HOUSTON TEXANS 2017 NFL DRAFT NOTES THURSDAY SATURDAY, APRIL 27 29, 2017 TEXANS 2017 DRAFT PICKS TABLE OF CONTENTS TEXANS DRAFT INDEX

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1 HOUSTON TEXANS 2017 NFL DRAFT NOTES THURSDAY SATURDAY, APRIL 27 29, 2017 TEXANS 2017 DRAFT PICKS Rd Pick Ovl Player Pos HT WT School Deshaun Watson QB Clemson Zach Cunningham ILB Vanderbilt D Onta Foreman RB Texas Julién Davenport T Bucknell 4 36* 142 Carlos Watkins DE Clemson Treston Decoud CB Oregon State Kyle Fuller C Baylor * - Acquired from the Cleveland Browns TEXANS DRAFT INDEX Below is a look at the Texans draft selections by position and round in the NFL Draft since 2002, not including the Supplemental Draft: Draft Round Pos Total QB RB WR TE OT OG C/LS DE DT LB CB S K/P 1 1 Total TABLE OF CONTENTS 2017 TEXANS DRAFT CLASS NOTES Draft Picks and Notes Texans Draft Day Trades...10 DRAFT PICK BIOS QB Deshaun Watson ILB Zach Cunningham...12 RB D Onta Foreman...13 T Julién Davenport...14 DE Carlos Watkins...15 CB Treston Decoud...16 C Kyle Fuller...17 TRANSCRIPTS Rick Smith & Bill O Brien April 27 Press Conference...18 Deshaun Watson Conference Call...20 Deshaun Watson Introductory Press Conference...21 Rick Smith & Bill O Brien April 28 Press Conference...23 Zach Cunningham Conference Call...25 D Onta Foreman Conference Call...26 Rick Smith and Bill O Brien April 29 Press Conference...27 Julién Davenport Conference Call...28 Treston Decoud Conference Call...29 Kyle Fuller Conference Call...29 Carlos Watkins Conference Call...30 DRAFT HISTORY By Year...31 By Position...32 By College...33 By Round...34 TEXANS ROSTERS Texans Roster by Round...35 Texans Alphabetical Roster...36 Texans Numerical Roster...37 Houston Texans Communications NRG Stadium Two NRG Park Houston, Texas 77054

2 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES THE LAST TIME THE TEXANS DRAFTED A... Pos. Year Player, College Rd. Overall QB 2017 Deshaun Watson, Clemson 1 12 RB 2017 D Onta Foreman, Texas 3 89 FB 2014 Jay Prosch, Auburn WR 2016 Will Fuller V, Notre Dame 1 21 Braxton Miller, Ohio St TE 2014 C.J. Fiedorowicz, Iowa 3 65 C 2017 Kyle Fuller, Baylor G 2014 Xavier Su a-filo, UCLA 2 33 T 2017 Julién Davenport, Bucknell S 2016 K.J. Dillon, West Virginia CB 2017 Treston Decoud, Oregon State LB 2017 Zach Cunningham, Vanderbilt 2 57 DE 2017 Carlos Watkins, Clemson DT 2016 D.J. Reader, Clemson K 2012 Randy Bullock, Texas A&M TEXANS TRADE UP TO SELECT QB DESHAUN WATSON The Houston Texans traded up to the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Clemson QB Deshaun Watson. It marked the second time in franchise history and second year in a row that the Texans traded their first-round pick to move up. This also marks the second year in a row the Texans drafted an offensive player in the first round. The Texans have not drafted a quarterback in the first round since QB David Carr in the 2002 NFL Expansion Draft and last drafted a quarterback in 2014 when they took QB Tom Savage in the fourth round (135th overall). Houston has drafted four players from Clemson in team history and all four are on the current Texans roster, including WR DeAndre Hopkins, NT D.J. Reader and DE Carlos Watkins. QB DESHAUN WATSON IS The second quarterback taken in the first round by the Texans and the first since David Carr in 2002 The sixth offensive player selected in the first round in team history The eighth quarterback selected in team history and the first since Tom Savage in 2014 The 12th player on the current Texans roster selected in the first round The third player from Clemson drafted by the Texans, joining current players WR DeAndre Hopkins and NT D.J. Reader The 17th overall first-round selection in franchise history The first quarterback selected 12th overall since Christian Ponder (Minnesota Vikings) in 2011 DESHAUN WATSON CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Guided Clemson to consecutive College Football Playoff appearances and the school s second National Championship Led Clemson to 28 wins over his final two seasons ( ) Two-time Heisman Trophy finalist; finished third in 2015 and second in 2016 to become first ACC player to finish in the top three of the voting on multiple occasions Two-time recipient of the Davey O Brien Award, one of only four quarterbacks to win the award twice, and the first since Oklahoma s Jason White in Compiled a 32-3 (.914) record as a starter, best winning percentage in school history for a quarterback Threw for 10,163 yards and 90 career touchdowns First in Clemson history in career completion percentage (67.4), passing efficiency (157.5) and total offense per game (318.3) New Texans QB Deshaun Watson is a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist and two-time recipient of the Davey O Brien Award. He compiled a 32-3 (.914) record as a starter, which is the best winning percentage in school history for a quarterback. STREAK OF TIGERS The Texans have drafted four players from Clemson University in franchise history. This year s first-round pick, QB Deshaun Watson, and fourth-round pick, DE Carlos Watkins, join WR DeAndre Hopkins and NT D.J. Reader as former Tigers on the Texans current roster. Watson (2017) and Hopkins (2013) join former South Carolina Gamecocks CB Dunta Robinson (2004) and DE Jadeveon Clowney (2014) as the only Texans first-round picks from the same school. TEXANS DRAFTED FROM CLEMSON Year Position Player Round Pick 2013 WR DeAndre Hopkins NT D.J. Reader QB Deshaun Watson DE Carlos Watkins NO. 12 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 12th overall selection in the first round since 2007: 12TH OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Deshaun Watson QB Clemson Houston Texans 2016 Sheldon Rankins DT Louisville New Orleans Saints 2015 Danny Shelton NT Washington Cleveland Browns 2014 Odell Beckham Jr. WR LSU New York Giants 2013 DJ Hayden CB Houston Oakland Raiders 2012 Fletcher Cox DT Mississippi State Philadelphia Eagles 2011 Christian Ponder QB Florida State Minnesota Vikings 2010 Ryan Mathews RB Fresno State San Diego Chargers 2009 Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia Denver Broncos 2008 Ryan Clady T Boise State Denver Broncos 2007 Marshawn Lynch RB California Buffalo Bills TEXANS ALL-TIME QUARTERBACKS DRAFTED Below is a look at the eight quarterbacks who have been drafted by the Texans: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Deshaun Watson Tom Savage T.J. Yates Alex Brink B.J. Symons Drew Henson Dave Ragone David Carr 1 1 2

3 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES TEXANS SELECT ILB ZACH CUNNINGHAM IN ROUND 2 The Houston Texans selected Vanderbilt ILB Zach Cunningham with the 25th pick in Round 2 (57th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. Cunningham is the 16th linebacker drafted in team history and fourth linebacker taken in the second round by Houston, joining ILB Demeco Ryans (2006), OLB Brooks Reed (2011) and ILB Benardrick McKinney (2015). Eighteen of Houston s 25 first- or second-round picks since 2004 have been on the defensive side of the ball. Cunningham is the seventh defensive player selected in the second round in team history and second player from Vanderbilt drafted by the Texans, joining current S Andre Hal. Former WR Andre Johnson helped the Texans announce the choice of Cunningham from Philadelphia. ZACH CUNNINGHAM IS The fourth linebacker taken in the second round by the Texans and first since Benardrick McKinney in 2015 The seventh defensive player selected in the second round in team history The 16th linebacker selected in team history and the first since Reshard Cliett in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft The fifth player on the current Texans roster selected in the second round The second player from Vanderbilt drafted by the Texans, joining current S Andre Hal The 13th overall second-round selection in franchise history The first linebacker selected 57th overall since James Darling (Philadelphia Eagles) in 1997 ZACH CUNNINGHAM CAREER HIGHLIGHTS First-team All-American in 2016 and two-time first-team All-SEC ( ) Finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation s top overall linebacker Compiled an SEC-best 119 total tackles in 2016, which ranked 11th overall nationally, and registered 16.5 tackles for loss, finishing second in the SEC Became the first unanimous All-American in Vanderbilt history and seventh Commodore to earn consensus All-American honors Finished his redshirt season in 2014 with 103 tackles and 4.5 sacks and was named first team All-SEC Compiled 295 total tackles, 39.5 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks, seven forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 36 career games (27 starts) at Vanderbilt ( ) PLAYERS HELP ANNOUNCE DAY 2 DRAFT PICKS Former Texans WR Andre Johnson and current ILB Brian Cushing helped announce the team s Day 2 selections for the 2017 NFL Draft. Johnson, who is the franchise s all-time leading reciever and one of the most popular players in team history, announced Houston s pick of ILB Zach Cunningham in the second round. Johnson signed a one-day contract with Houston last week that allowed him to retire as a member of the organization. In Round 3, the Texans were represented by Cushing, the franchise s 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and all-time leading tackler. He was a first-round pick of the Texans in 2009 and announced the Texans selection of RB D Onta Foreman. COUPLE OF COMMODORES The Texans have drafted two players from Vanderbilt University in franchise history. This year s second-round pick, ILB Zach Cunningham, joins S Andre Hal as former Commodores on the Texans current roster. TEXANS DRAFTED FROM VANDERBILT Year Position Player Round Pick 2017 ILB Zach Cunningham S Andre Hal New Texans ILB Zach Cunningham was a first-team All-American in 2016 and a finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation s top overall linebacker. He compiled an SEC-best 119 total tackles, which ranked 11th overall nationally. NO. 57 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 57th overall selection in the second round since 2007: 57TH OVERALL PICKS Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Zach Cunningham ILB Vanderbilt Houston Texans 2016 T.J. Green S Clemson Indianapolis Colts 2015 Rob Havenstein T Wisconsin St. Louis Rams 2014 Carlos Hyde RB Ohio State San Francisco 49ers 2013 D.J. Swearinger S South Carolina Houston Texans 2012 Brock Osweiler QB Arizona State Denver Broncos 2011 Mikel Leshoure RB Illinois Detroit Lions 2010 Terrence Cody DT Alabama Baltimore Ravens 2009 Paul Kruger DE Utah Baltimore Ravens 2008 Chad Henne QB Michigan Miami Dolphins 2007 Victor Abiamiri DE Notre Dame Philadelphia Eagles TEXANS ALL-TIME LINEBACKERS DRAFTED Below is a look at the 16 linebackers who have been drafted by the Texans. Houston has drafted more linebackers in team history than any other position: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Zach Cunningham Benardrick McKinney Reshard Cliett Jadeveon Clowney Sam Montgomery Trevardo Williams Whitney Mercilus Brooks Reed Cheta Ozougwu Darryl Sharpton Brian Cushing Xavier Adibi Zac Diles DeMeco Ryans Kenneth Pettway Charlie Anderson 6 200

4 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES NO. 89 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 89th overall selection in the third round since 2007: New Texans RB D Onta Foreman rushed for 2,782 yards in his career (9th most in school history) and 20 touchdowns. He was a 2016 consensus All-American and finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting in TEXANS DRAFT RB D ONTA FOREMAN The Houston Texans used the 25th pick in the third round (89th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft on Texas RB D Onta Foreman. Houston has drafted 12 running backs in team history, including RB Tyler Ervin last year. This also marks the third consecutive year that Houston has drafted a running back. Foreman is the first Longhorn drafted by Houston since 2008 and first Longhorn drafted by the Texans in the first three rounds in team history. The Texans have drafted 19 players overall and at least one player in all but the 2013, 2014 and 2016 drafts that either went to college or high school in Texas, or has some connection to the state. Houston took two players with Texas ties in the 2017 NFL Draft, Foreman and C Kyle Fuller. It is the first time the Texans have drafted multiple players with connections to Texas since Foreman was introduced on stage by Texans ILB Brian Cushing, the franchise s 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and all-time leading tackler. D ONTA FOREMAN IS The third running back taken in the third round by the Texans and the first since Steve Slaton in 2008 The 16th offensive player selected in the third round in team history The 12th running back selected in team history and the first since Tyler Ervin in 2016 The fourth player on the current Texans roster selected in the third round The fourth player from Texas drafted by the Texans and first Longhorn drafted by Houston since 2008 The 22nd overall third-round selection in franchise history The first running back selected 89th overall since Steve Slaton (Houston Texans) in 2008 D ONTA FOREMAN CAREER HIGHLIGHTS A three-year running back for the Longhorns who won the 2016 Doak Walker Award Played in 28 career games with 10 starts, all coming in 2016 Rushed for 2,782 yards in his career (ninth most in school history) and 20 touchdowns Had 15 career 100-yard rushing games, including a school-record 13 straight to end his Longhorns career 2016 consensus All-American, the first UT running back to earn those honors since Ricky Williams in 1998 Finalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award and finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting in TH OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 D Onta Foreman RB Texas Houston Texans 2016 Javon Hargrave DT South Carolina State Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 Sean Mannion QB Oregon State St. Louis Rams 2014 Chris Watt G Notre Dame San Diego Chargers 2013 Brennan Williams T North Carolina Houston Texans 2012 Akiem Hicks DT Regina New Orleans Saints 2011 Shareece Wright CB USC San Diego Chargers 2010 Armanti Edwards WR Appalachian State Carolina Panthers 2009 Jared Cook TE South Carolina Tennessee Titans 2008 Steve Slaton RB West Virginia Houston Texans 2007 Aaron Rouse S Virginia Tech Green Bay Packers TEXANS ALL-TIME RUNNING BACKS DRAFTED Below is a look at the 12 running backs who have been drafted by the Texans: Year Player Round Overall 2017 D Onta Foreman Tyler Ervin Kenny Hilliard Alfred Blue Jay Prosch (FB) Ben Tate Steve Slaton Wali Lundy Vernand Morency Domanick Williams Jonathan Wells Jarrod Baxter (FB) TEXAS TO TEXANS The Texans have drafted four players from the University of Texas in franchise history. This year s third-round pick, RB D Onta Foreman, is the first Longhorn drafted by Houston since 2008 and first Longhorn drafted by the Texans in the first three rounds in team history. TEXANS DRAFTED FROM TEXAS Year Position Player Round Pick 2017 RB D Onta Foreman DT Frank Okam G Kasey Studdard WR Sloan Thomas SPECIAL GUEST ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR DAY 3 On the third and final day of the 2017 NFL Draft, the Texans announced their draft selections from Space Center Houston. Peggy Whitson, who is currently in space aboard the International Space Station, helped introduce the team s picks and sent it down to Earth for the live announcements. Whitson broke the record for cumulative time in space by a U.S. astronaut on April 24 when she surpassed 535 days. Astronaut Scott Kelly also helped make the team s Round 4 and 5 pick announcements. The astronauts were joined by Houston Texans Cheerleaders and TORO at the event. 4

5 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES HOME GROWN The Texans have drafted 19 players overall and at least one player in all but the 2013, 2014 and 2016 drafts that either went to college or high school in Texas or has some connection to the state. Houston took two players with Texas ties in the 2017 NFL Draft, RB D Onta Foreman and C Kyle Fuller. It is the first time the Texans have drafted multiple players with connections to Texas since Below is a look at players the Texans have drafted who are either from Texas or went to college in Texas. TEXANS DRAFTED BY THE TEXANS Rd. Pick Player College Pos. Hometown DeMarcus Faggins Kansas State CB Irving The Texans have not drafted a quarterback in the first round since QB David Carr in the 2002 NFL Expansion Draft and last drafted a quarterback in 2014 when they took QB Tom Savage in the fourth round (135th overall). TEXANS GO OFFENSE IN FIRST ROUND For the second year in a row, the Texans drafted an offensive player in the first round. It is the second time in team history the Texans took a offensive player in the first round in back-to-back drafts and the first time since Houston drafted a defensive player in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Historically, the Texans have drafted mostly defensive players in the first two rounds. Only seven of Houston s 25 first- or second-round picks since 2004 have been on the offensive side of the ball. HOUSTON TEXANS FIRST- AND SECOND-ROUND DRAFT PICKS, Year Player Pos. Rd. Pk College 2017 Deshaun Watson QB 1 12 Clemson 2017 Zach Cunningham ILB 2 57 Vanderbilt 2016 Will Fuller V WR 1 21 Notre Dame 2016 Nick Martin C 2 50 Notre Dame 2015 Kevin Johnson CB 1 16 Wake Forest 2015 Benardrick McKinney ILB 2 43 Mississippi State 2014 Jadeveon Clowney OLB 1 1 South Carolina 2014 Xavier Su a-filo G 2 33 UCLA 2013 DeAndre Hopkins WR 1 27 Clemson 2013 D.J. Swearinger S 2 57 South Carolina 2012 Whitney Mercilus OLB 1 26 Illinois 2011 J.J. Watt DE 1 11 Wisconsin 2011 Brooks Reed OLB 2 42 Arizona 2011 Brandon Harris CB 2 60 Miami 2010 Kareem Jackson CB 1 20 Alabama 2010 Ben Tate RB 2 58 Auburn 2009 Brian Cushing LB 1 15 USC 2009 Connor Barwin DE 2 46 Cincinnati 2008 Duane Brown T 1 26 Virginia Tech 2007 Amobi Okoye DT 1 10 Louisville 2006 Mario Williams DE 1 1 N.C. State 2006 DeMeco Ryans LB 2 33 Alabama 2005 Travis Johnson DT 1 16 Florida State 2004 Dunta Robinson CB 1 10 South Carolina 2004 Jason Babin LB 1 27 Western Michigan Chance Pearce Texas A&M LS Brownwood Vontez Duff Notre Dame CB Copperas Cove Sloan Thomas Texas WR Clarksville, Tenn. (went to Klein High School) B.J. Symons Texas Tech QB Houston Kenneth Pettway Grambling State LB Houston (attended Gilmer High School) Eric Winston Miami T Midland Kasey Studdard Texas G Denver, Colo Zac Diles Kansas State LB Abilene Frank Okam Texas DT Pine Bluff, Ark. (went to Lake Highlands High School in Dallas) Anthony Hill North Carolina St. TE Houston James Casey Rice TE Azle Brice McCain Utah CB Terrell Earl Mitchell Arizona DT Houston Cheta Ozougwu Rice OLB Houston *Randy Bullock Texas A&M K Klein Christian Covington Rice DT Vancouver, BC, Canada D Onta Foreman Texas RB Texas City, TX Kyle Fuller Baylor C Wylie, TX * Indicates placed on Injured Reserve that season Bold indicates made active roster that season Defensive players in italics 5

6 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES TEXANS PICK CLEMSON DE CARLOS WATKINS The Houston Texans picked Clemson DE Carlos Watkins with the 35th pick in the fourth round (142nd overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. Houston acquired the selection from the Cleveland Browns this offseason. The Texans have drafted four players from Clemson University in franchise history. Watkins joins QB Deshaun Watson, WR DeAndre Hopkins and NT D.J. Reader as former Tigers on Houston s current roster. He is the 10th defensive end drafted in team history, the last one being Jeoffrey Pagan from Alabama in Round 6 of the 2014 NFL Draft. Watkins was introduced from Space Center Houston with the help of Astronaut Peggy Whitson and retired Astronaut Scott Kelly. Whitson is currently in space aboard the International Space Station and broke the record for cumulative time in space by a U.S. astronaut on April 24 when she surpassed 535 days. New Texans T Julién Daveport is the first player from Bucknell University drafted by Houston in franchise history. He is also the first player from Bucknell to get drafted in the NFL since TEXANS TAKE T JULIÉN DAVENPORT IN ROUND 4 The Houston Texans drafted T Julién Davenport with the 24th pick of the fourth round (130th overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft. Davenport is the 11th offensive tackle drafted by Houston in team history and first since Brennan Williams in He is also the first offensive tackle drafted in the fourth round in team history. Davenport is the first player from Bucknell University drafted by the Texans in franchise history and the first player from Bucknell to get drafted in the NFL since The Ravens selected an offensive tackle with the 130th pick in the draft last year, Alex Lewis from Nebraska. Davenport was introduced from Space Center Houston with the help of Astronaut Peggy Whitson and retired Astronaut Scott Kelly. Whitson is currently in space aboard the International Space Station and broke the record for cumulative time in space by a U.S. astronaut on April 24 when she surpassed 535 days. JULIÉN DAVENPORT IS The first offensive tackle taken in the fourth round by the Texans in team history The 11th offensive player selected in the fourth round in team history The 11th offensive tackle drafted by Houston in team history and first since Brennan Williams in 2013 The fourth player on the current Texans roster selected in the fourth round The first player from Bucknell University drafted by the Texans in franchise history and first player from Bucknell to get drafted in the NFL since 1969 The 19th overall fourth-round selection in franchise history The first offensive tackle selected 130th overall since Alex Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) in 2016 CARLOS WATKINS IS The second defensive end taken in the fourth round by the Texans and the first since Jared Crick in 2012 The ninth defensive player selected in the fourth round in team history The 10th defensive end selected in team history and the first since Jeoffrey Pagan in 2014 The fifth player on the current Texans roster selected in the fourth round The fourth player from Clemson drafted by the Texans, joining current players WR DeAndre Hopkins, NT D.J. Reader and QB Deshaun Watson The 20th overall fourth-round selection in franchise history The first defensive end selected 142nd overall since Lavar Edwards (Tennessee Titans) in 2013 CARLOS WATKINS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Made an enormous impact on the Tiger defense during his career, especially his last two seasons as a starter Had 191 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 14 sacks in 1,666 snaps over 53 games (30 starts) in his career Had 24 career games with at least one tackle for loss, and Clemson was 22-2 in those games Earned Senior Bowl invitation in 2016 Sack total in 2016 was the highest by a Clemson defensive tackle in history, breaking the mark of 10 held by Jim Stuckey, William Perry and Michael Dean Perry JULIÉN DAVENPORT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Two-year team captain at Bucknell University Five-time All-American (four First Team honors in 2016 and Second Team STATS FCS All-American in 2015) Four-time All-Patriot League selection, including three First Team nods ( ) and one Second Team honor (2013) Three-time Preseason All-Patriot League Only member of senior class to start all 44 games from The Texans have drafted four players from Clemson University in franchise history. This year s fourth-round pick, DE Carlos Watkins, joins QB Deshaun Watson, WR DeAndre Hopkins and NT D.J. Reader as former Tigers on the Texans current roster. 6

7 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES TEXANS DRAFT C KYLE FULLER WITH FINAL PICKler The Houston Texans selected Baylor C Kyle Fuller with their final pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. It was the 25th pick in the seventh round and 243rd overall choice. Houston has drafted 19 players overall and at least one player in all but the 2013, 2014 and 2016 drafts that either went to college or high school in Texas, or has some connection to the state. The Texans took two players with Texas ties in the 2017 NFL Draft, Fuller and RB D Onta Foreman. It is the first time the Texans have drafted multiple players with connections to Texas since Houston has never drafted a player from Baylor in team history, but Fuller joins LS Jon Weeks as former Bears on the Texans roster. New Texans CB Treston Decoud is the second cornerback taken in the fifth round by the Texans and the first since Sherrick McManis in He is also the first player from Oregon State drafted by Houston. TEXANS SELECT CB TRESTON DECOUD IN ROUND 5 The Houston Texans used the 25th pick in the fifth round (169th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft on Oregon State CB Treston Decoud. Houston has drafted 14 cornerbacks in team history, including CB Kevin Johnson in the first round in Decoud is the second cornerback taken in the fifth round by the Texans and the first since Sherrick McManis in He is also the first player from Oregon State drafted by Houston in team history. TRESTON DECOUD IS The second cornerback taken in the fifth round by the Texans and the first since Sherrick McManis in 2010 The eighth defensive player selected in the fifth round in team history The 14th cornerback selected in team history and the first since Kevin Johnson in 2015 The fifth player on the current Texans roster selected in the fifth round The first player from Oregon State drafted by the Texans in team history The 15th overall fifth-round selection in franchise history The first cornerback selected 169th overall in NFL Draft history TRESTON DECOUD CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 21 career starts at Oregon State ( ) Compiled 108 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, 15 pass breakups and two interceptions in his career with the Beavers Tied for the team lead with 10 pass breakups as a senior in 2016 and named Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention Selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game Invited to participate in the 2017 NFL Combine KYLE FULLER IS The second center/long snapper taken in the seventh round by the Texans and the first since Chance Pearce in 2003 The ninth offensive player selected in the seventh round in team history The sixth center/long snapper selected in team history and the first since Nick Martin in 2016 The sixth player on the current Texans roster selected in the seventh round The first player from Baylor drafted by the Texans The second player on the Texans active roster from Baylor, joining LS Jon Weeks The 19th overall seventh-round selection in franchise history The first center/long snapper selected 243rd overall since Dominic Furio (Philadelphia Eagles) in 2004 KYLE FULLER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Three-year starting All-Big 12 center 52 career games played (most on team) and 39 career starts (most on squad) Anchor on o-line for nation s most productive offense in Key cog in paving the way for BU s rushing attack that led the Big 12 in 2015 and 2016, while helping Bears rank fourth or better in sacks allowed in conference over past three years Named Best Offensive Lineman in the state by Dave Campbell s Texas Football Two-time Big 12 Commissioner s Honor Roll selection Graduated in May 2016 with degree in communication studies 2017 NFL Scouting Combine Participant 2017 Reese s Senior Bowl Participant 2016 All-Big 12 First Team (coaches, Phil Steele, Athlon) 2016 All-Big 12 Second Team (AP, ESPN, Waco Tribune-Herald) 2015 All-Big 12, consensus second team 2014 All-Big 12, honorable mention (coaches) New Texans C Kyle Fuller was a three-year starting All-Big 12 center who played in 52 career games played with 39 career starts. He was named Best Offensive Lineman in the state by Dave Campbell s Texas Football. 7

8 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES NO. 130 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 130th overall selection in the fourth round since 2007: 130TH OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Julién Davenport T Bucknell Houston Texans 2016 Alex Lewis T Nebraska Baltimore Ravens 2015 Terry Poole G San Diego State Seattle Seahawks 2014 James White RB Wisconsin New England Patriots 2013 Kyle Juszczyk RB Harvard Baltimore Ravens 2012 Christian Thompson S South Carolina State Baltimore Ravens 2011 Jamie Harper RB Clemson Tennessee Titans 2010 O Brien Schofield LB Wisconsin Arizona Cardinals 2009 Gerald McRath LB Southern Miss Tennessee Titans 2008 Tony Hills T Texas Pittsburgh Steelers 2007 Josh Beekman G Boston College Chicago Bears TEXANS ALL-TIME OFFENSIVE TACKLES DRAFTED Below is a look at the 11 offensive tackles who have been drafted by the Texans: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Julién Davenport Brennan Williams David Quessenberry Nick Mondek Derek Newton Duane Brown Brandon Frye Charles Spencer Eric Winston Seth Wand Chester Pitts 2 50 NO. 142 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 142nd overall selection in the fourth round since 2007: 142ND OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Carlos Watkins DE Clemson Houston Texans 2016 Ronald Blair DT Appalachian State San Francisco 49ers 2015 Adrian Amos S Penn State Chicago Bears 2014 Ryan Grant WR Tulane Washington Redskins 2013 Lavar Edwards DE LSU Tennessee Titans 2012 Brandon Marshall LB Nevada Jacksonville Jaguars 2011 Karl Klug DT Iowa Tennessee Titans 2010 Cameron Sheffield LB Troy Kansas City Chiefs 2009 Kevin Huber P Cincinnati Cincinnati Bengals 2008 Zack Bowman CB Nebraska Chicago Bears 2007 Steve Breaston WR Michigan Arizona Cardinals TEXANS ALL-TIME DEFENSIVE ENDS DRAFTED Below is a look at the 10 defensive ends who have been drafted by the Texans: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Carlos Watkins Jeoffrey Pagan Jared Crick J.J. Watt Connor Barwin Mario Williams Jason Babin Raheem Orr Antwan Peek Stylez G White NO. 169 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 169th overall selection in the fifth round since 2007: 169TH OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Treston Decoud CB Oregon State Houston Texans 2016 Antwione Williams LB Georgia Southern Detroit Lions 2015 David Mayo LB Texas State Carolina Panthers 2014 Ronald Powell LB Florida New Orleans Saints 2013 Josh Evans S Florida Jacksonville Jaguars 2012 Asa Jackson CB Cal Poly Baltimore Ravens 2011 Chris White LB Mississippi State Buffalo Bills 2010 Marshall Newhouse G TCU Green Bay Packers 2009 Frank Summers RB UNLV Pittsburgh Steelers 2008 Trevor Scott DE Buffalo Oakland Raiders 2007 Roy Hall WR Ohio State Indianapolis Colts TEXANS ALL-TIME CORNERBACKS DRAFTED Below is a look at the 14 cornerbacks who have been drafted by the Texans: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Treston Decoud Kevin Johnson Andre Hal Brandon Harris Roc Carmichael Kareem Jackson Sherrick McManis Glover Quin Brice McCain Antwaun Molden Fred Bennett Dunta Robinson Vontez Duff DeMarcus Faggins NO. 243 OVERALL SINCE 2007 Below is a look at who has been drafted with the 243rd overall selection in the seventh round since 2007: 243RD OVERALL PICK Year Player Pos College Team 2017 Kyle Fuller C Baylor Houston Texans 2016 Kenny Lawler WR California Seattle Seahawks 2015 Laurence Gibson T Virginia Tech Dallas Cowboys 2014 Kaleb Ramsey DE Boston College San Francisco 49ers 2013 Kemal Ishmael S UCF Atlanta Falcons 2012 B.J. Coleman QB Chattanooga Green Bay Packers 2011 Nate Bussey LB Illinois New Orleans Saints 2010 Jeff Owens DT Georgia Philadelphia Eagles 2009 Marko Mitchell WR Nevada Washington Redskins 2008 Joey LaRocque LB Oregon State Chicago Bears 2007 Clark Harris TE Rutgers Green Bay Packers TEXANS ALL-TIME CENTERS DRAFTED Below is a look at the six centers/long snappers who have been drafted by the Texans in team history: Year Player Round Overall 2017 Kyle Fuller Nick Martin Ben Jones Drew Hodgdon Chance Pearce (LS) Fred Weary 3 66

9 TEXANS DRAFT NOTES BUILT THROUGH THE DRAFT The Texans finished the 2016 season with the NFL s top-ranked defense for the first time in franchise history, surrendering an average of only total net yards per game. They also gave up the fewest first downs (17.0) and second-fewest net passing yards (201.6) per game. Of the 20 players who started at least one game on defense for the Texans last season, 15 were either drafted by the Texans or signed as a college free agent TEXANS DEFENSIVE STARTERS Player GP GS Benardrick McKinney Vince Wilfork Whitney Mercilus Jadeveon Clowney Kareem Jackson Quintin Demps Brian Cushing Johnathan Joseph Andre Hal A.J. Bouye Corey Moore 16 8 D.J. Reader 16 7 Joel Heath 12 6 John Simon 11 5 Christian Covington 16 5 Kevin Johnson 6 3 Akeem Dent 16 3 J.J. Watt 3 3 Max Bullough 16 3 Ufomba Kamalu 4 1 Bold indicates player was drafted by Texans or signed as college free agent TEXANS ALL-ROOKIE DRAFT SELECTIONS The Texans have had 11 draft picks earn spots on the PFW/PFWA All- Rookie Team, with all but one of the players selected from either the first or fourth rounds. TEXANS DRAFT PICKS ON PFW/PFWA ALL-ROOKIE TEAM Year Player Rd David Carr, QB Andre Johnson, WR 1 Domanick Williams, RB Jerome Mathis, KR Owen Daniels, TE 4 DeMeco Ryans, LB Amobi Okoye, DT Xavier Adibi, LB Brian Cushing, LB J.J. Watt, DE DeAndre Hopkins, WR 1 The Texans are the only team in the NFL with every first-round pick since 2008 still on its roster. Houston s first-round draft picks have made immediate impacts, with all but one playing in 14-or-more games as a rookie. TEXANS FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICKS Rookie Year GP/GS Year Pk Player GP GS David Carr, QB Andre Johnson, WR Dunta Robinson, CB Jason Babin, OLB Travis Johnson, DT Mario Williams, DE Amobi Okoye, DT Duane Brown, T Brian Cushing, LB Kareem Jackson, CB J.J. Watt, DE Whitney Mercilus, OLB DeAndre Hopkins, WR Jadeveon Clowney, OLB Kevin Johnson, CB Will Fuller V, WR Bold indicates current Texans FIRST-ROUND FACTORS STEALS IN THE SIXTH & SEVENTH The Texans have 10 players on their roster that they drafted in the sixth or seventh round, including multiple players who have made major contributions to the team: T DEREK NEWTON (2011 7th round, 214th pick) Started in 68-of-82 games he s played in since Took over as the full-time starter at right tackle in Has blocked for four 1,000-yard rushers and played every position on the offensive line except center. TE RYAN GRIFFIN (2013 6th round, 201st pick) Appeared in 56 games (19 starts) since 2013, compiling 99 catches for 1,028 yards (10.4 avg.) and six touchdowns. RB ALFRED BLUE (2014 6th round, 181st pick) Set the franchise record for carries in a game (36) and tied a rookie rushing record with 156 yards at Cleveland (11/16/14). Became the first player in franchise history with a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same season in Leads team with 1,646 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns since FB JAY PROSCH (2014 6th round, 211th pick) Played in 47-of-48 games since getting drafted, including eight starts. Blocked for two 1,000-yard rushers in three seasons. S ANDRE HAL (2014 7th round, 216th pick) Transitioned from cornerback to safety in Has played in 45 games, including starting 22 since Tied for second on the team with six interceptions and third on the team with 21 passes defensed since DE CHRISTIAN COVINGTON (2015 6th round, 216th pick) Appeared in 31-of-32 games since getting drafted, including five starts in Sixth on the team with 3.0 sacks and six tackles for loss since

10 TEXANS DRAFT DAY TRADES The Texans have executed 23 draft day trades. Sixteen of them have been executed by Texans Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Rick Smith. Below is a look at those trades and who was selected with the acquired picks: HOUSTON TEXANS DRAFT DAY TRADE HISTORY Year Trade Partner Gave Up Received 2017 Cleveland Terms TBA 1st round (12 - Deshaun Watson) 2016 Atlanta 2nd round (52) 2nd round (50 - Nick Martin) 6th round (195) 2016 Washington 1st round (22) 1st round (21 - Will Fuller V) 6th round in N.Y. Jets WR DeVier Posey 3rd round (70 - Jaelen Strong) 3rd round (82) 5th round (152) 7th round (229) 2015 Cleveland 2nd round (51) 2nd round (43 - Benardrick McKinney) 4th round (116) 7th round (229 - traded) 6th round (195) 2014 Philadelphia 4th round (101) 3rd round (83 - Louis Nix III) 5th round (141) 2013 Oakland 6th round (184) 6th round (176 - David Quessenberry) 7th round (233) 2013 St. Louis 5th round (160) 6th round (184 - traded) 6th round (198 - Chris Jones) 2012 Tampa Bay 2nd round (58) 3rd round (68 - DeVier Posey) 7th round (233) 4th round (126 - Jared Crick) 2011 Washington 4th round (105) 4th round (127 - Roc Carmichael) 6th round (178) 5th round (144 - Shiloh Keo) 5th round (152 - T.J. Yates) 2011 New England 3rd round (73) 2nd round (60 - Brandon Harris) 5th round (138) 2010 Kansas City 3rd round (93) 4th round (102 Darryl Sharpton) 5th round (144 Sherrick McManis) 2010 New England 2nd round (62) 2nd round (58 Ben Tate) 5th round (150) 2010 Minnesota 2nd round (51) 2nd round (62 traded) 3rd round (93 - traded) 2008 Baltimore 1st round (18) 1st round (26 Duane Brown) 3rd round (89 Steve Slaton) 6th round (173 Dominique Barber) 2007 New Orleans 4th round (107) 4th round (123 Fred Bennett) 5th round (163 Brandon Frye) 2005 New Orleans 1st round (13) 1st round (16 Travis Johnson) rd round (66 Eric Winston) 2004 Jacksonville 5th round (159) 6th round (175 Jammal Lord) 7th round (210 Raheem Orr) 2004 Tennessee 2nd round (40) 1st round (27 Jason Babin) 3rd round (71) 5th round (159 traded) 4th round (103) 5th round (138) 2003 Indianapolis 5th round (138) th round (122 Glenn Earl) 2003 Oakland 3rd round (83) nd round (supplemental 7th round (262) Tony Hollings) 2003 New England 2nd round (36) 2nd round (41 Bennie Joppru) 4th round (117) 3rd round (75 Seth Wand) 2002 Atlanta 4th round (116) rd (88 Dave Ragone) Apr. 21, 2002: Traded fourth-round pick in 2002 to Atlanta in exchange for 2003 third-round pick (88th overall-dave Ragone). Apr. 26, 2003: Traded second-round pick (36th overall) and fourth-round pick (117th overall) to New England for second-round pick (41st overall- Bennie Joppru) and third-round pick (75th overall-seth Wand). Traded third-round pick (83rd overall) and seventh-round pick (262nd overall) to Oakland in exchange for 2004 second-round pick (supplemental draft pick-tony Hollings). Apr. 27, 2003: Traded fifth-round pick (138th overall) to Indianapolis for 2004 fourth-round pick (122nd overall-glenn Earl). Apr. 24, 2004: Traded second-round pick (40th overall), third-round pick (71st overall), fourth-round pick (103rd overall) to Tennessee in exchange for first-round pick (27th overall-jason Babin); also exchanged fifth-round picks (138th to 159th overall) with Tennessee. Apr. 25, 2004: Traded fifth-round pick (159th overall) to Jacksonville in exchange for sixth-round pick (175th overall - Jammal Lord) and seventh-round pick (210th overall - Raheem Orr). Apr. 23, 2005: Traded first-round pick (13th overall) to New Orleans in exchange for first round pick (16th overall-travis Johnson) in 2005 draft and third-round selection in 2006 draft (66th overall-eric Winston). Apr. 29, 2007: Traded fourth-round draft pick (107th overall) to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for the Saints 2007 fourth-round pick (123rd overall-fred Bennett) and a 2007 fifth-round pick (163rd overall-brandon Frye). Apr. 26, 2008: Traded first-round pick (No. 18 overall) to the Baltimore Ravens for first-round pick (No. 26 overall-duane Brown) a third-round pick (89th overall-steve Slaton) and a sixth-round pick (173rd overall- Dominique Barber). Apr. 23, 2010: Traded second-round pick (51st overall) to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for Minnesota s second- and third-round picks (62nd and 93rd, respectively). Traded the 62nd overall pick and a fifth-round pick (150th overall) to New England 58th overall pick in Round 2 (RB Ben Tate). Traded the 93rd pick to Kansas City in exchange for fourth-round pick (102nd overall - LB Darryl Sharpton) and a fifth-rounder (144th overall - CB Sherrick McManis) from the Chiefs. April 29, 2011: Traded a third- (73rd overall) and fifth-round (138th overall) pick with New England for a second-round (60th overall) pick. Houston selected Miami CB Brandon Harris with its new pick. April 30, 2011: Acquired a fourth-round pick (127th overall) and two fifth-round picks (144th and 152nd) from the Washington Redskins in exchange for the Texans original fourth-round pick (105th overall) and sixth-round pick (178th). With their picks, Houston selected Virginia Tech CB Roc Carmichael (127th overall), Idaho S Shiloh Keo (144th) and North Carolina QB T.J. Yates (152nd) with those acquired picks. April 27, 2012: Traded second- and seventh-round picks (58th and 233rd overall to Tampa Bay for picks in the third and fourth rounds. The Texans selected WR DeVier Posey with the 68th overall pick and DE Jared Crick with the 126th overall pick. April 27, 2013: Traded fifth-round pick (160th overall) to St. Louis for two picks in the sixth round (184th and 198th overall). The Texans included the 184th pick in a subsequent trade and selected DT Chris Jones with the 198th overall pick. Traded sixth-round pick (184th overall) and seventh-round pick (233rd overall) to Oakland for a sixth-round pick (176th overall). The Texans selected T David Quessenberry with that pick. May 9, 2014: Traded fourth- and fifth-round picks (101st and 141st overall) to Philadelphia for a third-round pick (83rd overall). The Texans selected NT Louis Nix III with that pick. May 1, 2015: Traded second-, fourth-, and sixth-round picks (51st, 116th and 195th overall) to Cleveland for a second- and seventh-round pick (43rd and 229th overall). The Texans selected LB Benardrick McKinney with the second-round pick and traded the seventh-round pick. Traded WR DeVier Posey and third-, fifth- and seventh-round picks (82nd, 152nd and 229th overall) for a third-round pick (70th overall). The Texans selected WR Jaelen Strong with the pick. Apr. 28, 2016: Traded first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2016 and sixthround pick in 2017 to Washington for a first-round pick (21st overall). The Texans selected WR Will Fuller V with the pick. Apr. 29, 2016: Traded second-round (52nd overall) and sixth-round (195th overall) picks in 2016 to Atlanta for a second-round pick (50th overall). The Texans selected C Nick Martin with the pick. Apr. 27, 2017: Acquired 12th overall pick from Cleveland and selected QB Deshaun Watson with the pick. Terms of the trade have not been disclosed. 10

11 DESHAUN WATSON BIO DESHAUN WATSON QUARTERBACK CLEMSON Hometown: Gainesville, Ga. Rookie Age: 21 Acquired: D GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 12th pick in the first round (12th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT CLEMSON: Quarterback who put up record numbers and guided Clemson to consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, with the school s second National Championship in 2016 Led Clemson to 28 wins over his final two seasons Wore jersey #4, same number worn by former Tiger quarterback Steve Fuller; the number was retired at Clemson, but Fuller allowed it to come out of retirement for Watson Two-time Heisman Trophy finalist; finished third in the 2015 balloting with 148 first-place votes and second in 2016 with 269 first-place votes First ACC player to finish in the top three of the voting on multiple occasions Two-time recipient of the Davey O Brien Award, one of only four quarterbacks who can make that claim, and the first since Oklahoma s Jason White in 2003,04 Two-time winner of the Manning Award Compiled a 32-3 record as a starter, best winning percentage in school history for a quarterback and tied Rodney Williams and Tajh Boyd with 32 wins as a starter in the National Championship win over Alabama Threw for 10,163 yards and 90 career touchdowns First in Clemson history in career completion percentage (.674), passing efficiency (157.5) and total offense per game (318.3) Passed for 16 touchdowns with only two interceptions in his career in the fourth quarter Two-time team MVP and two-time All-ACC Academic Team (2015,16) selection 2016 (Clemson): Finalist for the Heisman Trophy and Walter Camp Player of the Year Maxwell Award semifinalist, Davey O Brien Award winner for a second straight year and Manning Award winner for second straight year Won Johnny Unitas Award, presented annually to the top graduating quarterback in college football E arned Chic Harley Award, presented to the top player nationally by the Touchdown Clumb of Columbus, Ohio W on Bobby Bowden Award for the college player who epitomizes a student-athlete on and off the field National Offensive Player of the Year by Scout Second-team All-American by AFCA, Associated Press, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and Walter Camp and third-team All-American by Phil Steele Second-team All-ACC (media, coaches) ACC Championship Game Most Valuable Player for second straight year National Championship Game Most Valuable Offensive Player Fiesta Bowl Most Valuable Offensive Player Named to ESPN s All-Bowl Team Shared Tiger Pride Offensive MVP honors with Mike Williams Strength & Conditioning All-American and one of six permanent team captains Set Clemson records by throwing for 4,593 yards and 41 touchdowns Completed 67 percent of his passes and accounted for 5,219 yards of total offense, 10 more than his total from the 2015 season Accounted for 50 touchdowns in all, with nine rushing scores 2015 (Clemson): Davey O Brien and Manning Award winner as the nation s best quarterback, he was Clemson s first winner of both prestigious awards Won the Archie Griffin Award, named after two-time Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State and presented annually to the most valuable player in college football by the Touchdown Club of Columbus Finalist for the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player-of-the-Year First-team All-American by AFCA, Associated Press, CBS Sports, ESPN.com, Football Writers Association and USA Today Second-team All-American by Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and Walter Camp ACC Player-of-the-Year and ACC Offensive Player-of-the-Year (media, coaches) First-team All-ACC (media, coaches) ACC Championship Game Most Valuable Player Named ACC Male Athlete of the Year recipient Capital One Orange Bowl Offensive Most Valuable Player Four-time ACC Offensive Back-of-the-Week, more than any other player Four-time Manning Award Star of the Week First player in FBS history with at least 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season Fifth nationally in completion percentage away from home (67.9) and fifth in overall completion percentage (67.8) Third nationally among quarterbacks with 1,105 rushing yards Had five 100-yard rushing performances, all in the last six games; only Woodrow Dantzler had more among Clemson quarterbacks and became one of two Tiger quarterbacks in history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season His average of 6.9 yards per first down rush was seventh-best in the nation among all players with at least 80 attempts Third among all FBS players in touchdown responsibility (47) and eighth in total offense per game (347.3) and touchdown passes (35) Broke Tajh Boyd s single-season school record for total offense (5,209) 2014 (Clemson): All-ACC Academic selection Was for 1,466 yards and 14 touchdowns against only two interceptions in 330 snaps over eight games (five starts) Completed 67.9 percent of his passes and had a pass efficiency rating (best nationally among players with 125 attempts) Had 200 yards and five touchdowns on 63 carries First in school history in passing efficiency, first in yards per passing attempt (10.70), first in total offense yards per play (8.3), second in completion percentage and tied for 10th in passing touchdowns First in school history in passing efficiency and completion percentage by a freshman First in school history in passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense by a first-year freshman Three-time ACC Rookie of the Week PERSONAL: Rated as the No. 3 player in the nation by Tom Lemming No. 16 player and No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by ESPN U.S. Army All-American Game and Under Armour All-American Game selection First-team All-American by Parade and second-team All-American by USA Today Four-year starter at Gainesville High School Set state career records for total offense yards (17,134) and total touchdowns (218) Set the state career records for passing touchdowns and total offense yards by the end of his junior season Had 13,077 passing yards and 155 touchdowns along with 4,057 rushing yards and 63 touchdowns in his career State player-of-the-year as a sophomore, junior and senior Gatorade Player-of-the-Year in Georgia as a senior Had 4,431 passing yards and 57 touchdowns against only five interceptions along with 1,057 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior Had 5,700 total offense yards and 64 touchdowns, including 4,024 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, as a junior... had over 3,200 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards as a sophomore Had 2,088 passing yards and 17 touchdowns along with 569 rushing yards and five touchdowns in leading his team to a 10-2 record as a freshman Played basketball as a junior Coached by Bruce Miller and recruited by Chad Morris. Earned undergraduate degree in communication in December 2016 Born Sept. 14, 1995 Attended Cardinal O Hara High School in Springfield, Pa., starting his last three seasons at quarterback for Head Coach Dan Algeo Completed 190-of-426 passes for 2,547 yards and 20 touchdowns Played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the Big 33 Football Classic As a senior, he passed for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns Older brother, Bryan, played quarterback at Wisconsin ( ) and Hofstra ( ) 11

12 ZACH CUNNINGHAM BIO ZACH CUNNINGHAM INSIDE LINEBACKER VANDERBILT Hometown: Pinson, Ala. Rookie Age: 22 Acquired: D GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 25th pick in the second round (57th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT VANDERBILT: First-team All-American in 2016 and two-time first-team All-SEC ( ) Finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation s top overall linebacker Compiled an SEC-best 119 total tackles in 2016, which ranked 11th overall nationally, and registered 16.5 tackles for loss, finishing second in the SEC Became the first unanimous All-American in Vanderbilt history and seventh Commodore to earn the consensus All-American honors Finished his redshirt season in 2014 with 103 tackles and 4.5 sacks and was named first team All-SEC Compiled 295 total tackles, 39.5 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks, seven forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 36 career games (27 starts) at Vanderbilt ( ) 2016 (Vanderbilt): Enjoyed one of the most impressive seasons by any defensive player in Vanderbilt history earning consensus All-American status Swept first team All-America honors from every prestigious outlet, including Associated Press, Football Writers of America (FWAA), Walter Camp Foundation, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, The Sporting News and USA Today Became just the third player in Vanderbilt history to earn first team All-American honors from the Walter Camp Foundation Named as Butkus Award finalist and semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award Finished the regular season leading the SEC with 125 total tackles (9.6 per game), ranking sixth nationally His 68 solo tackles ranked second among all SEC defenders Ranked among the national leaders, and is tied for second in the SEC, with 16.5 tackles for loss Paced the SEC and ranked second nationally with four fumble recoveries Earned National Defensive Player of the Week honors from Walter Camp, Maxwell Football Club and FWAA after a remarkable 19-tackle performance in Vanderbilt s road win at Georgia on Oct. 15 Ranks third all-time among Dores with 39.5 tackles for loss and amassed 295 tackles 2014 (Vanderbilt): Capped off a solid redshirt freshman campaign by closing the season among the team s most productive defenders Participated in 11 games, missing only the Charleston Southern game Earned starts at inside linebacker in team s 3-4 scheme during last five games against Missouri, Old Dominion, Florida, Mississippi State and Tennessee Averaged 8.2 tackles as a starting LB Finished the year with 37 solo tackles, 67 total tackles, 1.5 QB sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble 2013 (Vanderbilt): Redshirted as a true freshman, participating as a scout team linebacker PERSONAL: Senior captain and three-year starter at LB for school just north of Birmingham Concluded prep career by receiving Alabama 5A Lineman of the Year and Birmingham News Lineman of the Year honors after 2012 campaign Amassed 448 total tackles during three-year varsity career As a senior, earned First Team All-State after leading Indians to 8-4 record and second round of 5A playoffs Contributed 194 total tackles, including 41 tackles for loss and 12 sacks along with four blocked punts during the season Participated in postseason Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl Earned All-State recognition after registering 152 tackles as a junior Earned a degree in economics from the College of Arts and Science Full name is Zachary Daniel Cunningham Son of Fred and Sophie Cunningham Born Dec. 12, 1994 Dad works in landscapingand has four brothers: Frederick, Ethan, Nathan and Zapheth; and two sisters, Gabriel and Danica 2015 (Vanderbilt): Played in all 12 games and earning nine starts at inside linebacker as redshirt sophmore Ranked among the league leaders in numerous statistical categories, including tackles for loss, solo tackles, total tackles, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries even though he didn t become a starter until the third game SEC head coaches named him All-SEC first team for his efforts His 16.5 tackles for loss, the third-highest total among SEC defenders in the regular season, was the most by a Commodore since All-America linebacker Jamie Winborn registered 23 tackles for loss in 1999 His three fumble recoveries shared the SEC lead, and his four forced fumbles, bettered by just one Vanderbilt player in the last 20 years, ranked third in the league His 69 solo tackles were the most by a Commodore since All-SEC linebacker Moses Osemwegie registered 78 solo stops in 2003 His 103 total tackles were the most by a Vanderbilt defender since all-league linebacker Chris Marve amassed 121 tackles in 2009 Posted at least 10 tackles in seven of the last nine games, topped by a 12-solo tackle, 15-total tackle performance at Middle Tennessee 12

13 D ONTA FOREMAN RUNNING BACK TEXAS D ONTA FOREMAN BIO Hometown: Texas City, Texas Rookie Age: 21 Acquired: D GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, 2017 TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 25th pick in the third round (89th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT TEXAS: A three-year running back for the Longhorns who won the 2016 Doak Walker Award Played in 28 career games with 10 starts, all coming in 2016 Rushed for 2,782 yards in his career (9th most in school history) and 20 touchdowns Had 15 career 100-yard rushing games, including a school-record 13 straight to end his Longhorns career 2016 consensus All-American, the first UT running back to earn those honors since Ricky Williams in 1998 Finalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award and finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting in (Texas): Played in 11 games and started 10, including the final nine of the season The 2016 Doak Walker Award recipient Named a consensus first-team All-American, the first UT running back to ear that distinction since Ricky Williams in 1998 Named first-team All-America by the Associated Press, Sporting News, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, Phil Steele and USA Today A second-team All-American according to the Walter Camp Football Foundation Named a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection at running back by both the Big 12 Conference head coaches and the Associated Press Earned All-Big 12 honors according to ESPN.com and Phil Steele Earned honorable mention as Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for 2,028 yards and 15 touchdowns Was a finalist for The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, His 2,028 rushing yards were second-most in school history and among the top 20 for most in a single-season in NCAA history Averaged an NCAA FBS-best yards per game, also 10th-most in NCAA history for a single season Rushed for 100 yards in all 11 games he played in 2016, tied for most in a single season with Earl Campbell during his 1977 Heisman Trophy-winning campaign Had a streak of seven consecutive games with a touchdown come to an end against Kansas State Rushed for at least 150 yards seven times throughout the season, including three games with at least 250 yards Averaged yards per game against Big 12 Conference foes, totaling 1,740 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine league games 2014 (Texas): Played in seven games as a reserve running back and on special teams Saw action at running back against North Texas, recording two carries for 37 yards (18.5 ypc) Had a five-yard kick return against Baylor Did not play against BYU, UCLA, Kansas, Oklahoma or TCU PERSONAL: Coached by Leland Surovik at Texas City High School Four-time district honoree Rushed for 4,382 yards (8.2 ypc) and 61 TDs in his career Participated in the 2014 Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl Named second-team 4A All-State as a running back by the Associated Press in 2013 Shared District 24-4A MVP honors with his brother, Armanti, in 2013 Named first-team All-District 24-4A as both a running back and defensive end Chosen to the Houston Chronicle s Top 100 (Houston area) Rushed for 2,102 yards and 31 TDs on 202 carries (10.4 ypc) as a senior Recorded 22 tackles, including 12 tackles for loss and five sacks, five pressures, one interception and returned kickoffs Rushed for over 100 yards in all but one game, including three 200-yard contests Tallied 246 yards and four TDs, including a 99-yard run against Terry Helped Texas City to a 12-1 record and an appearance in the 4A DII regional playoffs in 2013 Tabbed first-team All-District 24-4A as a running back and second-team as a linebacker in 2012 Rushed 112 times for 1,073 yards (9.6 ypc) and 18 TDs as a junior Tallied 40 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, one sack and nine pressures Helped Texas City to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the 4A DII area playoffs in 2012 Selected first-team All-District 24-4A and Special Teams Player of the Year in 2011 Rushed for 816 yards and 10 TDs on 138 carries, while catching 20 passes for 224 yards and two TD and returning eight kickoffs for 262 yards (32.7 ypr) and one TD Honorable mention All-District 24-4A as a running back 2010 Rushed 77 times for 391 yards and two TDs Twin brother, Armanti, is a wide receiver for the Longhorns Member of the Big 12 Commissioner s Honor Roll (fall 2014) (Texas): Played in 10 games before missing the last two due to injury Second-team Academic All-Big 12 Saw action in one game on special teams against Rice and returned a kickoff 25 yards Finished five carries short of qualifying for the NCAA ranking of yards per carry in which his average would have ranked fourth in the nation (7.17) Ranked second in the Big 12 in that category Finished eighth in the Big 12 and led the team in rushing yards (681), while ranking seventh in the league in 100-yard games (four) His five rushing TDs were second on the team and most among running backs Averaged 32.9 yards per carry on those five TDs 13

14 JULIÉN DAVENPORT BIO JULIÉN DAVENPORT TACKLE BUCKNELL Hometown: Paulsboro, N.J. Rookie Age: 22 Acquired: D4a GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 24th pick in the fourth round (130th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT BUCKNELL: Two-year team captain at Bucknell University Five-time All-American (four First Team honors in 2016 and Second Team STATS FCS All- American in 2015) Four-time All-Patriot League selection, including three First Team nods ( ) and one Second Team honor (2013) Three-time Preseason All-Patriot League Only member of senior class to start all 44 games from (Bucknell): Earned First Team All-America honors from four organizations (AFCA, Associated Press, STATS, Walter Camp) First Bison with four All-America honors in same season since Bryce Robertson in 2011 Team captain for a second straight year Named to Walter Payton Award Watch List First Team All-Patriot League selection Named a Preseason All-American by Athlon Sports STATS FCS Preseason All-American First Team Preseason All-Patriot League Earned invitations to participate in Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine Named FCS Collegiate Player of the Year by the Brooks Irvine Club of South Jersey Earned team s Tom Gadd Coaches Award and Captains Award Started all 11 games at left tackle Only member of senior class to start all 44 games from Blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in Joey DeFloria (1,070 yards, 10 TDs) as well as No. 2 RB Chad Freshnock, who had another 604 yards and 10 TDs 2013 (Bucknell): Second Team All-Patriot League Earned starting spot at left tackle during preseason camp and started all 11 games there Earned Stuart M. Smith Memorial Award as team s top newcomer Caught two backward screens to record two running plays for a total of 32 yards Went for 15 yards vs. Lehigh and 17 vs. VMI PERSONAL: Member of football and basketball teams at Paulsboro High School Team captain and all-conference selection in both football and basketball All-South Jersey selection in football All-Group 1 selection in basketball Born Jan. 9, 1995 in Camden, New Jersey Son of Anthony Davenport and Leslie Showell Has five siblings: Ernest, Anthony, Kim, Katirah and Nyla Cousin, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, was a member of Kentucky s 2012 NCAA Champion men s basketball team and currently plays in the NBA Majoring in political science 2015 (Bucknell): First Team All-Patriot League selection Preseason All-Patriot League for second straight year First Bison offensive lineman to be named First Team All-Patriot League in back-to-back years since Lucas Carlaw in 1998 and 1999 Named a Second Team STATS FCS All-American Served as team captain along with senior Louis Taglianetti Started all 11 games at left tackle for third consecutive year Credited with 12 receiving yards in season finale at Colgate after collecting a Bucknell fumble and advancing it Earned team s John Campana Award as squad s outstanding offensive lineman 2014 (Bucknell): First Team All-Patriot League One of two First Team All-PL offensive linemen for the Bison First time since 1998 Bucknell had two offensive linemen named to First Team Started all 11 games at left tackle for second consecutive year Ran one time for three yards vs. Lafayette Had a tackle in contest vs. Leopards Named team s Most Improved Offensive Player at conclusion of 2015 spring practice Preseason All-Patriot League 14

15 CARLOS WATKINS DEFENSIVE END CLEMSON CARLOS WATKINS BIO Hometown: Forest City, N.C. Rookie Age: 23 Acquired: D4b GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, 2017 TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 36th pick in the fourth round (142nd overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT CLEMSON: Made an enormous impact on the Tiger defense during his career, especially his last two seasons as a starter Had 191 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 14 sacks in 1,666 snaps over 53 games (30 starts) in his career Had 24 career games with at least one tackle for loss, and Clemson was 22-2 in those games Earned Senior Bowl invitation in 2016 Sack total in 2016 was the highest by a Clemson defensive tackle in history, breaking the mark of 10 held by Jim Stuckey, William Perry and Michael Dean Perry 2016 (Clemson): First-team All-American by CBS Sports Second-team All-American by the Associated Press Fourth-team All-American by Phil Steele First-team All-ACC (media, coaches) Named to ESPN s All-Bowl Team Shared Tiger Pride Defensive Team MVP honors with Ben Boulware and Jadar Johnson One of six permanent team captains Had 82 tackles, 13.5 for loss and 10.5 sacks in 758 snaps over 15 games (15 starts) Added 13 quarterback pressures and four pass breakups as well Sack total was the highest by a Clemson defensive tackle in history, breaking the mark of 10 held by Jim Stuckey, William Perry and Michael Dean Perry 2012 (Clemson): Had 16 tackles, one tackle for loss and three quarterback pressures in 113 snaps over nine games Had one tackle in 12 snaps against Ball State on Sept. 8; it was his first career game PERSONAL: No. 134 overall player and No. 12 defensive tackle in the nation as well as No. 5 player in North Carolina by ESPN Had 15 sacks, one interception and five caused fumbles as a senior Had 50 tackles, 29 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as a junior Played in the U.S. Army All-American game and the Shrine Bowl Averaged over 21 points and 10 rebounds per game in basketball as a junior Attended the same high school that sent the McSwain brothers (Rod, Chuck) to Clemson in the early 1980s; they were both on the 1981 National Championship team; Chuck is the current track coach at Chase High School Coached by Daniel Bailey at Chase High and recruited by Dan Brooks Cousin of former Clemson defensive end Dane Rogers Earned undergraduate degree in sociology in December (Clemson): First-team All-ACC (media) Second-team All-ACC (coaches) Had 69 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 570 snaps over 15 games (14 starts) Added eight quarterback pressures and an interception, which he returned for his first career touchdown 2014 (Clemson): Had 13 tackles, two tackles for loss and four quarterback pressures in 135 snaps over 11 games 2013 (Clemson): Had 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback pressure in 90 snaps over three games (one start) Had three tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss in 34 snaps against No. 5 Georgia on Aug. 31; it was his first career start Was a passenger in a fatal car accident on Sept. 21 and missed the rest of the season due to injuries suffered in the accident 15

16 TRESTON DECOUD CORNERBACK OREGON STATE TRESTON DECOUD BIO Hometown: Covington, La. Rookie Age: 23 Acquired: D GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, 2017 TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 25th pick in the fifth round (169th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT OREGON STATE: 21 career starts at Oregon State ( ) Compiled 108 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, 15 pass breakups and two interceptions in his career with the Beavers Tied for the team-lead with 10 pass breakups as a senior in 2016 and named Pac-12 All- Conference honorable mention Selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game Invited to participate in the 2017 NFL Combine 2013 (Chadron State): Attended Chadron State for two years Used his true freshman year to redshirt and played in his second year PERSONAL: All-district as a senior recording 23 receptions at wide receiver and 56 tackles on defense Earned all-district honors at four different positions during his prep career Qualified for the state track & field championships as a sprinter as a junior and senior Son of Darryl Batiste and Chandrika Decoud Cousin, Thomas Decoud, is a former third round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons Majoring in liberal studies 2016 (Oregon State): Started all 12 games at cornerback Tied for the team-lead with 10 pass breakups Finished the year sixth on the team with 58 tackles Recorded the first interceptions of his career against Idaho State, returning one of them 75 yards for a touchdown Named Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention 2015 (Oregon State): Played in 10 games starting nine Earned the starting spot at the vacant left cornerback position out of fall camp Finished the season fifth on the team with 50 tackles despite missing the better part of three games Played tough against the rush recording 3.5 tackles-for-loss on the year Led the Beavers with five passes defended Registered his first career sack against Washington Missed Utah and UCLA games due to injury against Colorado Arrived on campus in June 2015 with two years to play two seasons 2014 (NW Mississippi CC): 247Sports three-star prospect Ranked No. 34 on the national junior college prospects list, including No. 4 at cornerback First team All-America in 2014 after making 38 tackles, a team-high six interceptions (third in the nation) and seven pass breakups First team all-region selection 16

17 KYLE FULLER BIO KYLE FULLER CENTER BAYLOR Hometown: Wylie, Texas Rookie Age: 23 Acquired: D GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Career GP/GS (Playoffs): 0/0 (0/0) Teams: Houston, 2017 TRANSACTIONS: Selected by the Houston Texans with the 25th pick in the seventh round (243rd overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. CAREER AT BAYLOR: Three-year starting All-Big 12 center 52 career games played (most on team) and 39 career starts (most on squad) Anchor on o-line for nation s most productive offense in Key cog in paving the way for BU s rushing attack that led the Big 12 in 2015 and 2016, while helping Bears rank fourth or better in sacks allowed in conference over past three years Named Best Offensive Lineman in state by Dave Campbell s Texas Football Two-time Big 12 Commissioner s Honor Roll selection Graduated in May 2016 with degree in communication studies 2017 NFL Scouting Combine Participant 2017 Reese s Senior Bowl Participant 2016 All-Big 12 First Team (coaches, Phil Steele, Athlon) 2016 All-Big 12 Second Team (AP, ESPN, Waco Tribune-Herald) 2015 All-Big 12, consensus second team 2014 All-Big 12, honorable mention (coaches) 2012 (Baylor): Sat out first season at Baylor and participated on practice squad Redshirted to retain eligibility Dressed for five of 13 games, but did not see any game action. PERSONAL: Consensus state top 100 offensive line recruit for Wylie (Texas) High School Played for head coach Bill Howard at WHS National position rankings among offensive linemen: No. 37 by ESPN.com, No. 44 by Rivals.com, No. 53 by Scout.com, No. 57 by 247Sports.com Named 2011 second-team DFW Class 4A All-Area Earned 2011 first-team All-District 10-4A honors Son of Larry and Audrey Fuller Graduated in May 2016 with degree in communication studies (Baylor): Starting center in all 13 games as senior, earned All-Big 12 honors Powered offensive line that blocked for Big 12 s best rushing offense (241.8 ypg) Named first team All-Big 12 by league coaches, Phil Steele and Athlon Carded second-team honors from Associated Press, ESPN and Waco Tribune-Herald Led offensive line with an 88.9 percent coaches grade and 68 knockdowns Four times earned team s Offensive Lineman of Week honors 2015 (Baylor): Starting center in all 13 games as junior, earned All-Big 12 honors Anchor on offensive line that paved way for nation s No. 2-ranked rushing offense (326.7 ypg) and led Big 12 with 1.15 average sacks allowed Named second-team All-Big 12 by Associated Press, league coaches, San Antonio-Express News and Waco Tribune-Herald Averaged 88.9 percent coaches grade and totaled 51 knockdowns on season Named to USA Today All-Bowl team for efforts in BU s Russell Athletic Bowl victory Four times earned team s Lineman of Week honors 2014 (Baylor): Starting center in all 13 games as sophomore for Big 12 champions Earned 2014 All-Big 12 honorable mention from league coaches Anchored Baylor offensive line that powered running game to yards per game (second in Big 12) and ranked fourth in league with 1.85 average sacks allowed Named second team All-Texas by Dave Campbell s Texas Football publication Named to spring 2015 Big 12 Commissioner s Honor Roll One of two offensive players to start every game Led team with 49 total knockdowns and averaged 87.3 percent coaches grade on season Four times named squad s lineman of week for outstanding play Made career-first start in season-opening win over SMU, earned 86 percent coaches grade and had two knockdowns 2013 (Baylor): Played all 13 games as special teamer and reserve offensive lineman as redshirt freshman Earned first collegiate letter Saw action from scrimmage in nine games, played exclusively on special teams in other four Totaled 22 knockdowns and averaged 86.1 percent coaches grade in nine games Selected to spring 2014 Big 12 Commissioner s Honor Roll Made collegiate debut in season-opening win over Wofford, had two knockdowns and graded 85 percent 17

18 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/27) 2017 NFL DRAFT DAY 1 PRESS CONFERENCE What made you want to make this trade and go get QB Deshaun Watson? Rick Smith: I just think when you look at the young man and you study his history and the things that he has had to work through, the adversity that he s worked through, the human being that he is first of all. And then when you look at his history as an athlete, you have a guy who, he s a winner. He has that winning gene. He was a high school Gatorade Player of the Year, he s a state champion in high school. He s a multitime conference champion. He s a national champion. He recorded 33-5 or something like that. He throws for almost 70 percent of his passes. He just has a gene. Then when you watched him, or at least when we watched him in the building here around our players, it was pretty apparent that that leadership trait that he has, it s infectious. We had the conversations all throughout the day with respect to possible moves and what that might look like. As the draft unfolded, Bill (O Brien) and I kept talking about the possibility of doing it at various points and decided to make the move. What was it about QB Deshaun Watson that you liked? Bill O Brien: There s many things. He s a winner as a college quarterback, national champion. When he came in here well, I ll go back to the combine when I met him at the combine. Very poised guy. I felt like he was a guy that answered the questions very honestly, had a good memory, a good recall of specific plays that happened in his college career. When he came here to meet with us here, he met with our whole offensive staff and it was impressive. He was able to learn plays, teach the plays back to us, talk about his own, like Rick (Smith) said, his history, his own ability to overcome adversity. He s a very impressive guy. He s a very impressive guy and we are excited about being able to add him to the team. What stands out to you about his ability with the ball in his hand? Bill O Brien: I thought he was very instinctive. Good touch on the ball and various throws that he had to make. Can make all the throws. Look, I think all these guys, regardless of who they are, I think just generally speaking as a rookie quarterback, it s a big jump. Tom (Savage) is our starter and Deshaun (Watson) will come in and he s going to work hard and we are going to teach him and feed him a lot of information and he will work at it. The coverages are different, all the things are different, but when you watch the college tape, there were so many things that he did well throughout his career. One of the things that stood out to me was how well he played in clutch moments. In clutch moments, in big games, in games that really meant everything national championship games, big ACC games. The guy came through. When the chips were down, he was able to lead his team to victory. I think that says a lot about a quarterback. In the end, one of the things that we always look at is, is the guy a winner? This guy is a winner. I don t think anyone can argue that. He s a winner. That s one of the things that stood out to me the most. 18 This is the gutsiest move you ve made in the first round. When did you know you had a chance to do this? Rick Smith: You are right. You have to have conviction. I ve had conviction on this young man for quite some time. He s an impressive young man and when you watch the tape, there are things like Bill (O Brien) mentioned. All of these college quarterbacks as they transition to our league, they have things to work on and things to improve, but the things that are important about that position in my opinion, this guy possesses, so I had conviction on him. As Bill talked about, we felt good about him. It meant something to me, too, when he came to our building and I watched him sit and talk for 30 minutes with different players and players continue to come up to the table and talk to him and he engaged. It seemed to me to be a really good fit and just really solidified what I felt about the young man in my mind. Do you have to harness his ability escape the pocket? How did he play at Clemson in comparison to how you want your quarterbacks to play? Bill O Brien: He did a lot of different things at Clemson. They had a diverse offense. There s a lot of different types of spread offenses. There s not just one type of spread offense. He threw from the pocket, he threw from the perimeter, he ran the football. He made great plays out of plays that you wouldn t think (would) be so good. He was able to make something out of nothing. As far as harnessing and things like that, I would never use that word with a quarterback. I think it s more about teaching him our system, teaching him what we are all about here relative to playing quarterback to this team, making the best decisions he can make for the team. That s the big thing about the quarterback in our system is making great decisions based on what s best for the team in different situations of the game. He can do a lot of different things, and the biggest thing he s going to have to do coming in right away, which I know he is going to do, is to really just put his head down and go to work and really start to learn what we do and what it s all about in the NFL. Did the talk of him being the kind of guy who can change a culture factor into the decision at all? Rick Smith: I don t know about a rookie changing a culture. Bill O Brien: We have a pretty good culture here. We play hard. There is no question that one of the things that stands out to you about this guy is his character. What he has overcome in his life and what he was able to do, like Rick (Smith) said in high school and then obviously at Clemson, his leadership qualities, all those different things. But I think in the end, just like every rookie, he s going to have to step in here on day one and begin to earn the respect of a locker room that has a lot of great leaders in it. We are proud of our culture here as far as how we approach every day here with our football team. We work very hard. We have great attendance at our offseason program right now. These guys are working extremely hard. He ll become a part of that. I think one of the big things for him is he will learn about our culture. I think he will be a great fit in our culture. Rick Smith: That s one of the things I do talk to these prospects about, is about that and how it s important as we add young men to our football team that they fit into our group. That s important. We spend a lot of time talking about that and investigating those types of qualities. You ve talked about your relationship with Cleveland Browns Executive Vice President, Football Operations Sashi Brown. Did you talk with him about possibly moving up, especially with Chicago and San Francisco trading up to get quarterbacks? Rick Smith: Yeah, those are the things as a general manager you re doing in the last couple days. You re trying to anticipate what s going to happen. So, yeah, the foundation for this move was laid earlier with Sashi. You ve got all kinds of scenarios that you have to run to be prepared, because as much as you think you re prepared when the draft starts, it s such a fluid process that you have to be able to react. The only way to really to that is to be, in some respects, prepared. So, we had had some conversations earlier, yes.

19 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/27) When did you realize this was possible and how did this unfold? Was it as soon as pick 10? Rick Smith: We started talking about it around then around pick 10 to really think about doing something, and whether or not we wanted to do it. And so you have those conversations over and over again in the draft, and then you re trying to make a decision. Once New Orleans made the pick, I picked up the phone and called Sashi and said, Hey, we re going to do it. That s kind of how it played out. What stood out to you about his family, his upbringing and his character that makes him so different or unique? Rick Smith: I think one of the things that impressed me about the story as much as anything is when his mom had to battle cancer, and she actually had to go and do treatment in Atlanta. He had to step up as a young guy and help manage the household, and he did that. He did that. I think that whether it s down by a certain amount of points with not a lot of time in the fourth quarter, or whether it s a situation with his family, this guy finds a way to speak to the situation and do what s necessary to accomplish the goal. That was impressive about him. Given what you gave up, at what point is QB Deshaun Watson expected to challenge for the starting job and will he compete for the job in training camp? Rick Smith: I don t know that people really believe us, but we re comfortable Tom Savage as quarterback. We ve been saying that for the last several months. He comes in and he does exactly what Bill just described. He learns, he puts his head down and goes to work, and starts to try to earn the respect of his teammates and try to learn how to play quarterback in pro football. Right now, we re very comfortable with where we are with the quarterback position with Tom. I like Tom s potential in this offense, like I said the other day. Are there any advantages to teaching a rookie who comes in with a blank slate and no bad habits? Bill O Brien: I do think it gives you the opportunity to develop a guy. I think that s similar to what we re saying about Tom. We ve developed Tom now going on four years. He s had some injuries to deal with and things like that, but he s very knowledgeable of our system. He s had a real good start to the offseason program, and I think now with Deshaun (Watson) coming in, you have a chance to really develop a guy as to how you see the NFL and how to play quarterback in our system, and the opponents we re playing, the coverages he has to learn, how our system adapts from week to week and things like that. I think there s definitely something to that. I know this, I ve had a lot of fun personally the last two weeks going in there and coaching these guys. These guys are working extremely hard. I m talking about the whole team. The quarterbacks have been here every day. It s been a lot of fun. I think Deshaun is going to come in there, and that s the type of guy he is. He s going to add to that mix, and we ll compete. Going to the last question, the whole thing here is about competition. We compete a lot every single day, whether it s in the weight room or on the practice field. Everybody is given an opportunity to compete, we have a number of guys on our roster right now that weren t even drafted that have been up on our 53-man roster in the past, just to give you an example how we view competition. Everybody will be given a chance to compete, but there s got to be a starting point, and the starting point is that Tom is our starter. We re moving forward with that, and then Brandon (Weeden) is there and then Deshaun comes in and he begins to learn our offense and add to that competition. How difficult is the learning curve for a young quarterback in this offense? Bill O Brien: First of all, I guess people think that our offense is hard to learn, but every guy has come in here and really done a good job of learning the offense. It s really about what happens out on the field on Sunday. It s the execution. We have to do a better job relative to last year of executing with our offense. As far as learning curve, there s definitely a learning curve with any rookie quarterback that comes in to this league. It s just a different game. The rules are different, the field dimensions are different relative to the hash marks and things like that. There s a lot of differences in coverages that you see in our league. The big difference is now you re playing against grown men and things like that. There are many, many differences, but we do, I believe, a good job of teaching these guys and bringing them along at the pace that they can come along at, the pace they can retain information and go out there and be able to execute on the practice field. To me, it s all about us making sure that we do a good job of teaching and they do a good job of retaining the information and being able to go out on the practice field and execute. What are your thoughts on QB Deshaun Watson s elevated interception total last year? What s your perspective on his arm strength? Bill O Brien: First on the interceptions, I think he threw 41 touchdowns and I think he had 17 interceptions. They threw the ball a lot. Are there throws he wish he could have back? Certainly. We talked about that. There are certain interceptions that happen they happen. The ball was batted in the air, whatever it might be. Look, quarterbacks, they throw interceptions. It s not something you want to see a lot of, obviously, but he ll do a good job of understanding his mistakes in practice here. He ll understand what we re teaching. He s a very, very knowledgeable guy just as far as being able to retain the things that we taught him in his meeting here. We had him for three hours here. He did a really good job of understanding what we re doing. I think the big thing about it is, like I said, is really doing a good job of him understanding, us doing a good job of teaching situational football. When is the time to take a chance in practice with that throw relative to checking it down and being smart and making a good decision for the team? All those things will start to happen when he arrives here next week. The Texans have won back-to-back AFC South Division championships for the second time and the team s four division titles over the last six seasons are the fourth most in the NFL during that span. 19

20 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/27) CONFERENCE CALL WITH QB DESHAUN WATSON What were your first thought when you had heard the Texans traded up to get you? It was just surreal. I couldn t really think about anything. I just started crying and balling out. It was amazing. Did you think it was a possibility after the way your pre-draft visit went and after you NFL Combine meeting with Head Coach Bill O Brien went? I thought it was a big possibility. I knew that they were very interested, but I didn t with the draft there s so much uncertainty and not really knowing what s going on. I didn t know what they were doing. I didn t know if they were going offensive tackle, defense or quarterback, so I was just trying to keep an open mind. How excited are you to play with WR DeAndre Hopkins? I m very excited to not just play with DeAndre Nuk (Hopkins), but to be able to play with all the guys and have that defense and just be able to get in there and start working. Talk about your character and being a winner. Head Coach Bill O Brien and Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Rick Smith talked highly about your character and your ability to win in close games. Talk about your leadership skills. I guess it just came natural to me. The way that I was raised by my mother, the way she raised me and made sure I went through situations off the field and on the field. I just kind of stayed poised and continued to lead the group that I m with, my teammates. It just comes with the person that I am. Your mom provided a lot of leadership and inspiration for you as a cancer survivor and what she did for you all. Just your thoughts on your mom and kind of what you owe to her to get to this moment? I owe everything to her. Her birthday is Saturday. I m going to spoil her for sure. It s surreal. It s just amazing. I met and interviewed you last year. You said whether you come out this year or your senior year, you would be confident you would be one of the first quarterbacks taken. What gave you that confidence just as a sophomore? I just knew that type of player I am and I knew the type of work I was putting in. I just felt comfortable with myself. I know who I am. I just knew that one day I was going to become one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL Draft. Compare the moment you won the National Championship to this moment right now? This moment is just a little bit over that National Championship because I m actually living my dream and I can officially call myself a National Football player. Can you tell us about the inside of your suit jacket? Was that meaningful? It was. The 815 is the neighborhood I was born and raised in, where I m from. And memo, like people get the memo how I was raised and how I go about my business. What was the inspiration behind the Deion Sanders t-shirt prior to the draft? I know Deion Sanders son very well. Having that Deion Sanders, that was the move for today. Getting that phone call and being excited like he was. Can you talk about your emotions going through tonight, seeing the picks come off the board, kind of how you felt until it got to when you were selected? My emotions were good. I was keeping hope. I was having fun with the family, laughing, giggling. Whenever my name was called, that s when my tears started coming down. I m still crying right now. This is pretty crazy. You mentioned before the draft that you would be surprised if some of the other quarterbacks were taken before you. You hoped to be one of the first ones taken. Does that provide any extra motivation for you and what are your thoughts on being the third quarterback taken? I don t have any real big thoughts on that. I m not focused on that. I m focused on trying to get my interviews, get back to the hotel, celebrate with my family and get to Houston and get to work, get my head down and work. It s the right situation to be in. The Lord blessed me with this situation. It s awesome. Can you talk about this being right situation? A lot of your pro career is going to depend on your talent, your qualities, stuff depending on you. How do you think that the Texans play to your strengths? How do you think you play to theirs? They have a lot of weapons. They can spread you out. There s so many different things you can do from what I ve seen and I ve learned from Coach (Bill) O Brien over the visits. They have a great defense. A great O-line, great weapons around me. For me, all I need to do is keep my head down, don t say anything, learn from all the veteran guys, learn from Tom Savage, learn from Brandon Weeden and just play my role, whatever role that is, play it well and help the team out, win. What is it about the clutch moments, the end of the game, big games, that you want the football in your hands and the chance to effect the outcome? I feel like I m a confident player. I feel like I can do the things that a lot of people can t do. If I have that leadership, the confidence spread throughout the team and I feel like I can get the job done whenever it s needed, especially in those pressure situations. There s been talk about your arm strength, some interceptions you threw last season. What would you say to your critics and doubters about the velocity and about some of the mistakes you made your last season at Clemson? Just watch the film. The film doesn t lie. If you really break down the mistakes, half of the mistakes were kind of petty, tipped balls, miscommunication on the receiver and quarterback. Some guys made better plays. You cut that in half and then the arm strength, that speaks for itself. All of that stuff is just something they can talk about. The Texans know the type of player and the quarterback that I am. 20

21 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) QB DESHUAN WATSON INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE Opening Statement Rick Smith: Thank you, everyone, for being here. We would like to take this wonderful opportunity to welcome this young man and his family to Houston and to the Texans organization, and to introduce you to our newest member of our Texans family. We re excited about this. We talked last night in the press conference about how we felt, obviously, convicted and excited to move up in the first round to select Deshaun and what we think he can add to our football team as a man, as a football player and a new member to our community. So, we re excited about it. Welcome. What was it that you saw here and you learned that made you want to come here so bad? Deshaun Watson: Just starting with the visit, once I got here the players just kind of brought me in, sit down and eat lunch with all the guys and kind of building that relationship. It felt like I was already on the team, and I felt comfortable with the situation. I had a great visit with Coach (Bill) O Brien and everything just fit it right. Can you discuss this relationship you have with your mom and how important this bond has been throughout your entire life? Deshaun Watson: My mom, she s my rock. She s the one that raised me. Single-parent mom of four kids and the struggles that we went through, it was tough. My whole family plays a big part of my support cast and it s just been awesome to have them in my life. What are your thoughts on how you see the game of football and study film? Deshaun Watson: I think film study is the big key of being a great quarterback. It starts with preparation and being able to handle that and be able to be detailed with your work is key. I still have a lot to learn. I m going to be a sponge when I get here and go to work. Do you remember the touchdown pass you threw over the middle against Georgia and what it took to understand the blitz that fast? Deshaun Watson: Actually I do. That was my first career touchdown at that level. I wasn t a starter Cole Stoudt, tagging out with him. He was the guy that helped me out throughout the week. We prepared for that blitz, and once I saw it I checked the play and I knew where I was going and I made the throw. As a rookie coming in, how ready to you feel with the offense that you ran at Clemson and all the things you understand already? Deshaun Watson: I know it s going to be a challenge, which is what I m up for, but also I have a lot to learn so I m just anxious to get here and get to work and learn from Brandon Weeden and Tom Savage two guys that I m a huge fan of who I watched while they were in college. So, it s going to be a fun ride. What have the last 12 hours or so been like for you? Deshaun Watson: My emotions have been sky-high. Ever since I got the call, tears just coming out of my eyes. It s just surreal to think that I m officially a National Football (League) player. Just to be able to be on this stage and be here with these guys and with this great organization, it s special. How would you feel about taking some time to get caught up to speed with the pro game before taking it and running with it? 21 Deshaun Watson: I think that s the best way. Learn from the veteran guys, play whatever role I have. But my main focus is to get in here, learning about this city, learning about this organization, learning this system, and just being the best teammate I can be. Whatever role that is, just enjoying that. How do you feel about Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney comparing you to Michael Jordan and how did you deal with the pressure that came with that? Deshaun Watson: It caught me off guard, actually. I was actually training in California and after I got done working out I saw the quotes and I just kind of smiled because I knew it was Coach Swinney. That s how Swinney is. I understand I m not Michael Jordan. I guess he sees greatness in me, and hopefully in years people are going to talk about my name like they do Michael Jordan. How important is it to you when you hear so many people talk about your character and how involved you are in the community? Deshaun Watson: I think it s very big. It comes from my mother. She made sure that I was the right person off the field: I was a man, I was taking care of my responsibilities, being disciplined and just being the great guy that I am. The way I treat people is the way they re going to treat me, so I have to carry myself the right way. Can you talk about how meaningful the house was that Warrick Dunn donated to you guys and how the 815 has fueled your growth as a player and as a man? Deshaun Watson: Right. The 815 is the neighborhood where we first were living. 815 Harrison Square. Just kind of like a recycling bin, no one really making it out. Then I was blessed to have a Habitat home, and Warrick Dunn was the professional player that came and presented the house to us. Just being able to see that and looking up to someone like that, it just fueled the fire and (made me want) to do some great things, too. It s my responsibility to give back just like he did to me. A lot has been made about the meeting between the two of you when he came to visit and how that influenced this decision. Can you talk about that? And Deshaun, what was that meeting like for you in terms of solidifying that Houston was where you wanted to be? Bill O Brien: It was actually the whole offensive staff that met with Deshaun (Watson) when he came, which I don t think is easy for a young man to come in. Obviously, a bona fide draft prospect, a guy to come in here and have to stand up in front of, there were nine guys in the room: offensive line coach, receiver coach, quarterback coach, head coach. One of the things that impressed us the most was his ability to retain information with poise. We do several different things with our conversations with our quarterbacks. He handled it all very well. That impressed us. I will leave the rest of it to him, but he s a bright guy. He s a guy that s really looking forward to getting here and learning like he s been saying, and we are looking forward to coaching him. You might want to get a picture of your coach smiling because you do know he has a reputation of being tough on quarterbacks. I m sure that WR DeAndre Hopkins has broached that subject with you. Deshaun Watson: DeAndre hasn t said anything about it, but I m fine with that. I love to be coached hard. It comes with the relationship that we are going to build and the trust that we are going to have.

22 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) What has that meant being around all these men that have achieved so much knowing that the torch is now passed to you? Deshaun Watson: It means a lot and motivates me to do the same thing and follow their footsteps. If I see that and see greatness in them, I feel like I can do the same. If I have their support, it s going to help me achieve those goals also. What do you love about the game of football? What are some of the ways that you see the game differently, the way you read defenses and think about the game? Deshaun Watson: I just love the game of football. It brings so much to me as a person, as a man. Football is fun. It helped me get to this point right now. I just love the challenges it brings. The adversity, the struggles. Just the teammates and the teamwork and the work that you have to put in each and every week to be able to be successful, especially at this level. A lot of college offenses get lumped in the spread format. What did you learn about QB Deshaun Watson and how much was put on his plate at Clemson? Bill O Brien: We studied every game that he played. There were several things that were put on his plate in his career. He can probably answer that better than me. I can tell you just from watching film, he had to do several things, whether it was signaling a formation to wide receivers or changing protection at the line of scrimmage or going from one play to the next. He did several things, and he did it, like I said last night, with poise in clutch moments. That s what stood out to me. Was every play perfect? No. I m sure he d be the first to tell you he d love to have certain plays here and there back. But overall, he executed at a very high level and we had a lot of fun watching him. How do you balance being confident and cocky as an athlete with still being humble and not getting too big of a head? Deshaun Watson: I respect the game and I respect the people that came before me and I respect the players on the field with me. It s just the way I carry myself with confidence, my persona, my personality. I m quiet and down to earth. Like I said before, I just respect others and respect the game. You mentioned your mom s birthday is coming up on Saturday. Do you have any special plans? Deshaun Watson: We ll be here all day today. I think we re heading back out tomorrow morning. Of course tomorrow is her birthday, so I have a surprise for her when we get home. Where do you get your confidence from? Have you had that since you were a kid or was that something you developed? Deshaun Watson: I think probably coming in with the situation I was raised in as a kid, just handling everything. My mom of course making sure that we knew right from and how to handle different situations. Then, just my experiences throughout middle school, high school and college that kind of built me up to this point now. Have you talked to WR DeAndre Hopkins since you ve been drafted? If so, what did he tell you? Deshaun Watson: I talked to him last night and he said, Congratulations, welcome to Houston, and let s go to work. What about your skillset fits in well at this level with this team? Deshaun Watson: Just my poise, my confidence, being able to handle different situations, and just being able to use my skillset to win games. I think that s the biggest way. I think every quarterback is different but the one thing that s very similar is winning games or losing games. The biggest key is winning games. On Sundays last year when you watched NFL games, would you sit there and project that this year or the year after, I m going to be the man? Deshaun Watson: As far as being the man, not really sure about that, but as far as playing and hearing my name called or being a professional athlete, that was a thought. Is it a slap in the face with Chicago Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky being picked ahead of you? Deshaun Watson: That s history. My main focus is being the best Houston Texan I can be and getting here and going to work. What are your goals for your rookie season? Deshaun Watson: Just depends on the situation and role I have to play. I m just going to play it well and go to work. Whenever my opportunity comes, I m going to take full advantage of it. Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said he had you in camp when you were in 9th grade. What do you remember about that camp? Deshaun Watson: As a ninth grader walking into Clemson, it was actually my first visit, so I was eyes wide open and surprised, all the great talent that was around me, all the big buildings and the big stadium. I just went in there as a young kid, just went in there and played football and try to learn as much as I can. I guess the next week I got the offer, and I knew that was the perfect spot for me. What other players have reached out to you since you ve been drafted? Deshaun Watson: Tom Savage was actually the first guy that shot me a text afterwards. He said Congratulations and welcome to Houston. Let s go to work. He was excited for me to be there, to be able to join the QB room. I got a tweet from J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, D.J. Reader, and there were a few other guys that kind of reached out to me. Bill O Brien: Those three guys are being nice to you right now. When training camp rolls around it might be a different story. How excited are you to be able to work with and develop a young, talented quarterback who could be something special? Bill O Brien: Here s what I ll say to that, the last couple weeks since our offseason program started, I ve had a lot of fun. I think we ve got a great group of guys here. I think we have about 62 guys that are participating in the offseason program and they ve shown up to go to work every day. We ve had a lot of productive sessions and now we re adding, at this point after the first round, we re adding another great guy to the mix. We have a quarterback room now with good people in there and really good workers, guys that are going to come in at different stages of their careers but really work hard to perfect what we re trying to do at that position. Again, that s one thing that stood out to me about Deshaun (Watson), was his ability to retain information and be able to teach it back to us and have communication about it. We re looking forward to working with him. 22

23 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) People always talk about the things QB Deshaun Watson needs to do better. Are those traits you think can be developed over time with hard work? Rick Smith: I guess I ll start from a scouting perspective. Part of the evaluation process does involve and include measurements and numbers and all those kinds of metrics and things that we measure. But I went to the National Championship game and I watched this guy play against a pretty good defense and I saw him make all the throws necessary with all the velocity at the specific times that he needed to put on the ball. I think he s got enough athleticism to play quarterback in this league and we feel pretty good about that. You looked up to Warrick Dunn for what he did for your family. Is it surreal to know he was the 12th pick in his draft and now you re the 12th pick in 2017? Deshaun Watson: It is pretty cool. Actually my PR guy from Clemson University had texted me that and sent me the picture of me and him. So, it was kind of surprising and kind of weird how that worked out but hopefully I can have a career like he did. Can you take us through playing against South Carolina with a torn ACL during your freshman year? Deshaun Watson: Yes sir. I tore my ACL. Actually came back from a hand injury. Came back against Georgia Tech and tore my ACL. Skipped a week and instead of having surgery, I told Coach (Dabo) Swinney first off, I made a promise to him that as long as I m the quarterback here, I m not losing to South Carolina. They were 0-5 when (Jadeveon) Clowney was there and I was like, I can t allow that. So, my opportunity came up and I told him, Hey, I ll get the surgery the week after. I m going to play. And he said, If you can produce and perform throughout the week, then I ll let you play. He let me do it and we ended up flipping the streak around. Rick Smith: I don t know if I can properly provide the right context for what it takes to play with a torn ACL but that s a pretty special deal right there. New Texans QB Deshaun Watson guided Clemson to consecutive College Football Playoff appearances and the school s second National Championship in He led the Tigers to 28 wins over his final two seasons ( ) NFL DRAFT DAY 2 PRESS CONFERENCE Could each of you tell us what you think about RB D Onta Foreman and ILB Zach Cunningham and then how you think those guys fit in? Rick Smith: I guess I ll start. We felt like we ve added two good football players, first of all. It s been a productive night. First, with Zach (Cunningham), we think he s an athletic, rangy linebacker who has cover skills. Very productive in a big conference, of course. Good character guy, highly decorated. He s a good football player. Then, the second pick of the evening, the young man out of Texas. Again, productive. Adds balance to the offense, is a powerful runner, good vision, good feet, good foot quickness, so we like the addition for our running game for both those guys. Both those guys are high character guys. Very impressed with our running back. We had our local pro day and he came and worked out. A lot of times some of the higher projected prospects shy away from the local workout. One of the things that was impressive about that young man was that he came and he wanted to compete and he got in the drills and he did a great job and showed us that he was ready and willing and excited to be a Houston Texan. So, we re excited that he is. Bill O Brien: I think Rick (Smith) answered it. You ve talked a number of times over your three years here about wanting to have toughness and attitude on both sides of the ball. How do you think they fit into the tone and the edge that you hope this team has? Bill O Brien: Well, Zach Cunningham was a very productive tackler at Vanderbilt. I think he can really help us in a number of different ways. Starting out, I know he can help us on special teams. I think he will be a core special teams player and then I know that he can do several different things on defense. He can play in our base defense, he can play on third down. He is a versatile player, just like Rick said. He is a tough kid. Are there things that he needs to work on? Certainly. He has to get bigger and stronger and things like that. But, he is a rangy guy that is athletic and plays the game the right way. D Onta Foreman, this guy, what stood out to me probably the most about this guy was well, I will say this, was him showing up to the local workout. That was a big thing because he was a top-rated back and I ve rarely seen that with local workouts that I ve been involved with. Then, he was an inside runner. He was a very productive inside runner that broke a lot of tackles for Texas this year. He ran to the outside. He ran to the perimeter. They attacked the defense with him in different ways, but he was a productive first- and second-down, tackle-to-tackle runner and that was impressive to me. You are second in the league in rushes in your three years to Seattle. Why is the running game is so important to you? Bill O Brien: Well, I think it s just a matter of, No. 1, being able to control the tempo of the game, possess the football versus some of the teams we play. There are a lot of different reasons. I think all good teams, in my opinion, are measured by their ability to stop the run and also their ability to run the football. I think that s a big part of what we do. We ve done a great job of stopping the run on defense and we ve done a decent job of running the football. That s part of our philosophy. It s not the only thing that we look at, but it s definitely part of what we believe in. 23 So far in the offseason you have mentioned a couple of times about how you would like to take some of a load off of RB Lamar Miller. Was that primarily why this was the move to make because he s an inside runner and the type of running back that D Onta Foreman is?

24 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) Bill O Brien: I don t think it was the primary reason. When we were ready to pick, Rick (Smith) had it exactly the way it was he was the best player on the board. He was the guy that we had ranked the highest at that point in time and Rick made the decision to go do it and I was all for it. He s a good football player, very productive in college. But certainly there are other things that drafting him does for us and one of them is hopefully for him to come in here, work hard and do a good job of learning our system and be able to spell Lamar (Miller) at times when Lamar needs that. I don t think it s a case where we overuse Lamar, I just think all running backs need a little bit of rest every now and then. Hopefully, he will be able to do that. Do you feel fortunate to get a 2,000 yard rusher and the Doak Walker Award winner in the third round? It seems kind of like a steal. Rick Smith: I don t know if I would characterize it as a steal, but I do agree with your assessment. Like Bill said, he was the highest-rated player on our board. I do a little bit of a wish list; guys that I would just would love to have on our football team, and he s one of those guys that was starred, that was on that list because obviously you watch him here, it s close and you see I joked with him in Indy (Indianapolis) in our interview and I said, Hey, that might have been the quietest 2,000 yards I ve ever seen, and his response was, Well, I did win the Doak Walker Award, so it wasn t too quiet. He s a good young man and we are excited to have him as a part of our organization. his ability to be a first- and second-down back for us. He s healthy. As far as the right tackle position, is T Derek Newton someone you expect to be back next season and is that a position you re looking to address on Day 3 of the draft? Rick Smith: Without revealing any kind of strategy of what we re looking for, I would tell you with respect to Derek s injury, he s rehabbing. It s a big injury that he faced and he s attacking it with as much vigor as you would expect that he would. We ve got a lot of confidence that he can come back from that. That s about what I would tell you there. Then as it relates to the offensive line group, we ve talked about this a lot with respect to the draft, and specifically what we re talking about tonight is the draft, and so what I would tell you about that is we re going to take them as they come. We have not been in the position at this point up until tonight last night and tonight to take an offensive lineman that we felt good about at the value where we were picking. So, if there s an opportunity to do that tomorrow night, we ll do it. That s the same with any position. We ll continue to stay true to our board and hopefully continue to add good players to our team. Did you like that you were able to take the top-rated guy as opposed to feeling pressure to draft for need in the second and third rounds? Rick Smith: We had multiple options at the pick and we had guys that were valued in that area, so it wasn t like we were struggling to find players that we felt good about that at the spot. He happened to be the highest-rated guy on the board. It s fortunate when you can get a guy, especially when you have him valued a little bit more than where you took him. Do you see ILB Zach Cunningham playing inside or outside or do you guys not know yet? Bill O Brien: I think he s versatile guy that can do both. I m not sure where we will start him right now. We will talk about that over the next few days here I m saying start him in our defense but I know one thing, he is going to start out helping us on special teams right away. Then I think wherever he plays on defense, we play so many different packages, I do think he can play outside as an outside linebacker and I think he can play some inside, too. We will see how it goes from there. The Texans have been particularly successful drafting in the first round of the NFL Draft. Houston is the only team in the NFL with every first round pick since 2008 still on their roster and all but one of Smith s first rounder s played in 14-or-more games as a rookie. Is the versatility the thing you really value? Bill O Brien: No question. I think versatility, when you get down to the 90-man roster to 75 to 53 and then having to decide who to bring to games we are a long way from that but versatility is very big key for us. Does it help you out that RB D Onta Foreman comes in with such little tread on his tires and does that make you feel like you can extend him out in the future? Bill O Brien: I think he s a healthy guy. I mean, when he was here, he showed up he s big and fast and he was in good shape. I don t know about the tread and all those different things. I think we look at the production, we learn about the young man. Obviously he s a great guy. But certainly one of the things that we looked at was his ability to run inside, 24

25 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) CONFERENCE CALL WITH ILB ZACH CUNNINGHAM Can you describe your feeling when you got the call and were selected as the Houston Texans second-round pick? I was definitely excited and relieved at the same time. I was feeling nervous watching the picks go through. When I got the call I was definitely very excited. Did you have a lot of activity with the Texans before the draft? Did you do a visit or workout? No, I actually hadn t. This is a huge surprise for me. So, I mean, right now I m just taking it all in. Can you talk about that final play against Georgia when the game was on the line and you come up with a huge stop? That was a big play at the end of a game. It s a play that we needed, being able to be in position to make that play. We talked about it on the sideline that was a play that they possibly could run. So, ran out on the field, was prepared for it and I just took it from there and saw the opportunity, saw the run play fit out. You ve been described as a playmaker that needs to be able to roam and have guys off him to make stuff happen. How would you describe your game and sell it to Houston Texans fans? That s a lot of my gameplay style and I m definitely a playmaker, definitely a guy who s able to get from sideline to sideline. I have a lot of speed, quickness and agility, I m able to cover, I m able to fit the run. Whatever the Texans see fit for me, I m definitely going to be an impact player on the defense. I m sure you know the Houston Texans have a good defense. How excited are you to join a team that has so many star players? I m definitely excited. It s a blessing to me. This whole process has been a blessing. I m just excited. I m at a loss for words, really. How does it feel to be able to learn and be able to watch guys like OLB Whitney Mercilus as well as ILB Brian Cushing in that linebacker corps? That s definitely going to be a great experience for me. I m really anticipating being able to get in and get started there. Some of the analysts were saying they saw too many missed tackles. Were there some plays you wished you had back? There s definitely some plays I wish I could take back. A lot of missed tackles, a lot of missed opportunities that I left on the field. But I definitely gave my all, and I think that showed up in the way I played, it showed up in how I played and what I was able to achieve. What do you know about the Houston Texans defense? Not a lot. I haven t had a lot of conversations with them or anything like that. This pick really took me off guard. Which teams showed interest in you? I went to Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Denver, and a few other teams. Have you ever been to Houston? I ve never been to Houston. Have you ever been to Texas? The only time I ve been there is going through the airport. Can you talk to us about the moment you found out and how you re feeling overall right now? The moment I found out I was in a room surrounded by all my family. I was definitely taking it all in as it came, like I said. Getting picked by the Texans definitely caught me off guard. Definitely wasn t expecting that. I m still kind of overwhelmed, definitely feeling excited, definitely feeling apprehensive and just ready to get to work. Just giving you the opportunity to address that as a criticism that you seem to like football too much? What are your thoughts on that? That I seem to like football too much? Yeah, just quiet. It seems like you are a football junkie. I m just reading that that was apparently a criticism? Is that the first time you are hearing something like that? I ve never heard that as a criticism just being a football junkie. Any team that brings you in, that s definitely what I think a team would want someone who loves football, someone who is going to give their all to it because it s not going to last long. Do you expect to compete for the spot that was vacated by John Simon? Do you expect to line up there or inside? I ve always played inside linebacker, so that s where I see myself playing. But, like I said, we haven t talked. Me and Texans coaches haven t really talked a lot about where they see me playing, where they want me, where they see me fitting in with the defense. Talk about some of your short-term goals and expectations going forward with the Texans. Like I said, my expectations going forward is to come in and make an impact, come in, become a starting linebacker, an impact player that just takes a hold and doesn t let go of it. Do you feel more comfortable playing on the ball or off the ball? I ve always played off the ball. That s where I would say I feel more comfortable. It seems like a lot of people talk about you being kind of a quiet person. Is that your personality? Yeah, I d say so. I m more of quiet, reserved person. When the time comes to it, when it calls for it, I m definitely stepping up and [inaudible] when I need to be. I ll be vocal and take charge of a situation. 25

26 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/28) CONFERENCE CALL WITH RB D ONTA FOREMAN Can you put into words what this moment means? All of the work from youth ball, high school, college, and now to have your name called in the third round of the NFL Draft. It s a dream come true. It s something I ve strived so hard for. My family is supporting me, everybody was behind me. For me to be a Texan means a lot. As the draft process went on, something in my heart was just telling me that I really wanted to be a Texan and I just really feel like that was going to happen. When it did, it was so real. I can t thank the organization enough. Coach mentioned that you coming to the local workout meant a lot to him. Is there a specific reason you decided to come? Is it because you wanted to play here? That s definitely why. My agent told me they wanted to have me for the area day. I was glad to be there. I actually had a workout the day before, but nothing was going to make me miss that. I really wanted to be there and just showcase my talent. I really wanted to be a Texan, so that s something that I wouldn t pass up. What about the Texans made you want to be here? I m so close to Houston. I m from Texas City. I m really close to Houston and my dad has always been a Texans fan. He s a diehard Texans fan. As the process was going on - I played for Texas City and then I went to Texas - so why not be a Texan? That was my thing, just play for the Texans from where I m from. I really wanted to just be a Texan. I don t know, it was just kind of something that grew on me. What was your dad s response when he found out you were going to be a Texan? He was just smiling and saying he was so proud of me. It was pretty emotional for him, for all of us honestly for me being drafted was a dream come true but for me to be able to be a Texan, his favorite team, is crazy. I m ready to get to work. I m looking forward to it. It s going to be a great journey. Ricky Williams said you were going to be special in the NFL and Houston is lucky to have you. What does it mean hearing that from someone like him? I love Ricky so much, man. He s been so great to me. Great mentor, great leader to me. He s somebody that I can call and talk to any time and he gives me great advice. For him to say those words, it s a blessing and I thank him. What are some of the things you can learn from RB Lamar Miller and some of the other veterans? Just how to be a pro, you know. Just going in there and doing the pro things in the pro way. Get out of my college mode and just grow up, be that pro player. I m honestly ready for it. I watch Lamar Miller in the NFL, me and my dad are Texans fans, I watch those guys and I see what he s able to do. I just try to learn every day from him to put it with my game and be unique like that. When you worked out here at the local pro day, did you get a chance to meet with any of the Texans coaches? What was your impression if you did? I remember the running backs coach (Charles London) and also talked to Coach (Bill) O Brien. They just had great energy. I felt so comfortable 26 being there. Everybody even the scouts everybody I talked to there just had great energy and everybody was just proud that I was even there. They all knew I had worked out previous to coming to them, so everybody was excited for me to be there. I was excited to be there. Like I said, it was just great energy. I m a big person on energy. I can tell if a place is right for me. I just knew when I first got there that was a place that I could play. There were obviously other running backs taken ahead of you. Does that matter to you or does the fact that becoming a Texan, going to the team you wanted to all along, matter more than where you got drafted? Honestly at the time, I started to get a little upset about it, but honestly now that I m a Texan, I really want to be a Texan. That overshadows everything, honestly. I m not really worried about where those guys got taken. It s a blessing for anybody to be drafted, so I m proud of those guys. I m sure their families are proud of them. None of that matters. You go out there and perform, and we will see who the best is when we get out there and we get to compete and go play. Can you talk about how much toughness you play with and the pride that comes with that? I m a person that, I ve been through a lot of adversity. With my family behind me, I never want to let anyone down. I go out there with a chip on my shoulder just because I ve been doubted so much. I just want to go out there and leave my mark every time I m on the field. I want people to understand what type of player they are playing against and I want my team to know what type of player is going to be there for them day in and day out. I work tremendously hard to be the best. I want to be the best at everything I do. I m just ready. What do you think you do best at your position? Honestly, I feel like I can do it all. I didn t really catch the ball much in college but I feel like that s a strong part of my game. I don t know. I just really feel like I can do a lot. I m just kind of ready to get out there and see how they are going to utilize me and see what they want from me and just go from there. Where do you think you are in pass protection and blitz pickups? Honestly, I m confident in myself. With me being in college and our system that we ran in college, it wasn t emphasized on blitz pickups. I definitely feel like I can get better but I feel like also with repetition and me just going over it and doing it because it s more of a thing in the NFL to be able to pass protect and protect the quarterback. When there s something that is harped on that much you have to go out there and be good at it. I think that s the biggest thing I should work on, but I m pretty confident in myself being able to go do it and perform. How much did Charlie Strong mean to you given that he depended on you to carry the ball so much last season? It means a lot to me. Coach Strong was somebody that s a great person. He taught me a lot, just how to be accountable and responsible for the things that you do. I always was accountable for the things that I ve done, whether it was good or any mistakes that I ever made, I was always accountable for them. I just always want to go fix them as fast as I could. I can t thank him enough. I just talked to him. He just called me and congratulated me and said he was happy for me. I told him that I appreciate everything he s done for me and even my brother and that I can t thank him enough. I wish him well at his new school.

27 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/29) When you look at the Bucknell tackle, Julién Davenport, it seemed like he showed at the Senior Bowl that he could handle better competition. What did you see from him in that way? Bill O Brien: That s a good point. For a guy like that that s nothing from Bucknell coming from Bucknell, a little bit lower competition relative to the other bigger schools, to go to the Senior Bowl is a good thing. I thought that he competed very well there. Wasn t perfect but he competed. He held his own. Then, Rick (Smith) sent Mike Devlin to Pennsylvania. He worked him out and had a good day with him and that was impressive to us. Smart. He s got a ways to go, just like most of these guys do, but really good length, arm length, height, athleticism. We think he could potentially play both sides, right and left. We really were impressed with him on that workout so every phase our evaluation with him was good. The Texans took two players with Texas ties in the 2017 NFL Draft, RB D Onta Foreman and C Kyle Fuller. It is the first time the Texans have drafted multiple players with connections to Texas since NFL DRAFT DAY 3 PRESS CONFERENCE Can you both please start with your first pick today and talk about each of them and how they fit in? Rick Smith: I will let Bill (O Brien) maybe talk about each guy individually from today. I would just say overall I think it was a very productive weekend. I think our football team is better, starting with the pick on Thursday night and the two guys we added that we ve talked about already on Friday. And, as you look at today s group, I think if there s a theme about this group, there is a leadership and production throughout the class along with some accomplishment throughout the class. So, even the guys today, (Julién) Davenport in the fourth round. This guy is a two-time captain. He s got some things to develop, obviously, from the level of competition, but we see enough athletic ability, we see enough leadership, we see enough character that we feel pretty confident that he will be able to come in and compete and learn and grow and figure out how to be a pro football player. Carlos Watkins is a guy from Clemson that we took. Excited about that young man, to reunite him with some teammates from Clemson, obviously. We think that s a good program and so we have some productive players from that program. When you look at his history, from a production standpoint, you talk about a guy who makes plays behind the line of scrimmage. He has double digits in hurries and sacks and tackles for losses, he plays big in big games and we like that about him. (Treston) Decoud in the fifth round is a guy that has some versatility. He is a longer corner with some press ability, might even be able to play safety. He is an aggressive tackler, so we like that skillset with him. Then the last pick, I really like the (Kyle) Fuller guy. He s another guy that is a three-year starter at Baylor, has played a lot of football, graduated, has taken care of his business. Those are the types of guys that we like to add to the football team. In general, that s the group, and maybe if you guys have specific questions for Bill to kind of ask about each guy. 27 What is it about the Clemson program that makes their players appealing and how will reuniting him with NT D.J. Reader help you guys out next year? Bill O Brien: Clemson obviously has done a great job. I think we talked about them offensively with Deshaun (Watson) and obviously, Hop (De- Andre Hopkins) being here. Defensively, they do a good job, too. Over the last two or three years, even beyond that, they have been very athletic up front. This guy is a guy that we feel can come in here with a lot of hard work and good coaching here can fill a couple of different roles for us. He can play on the inside in a couple of different of packages for us. Like Rick said, he makes a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage, bunch of TFLs, some sacks. He s an instinctive player and we think he gives us, for lack of a better term, some juice on the inside in a competitive way. We were really happy to be able to get that guy when we were at that pick. Could you talk about how C Kyle Fuller will fit in? You have two really good centers now. Do you see him as a guard, too? Bill O Brien: He can play both. He can play both, yeah. That was the big thing. When we just sat there and talked about this one there were some really good candidates up there for us at various positions, but I think one thing that put us over the top with him in talking to Rick (Smith) was his versatility on the inside. His ability to come in and be able to compete for a backup job at the guard spot in addition to the center spot. There s some good competition there with some really good young players. That s always a good thing. With Julién Davenport, do you think there s an advantage to taking a player from an FCS school who may be hungry from being overlooked by FBS programs? Bill O Brien: I don t know. I think you probably need to ask him that. I think that s more of a question for him. I think for us, we evaluate. We take into account the level of competition, and there s no doubt about that. That s all part of the evaluation. We also try to do the best job we can of getting to know the guy in more ways than just his skillset. Mike Devlin had a connection with his offensive line coach there at Bucknell, Joe Susan, who spoke very highly of the guy. Joe Susan has coached on the East Coast for a lot of years and has coached a lot of good players. He vouched for him, his work ethic. Like I said, when Mike went out there, the guy worked hard, he was smart. We feel like there s a lot to develop there and we re looking forward to coaching him. How would you evaluate this draft compared to previous drafts for you in terms of getting what you needed but also in taking the best players that were available to you? Rick Smith: I think we are pretty consistent with respect to that. But I will tell you this: just the way that the board fell, we felt really good at multiple times in this draft about getting guys at value where we really had him valued a little bit even more than where we got him. There were some positions that we loved. I mentioned, for example, in my press conference last week that I thought it was one of the strongest safety classes,

28 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/29) and there were some safeties that we really liked and it just never worked that we were in a position to take a safety at the corresponding value. Conversely, you look at some of the guys that we were able to take and we had those guys positioned and we had those stacked and some of those instances where we just felt really good about the value that we got some of these players. That s just the way the draft typically works. Last year you had 11 undrafted free agents who had signed here originally on the team. Some of them really contributed. How important are the undrafted guys for what you want to do? Bill O Brien: I think it s really important. I think that, obviously, this phase of it, the draft phase of it is very, very important and then the CFA process, which is going on right now, is really important. The thing that is really cool for me is to watch the scouts and the coaches work together to anticipate who might be there and rank those players and try to go out and get the best players available in that process. That s what they are doing right now downstairs. We ve been very successful with bringing in guys that have played a lot of football for us over the last three years that were not drafted, because I think the philosophy here is once you get here, we don t really care how you got here. It s what you do once you get here. What are you going to do preparation-wise, in the weight room, in the meeting rooms and obviously on the practice field to help our team get better. It helps with the depth of our football team. I think that s the process that is going on right and it s very important. Looking back at your record over the years, finding cornerbacks in particular, whether it s Johnathan Joseph in free agency, Kevin Johnson early in the draft, A.J. Bouye undrafted. Is there anything about that particular position that makes you feel confident that you found a good player in CB Treston Decoud? Rick Smith: I think we all have our lanes. Obviously, being an ex-db, and ex-db coach in college and in the NFL I have an affinity for that position group. Maybe I m just a little bit more keen to that position group, but I would like to think in this role that I have been in for a while, I can do that at multiple positions. It goes back along with what Bill (O Brien) just alluded to, what he actually just specifically talked about: what s happening downstairs that we are about to get back to is such an important process. It s communication between the scouts and the coaches. I ve got to listen. As much as I think I know about defensive backs, I have to listen to John Butler because I have to understand what he wants from his defensive backs. So, as long as I can understand that and he can articulate that and we can talk about that and figure that out and identify those players who can come in and execute what they re going to ask them to do, that s how you get successful draft picks. I think that s what s good about our process right now and that s why I m excited about this entire draft class. CONFERENCE CALL WITH T JULIÉN DAVENPORT Did you have a good feeling after Offensive Line Coach Mike Devlin worked you out that maybe they were a team that liked you a lot? Definitely had a good feeling. I would say me and him, we had a real good relationship, bonded really well. He really liked my workout, really liked me in the classroom as well. Then we went out to eat and just kind of chopped it up and had a good time. Definitely felt like a good connection there. You have the biggest wingspan in the draft they say. How much does that help you to lock out pass rushers? Definitely helps out because you have to keep those guys off of you and away from you in the pass pro. Just having very long arms and just keeping them that much further away from you. What do you think you do well and what do you think you could improve on in your game? I feel I move very well. I m able to stay low and I just have to keep that going. I just have to improve on technique issues along with the game and having the consistency in my play. I would say consistency with keeping my hands up and consistency staying low. Just little technique issues. What are some of the personal traits your dad has instilled in you? Definitely learned to just be a hard worker, to continue that at everything. Anything that you start you pretty much have to finish. I ve never really quit at anything in my life. Just having that dignity and integrity and respect. Me and my dad, we really mirror image each other a lot. We are just pretty much the same person real laid back but hard-nosed, to-thebook and get-everything-done type of people. Was he demanding of you given he s a retired Marine and police sergeant? Yeah, definitely expected a lot. He always showed up. I wouldn t say he was too tough, just had a policy and rules that he followed and just instilled them in me. I went along with the ride and followed everything that I was taught. What do you think about you think about the opportunity that you have with the Texans, either this year or in the future? I m coming in and I m ready to get right to work and I m ready to be fighting for that starting spot. I want to play right away. Anybody that doesn t have that mindset, then I don t know if they belong in this league because I m real competitive and I want to be one of the best to go down. I want to be that overachiever, hard worker that comes every day with a purpose. There sounds like there is a part of you that has a chip on your shoulder from not being recruited to an FBS school. Do you feel any of that? Definitely have that chip on my shoulder. It s there and I know it s there and I m going to keep it there because there s going to be a lot of doubters in the process and all you have to do is either prove them right or prove them wrong. Everything is just in my control, and I m looking to handle everything that comes across my path. 28

29 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/29) When you were at the Senior Bowl, did you feel like you were able to prove somethings and how do you think that affected your draft? It definitely shows that I can play against the better competition because that s where some of the best guys were. I had a fun time down there playing against those guys and I felt like teams saw that maybe this kid can play with this [inaudible] and kind of answered some of the questions or I guess concerns surrounding me coming from Bucknell, not a traditionally great football school. Who are some of the tackles that you watch and you d like to model your game after? I ll watch pretty much every tackle position. When I m watching any game of football, I m always analyzing and seeing how certain things are playing out or how somebody got beat or what they did successfully to beat their man. Just pretty much in the NFL, I watch a lot of Trent Williams and Tyron (Smith) the most, but pretty much all tackles throughout the league I m analyzing, trying to take anything from their game and see if I can add it to mine. CONFERENCE CALL WITH CB TRESTON DECOUD What is this moment like for you after overcoming a lot to get to this point? It means a lot to me. This is something that I ve worked hard for my whole life. I m very excited and I m glad to be a Houston Texan. What do you think about the opportunity you have with the Texans? I am just thankful for the opportunity to give me a chance to come and put their uniform on and now I m big on competing, be a good teammate and a hard worker. Whatever happens from there, I m confident in myself and I m glad the Houston Texans picked me so that means they are confident in me, too. So, I m thankful for the opportunity. I m just going to come in and compete and do whatever they ask me to do. What was it like for you to go to a couple different schools? I never second guessed myself. I always believed in my ability, so I didn t care where I would go o I didn t care what round or I didn t care if I went undrafted. I just wanted the opportunity to showcase myself. I m a hard worker. Nothing has ever been given to me. I have always been the underdog. I m used to this and I m ready to work. That s all that matters. How big of a day is this for you? It s the biggest day in my life because this is something I ve always wanted. I ve dreamt of this since I was 14, so now it s finally here. I just want to thank God for the opportunity and Houston for the opportunity. Your mom has written that she has had breast cancer twice and has overcome that. How much of an inspiration was she to you? She was the motor that kept me pushing. She normally always kept the focus off of her and had it on me throughout the situation that she was going through. It helped me be the young man I am today and it helped me on the football field because I took that anger out and bring it on the football field. She was my big motivation. 29 You get to be a part of the Texans No. 1 defense. What is it going to be like to play alongside guys like DE J.J. Watt, DE Jadeveon Clowney, CB Kareem Jackson and CB Johnathan Joseph? It s going to be awesome. J.J. Watt, he s one of the best defensive players in the country the best. He makes my job a lot easier. [Inaudible] That s one guy that I want to pick his brain and see how he came to be successful in the NFL. It s a great opportunity and I m glad to be a Texan. You visited Dallas and you worked out with the Saints. Did you work out anywhere else? Did you do anything for these guys? No, sir. I did visit the Cowboys and work out for the Saints. Is there something you would like to share with us that hasn t gotten a lot of publicity? My story is what it is. I m pretty sure it s out now. I m just a hard worker, a great kid and I m just going to come in and compete. I talk a lot of trash, so I hope you can like that. Any lines you care to share with us? Whatever comes to the mind. I don t have a favorite line, just whatever comes to the mind and I just say it and just be who I am. When you held California WR Chad Hansen to four catches for 16 yards, did you have anything to say to him? Yeah, I had a lot to say to him. I told him this was my home, this was my turf, you have to get out of here. So, we got the victory against them, so they got out of there. When you look back at Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Rick Smith s record with free agents like Johnathan Joseph, undrafted guys like A.J. Bouye, drafted guys like Kevin Johnson. It seems like he has an eye for cornerback talent. How excited are you that you were one of the guys he identified in this draft and wanted to make a part of this team? I m very excited. Coach Bill O Brien, I remember watching him on Hard Knocks and just to see what type of person he is. I love how he [inaudible] and his personality. All my life I ve been coached around hard coaches, hard-nosed coaches, in your face, scream at you, so I feel like Coach Bill O Brien is one of those. I love coaches like that. They re the reason why I play this game. I think it s going to be a great opportunity and like you said, I think he has an eye for the skill, so I m glad he chose me in this fifth round. CONFERENCE CALL WITH C KYLE FULLER How surprised are you that the Texans took you? Man, it s crazy. I m from Texas, so it s really a dream come true for me to be able to stay right here. So, I m happy. Can you put into words what this moment means to finally have your name called in the draft? It s been a long road. Everybody comes out of here and they work as hard as they can to get somewhere. It really pays off in the end. The journey is just now beginning. I m super excited about it. What do you think you bring to the table for a team that has two good centers in C Nick Martin and C Greg Mancz? I think I bring versatility, for sure. I m a big, physical guy. I m a guy who likes to get out there and work every single day. Obviously I m going to come in and I m going to learn and I m going to do what I need to do to get out there on the field.

30 TEXANS TRANSCRIPTS (4/29) Have you played any other positions and have the Texans talked to you about playing any other positions? Yes, sir. They talked to me about center and guard for sure. I ve been training to do that. It s just going to be a matter of getting in there, getting the reps that I need and doing what I have to do to get on the team (and) make sure that I get out there next year. What was it like for you to have to play last year with the circumstances of the scandal over your head? It was tough. It was something that you never want to see your school go through, but I think the bigger thing was that we were successful this year, this season. I had the Baylor family. We stayed together and we really watched each other s back. Did you expect to be called by the Texans or were there other teams interested? You never know really what to expect. The draft has a mind of its own so it s really just one of those things where I m just thankful and I m happy and I m celebrating with my family. Where are you right now? I m in my house in Wylie (Texas) right now. Some say the kind of offense you played in at Baylor makes the transition to the NFL tougher. What would you say to that? It s just a learning deal. That s all it is. It s just a deal where I have to go out there and really just figure out what the differences are and then I have to go out there and give it my all because at the end of the day, football is football. So, I m going to go out there and do what I have to do. CONFERENCE CALL WITH DE CARLOS WATKINS How does it feel to be a Texan? It feels great. It s a blessing. How surprised were you that they took you? I had talked to them at the combine. I think them and the Buffalo Bills were my only two formal visits, formal meetings. So, I kind of had an idea. When I got the call, it just really made everything better. What is it like to be reunited with DE D.J. Reader and QB Deshaun Watson? It s really a blessing. These past few years getting to play with those guys Deshaun has been a great player, the leader he is, and D.J. being the big bro, guided me along this last year. Getting to play with him again, it s really a blessing. I think we can do a lot of great things. but I can bring you anything you need, honestly. I had 10.5 sacks this past year. I can rush the quarterback, stop the run, I can help out on ball screens. Anything that coach needs me to do, I will do it. What do you think about your performance against some of the top teams in the country the past couple years? The big games, I feel like I stepped up and played well, especially this past year. I didn t start off the way I wanted to but I finished out the season strong, especially playing against (Virginia) Tech, Ohio State and Alabama. Just really tried to solidify myself as a top pick in the draft (and) just show what type of player I was and what I could do. Do you envision yourself being a true nose tackle? Yes, I ve played it a lot. This past year, we had a couple of schemes in our defense and I actually played nose majority of the time. We got in a three-man front and I definitely can take on that transition and turn it into nose. I really did it a lot this past year and I think I can make that adjustment. Can you talk about your experience? You played five seasons at Clemson. I came in as a freshman and I had a couple of guys in front of me. Coach (Dan) Brooks, he kind of let me get a little experience earlier which was beneficial for me going into my sophomore year. I started the first game of the year, and that s when things started to really look good for me. I faced the car accident, but after that all the experience I had throughout the course of the years has been a tremendous help. Starting from 2012, getting experience as a true freshman really helps you to know what to expect in the upcoming seasons. The experience I had, it was tremendous and was very, very beneficial. Can you speak to that overcoming that horrible incident with the car accident and getting things back together? What does this moment mean to you especially having gone through something like that? It s a blessing. I sit back and think about it. I could have lost my life. I did lose one of my close relatives. When I sat down and just thought about it, it was truly a blessing to make it to this point, and all the things I ve been through, me and my family and now we get to celebrate with the Texans, it s really been a ride. I believe this is the fourth member of the Texans that s from Clemson. What do you think it is about the Clemson program that it has been able to produce so many talented players? That s Clemson. Coach (Dabo) Swinney did a great job of not only preparing us to become better football players, but mentoring us as young and just becoming a great pro. We have all the qualities and what it takes to be a pro. That s the kind of school that Clemson is that builds us to be great young men and professional athletes. What do you think you do really well and what do you think you need improvement on? There s always room for more improvement for any aspect of the game, 30 The Texans have drafted four players from Clemson University in franchise history. This year s first-round pick, QB Deshaun Watson, and fourth-round pick, DE Carlos Watkins, join WR DeAndre Hopkins and NT D.J. Reader as former Tigers on the Texans current roster.