HOUSTON – Luffy Smith made it clear that the Texans need to improve at full-back in order to “play the kind of football we want to play.”
The Texans did that Thursday night when they drafted the LSU Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. With pick number 3.
Stingley, who is 6-foot-1,190 pounds, held the Pan American titles in 2019 and 2020 but picked up a foot injury at the end of the season in September and played in just three games in 2021. The NFL scouts combined in February but they Take part in LSU’s daily professional workout earlier this month.
Stingley joins a corner group in Texas that includes Stephen NelsonAnd Desmond King II And Lonnie Johnson Jr..
Nelson, who is entering his eighth season in the NFL, signed with the team earlier this month. Johnson, a 2019 second-round pick, returns to his position away from safety in 2021. King moved out last season for the first time in his NFL career.
Stingley is the fourth angle to be drafted with the No. 3 pick in the Common Draft era (since 1967), with the highest used pick tied to the position in that range.
Texans are coming out for four consecutive seasons. They went 4-13 in 2021 under coach David Cooley, who was fired after one season and replaced by Smith, who was Cooley’s defense coordinator.
Texans have a history of drafting mostly defensive players in the first two rounds. Only nine of Houston’s 29 first- or second-round picks since 2004 have been on the offensive side of the ball. However, the last time the Texans got the No. 3 pick, they chose the future All-Pro wide receiver Andre Johnson.
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