Texans GM outlines approach to NFL Trade Deadline

In Nick Caserio's four full seasons as the Houston Texans' general manager, he has yet to make a deal near the NFL trade deadline that brought talent back to Houston. In all four instances when the Texans have made a move in either October or November, it's been the Texans sending out the players -- Mark Ingram, Charles Omenihu, Cam Akers, Khalil Davis -- for draft picks in return.

This year, however, could prove to be different. The Texans are 2-3 heading into a Week 7 primetime matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, and there's a sense of desperation that wasn't necessarily present in each of Caserio's first four seasons in H-Town.

Houston entered the 2025 season with not just Playoff aspirations, but Super Bowl hopes as well, and as the Texans fight to hover around .500, it could end up being the push Caserio needs to break tradition and take a swing for someone who could help the team right away.

But is that the plan in Houston, or could we see a team that the metrics say is better than their record shows stand pat and go to battle with the players who have been in the building since the summer?

"There's always opportunities to improve your team, you just have to figure out what's the right mechanism. What's the right fit," Caserio said earlier this week, per Jared Koch of Sports Illustrated. "The reality is, if trades take place, it's probably to improve or upgrade their overall depth. Are you really trading for an impact player? It's probably hard this time of year, and then, there's some things that have to match up from a contractual standpoint."

Texans banking on contributions from within

So assuming we read into what Nick Caserio had to say and determine that because of the difficulties associated with making a trade for something more than just a depth piece, that means Houston doesn't do anything too splashy over the upcoming weeks. This raises an important question... are there any pathways toward improvement that Texans fans can bank on?

In addition to a handful of youngsters on the roster who could find another gear midseason, Nick Caserio believes that there are Texans players who have been injured and inactive who could end up occupying a necessary role this season.

"We have some players that we feel are going to be able to help our team that haven't played for us at this point," Caserio added. "Some of the players that are going to help us are in the building, they're just in a different category; they're on the reserve list, and we've had some players that have started practicing."

Earlier this week, veteran defensive end Denico Autry and rookie safety Jaylen Reed were elevated from the PUP list and had their 21-day practice window open up. Autry, who played 10 games for the Texans last season, was expected to be a depth piece along Houston's defensive line. Reed, a 6th round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, could occupy the same sort of role in Houston's secondary.

Perhaps the most notable absences are on the opposite side of the ball, where 2024 starters Joe Mixon and Tank Dell have been absent all season long. Mixon's injury status has been a mystery, and it doesn't appear that he's all that close to making a return to the field. The severity of Dell's injury is clearer than Mixon's, however, just a couple weeks back, it was revealed that the dynamic young wideout was already running sprints, giving some hope he could return to action this season.

More likely than not, Nick Caserio and the Texans shouldn't be expecting to see either Mixon or Dell return this year, which puts more pressure on the development of rookies like Woody Marks, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.