what happened in January, though.

Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the SI piece is that it features an NFL executive essentially admitting that -- as Breer put it -- teams "manufacture" losses late in seasons with draft classes in mind.