Draft pressure on for Texans as clock ticks

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

OK, Texans. Who’s it going to be?

Bryce Young? C.J. Stroud? Anthony Richardson? Will Levis?

As you’ve probably already noticed, I made it this far without mentioning Davis Mills, which means new head coach DeMeco Ryans is already in a much better place than former Texans coaches Lovie Smith and David Culley.

Ryans has McNair bucks to burn. Ryans holds the Nos. 2 and 12 overall picks in the upcoming draft. Ryans is already 100 percent guaranteed to return for year two, while general manager Nick Caserio has already burned through two coaches and enters a critical offseason working under a glaring spotlight.

And while we don’t know the specific name, we already know what’s coming, right?

“With the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the Houston Texans select ____ ____, quarterback, ______.”

Or maybe it’s a trade down from No. 2, with the next chosen one magically arriving a few picks later.

Or maybe the college arm the Texans wanted all along will be available at No. 12, so Caserio gives Ryans a superathletic, young defender at No. 2 and the Texans get their new franchise face with their second pick.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. With the annual NFL combine returning — AKA the made-for-TV Underwear Olympics in always-sunny Indianapolis — the rebuilding Texans will be at the center of everything, and the entire football world already knows that they badly need a lasting QB.

If only McNair, Caserio and Co. could have been bad enough last year to guarantee that they would pick No. 1 and

take whoever they wanted at the top of a draft …

Darn you, Smith. Darn you.

If I was in charge of everything (thankfully, I’m not and never will be), I would enter Indy dreaming of Young at No. 2 while figuring out what Chicago will do with the pick the Texans should have won — a Bears trade is the obvious most-likely scenario.

But what if Young is taken at the top?

And what if the darned Colts leap past the Texans to take the former Alabama star QB that Bill O’Brien used to help coach?

And what if the Texans believe that their second-best QB option in this draft slots in at No. 6 on their big board, with nearby Las Vegas, Atlanta and Carolina all seeking young and affordable new arms? Tick, tock. Tick, tock. This is where it really gets fun. And this is the Texans’ biggest draft on paper since 2014, when ex-GM Rick Smith and former HC O’Brien started a new era by taking Jadeveon Clowney at No. 1.

Clowney never truly shined for the Texans.

If the Texans stay at No. 2 this time and take a QB, the pick must be the one.

For Caserio.

For McNair and a rebuilding franchise that must do more than just hire a highly regarded former player as a firsttime head coach.

Heck, for Ryans, who was hired for his defensive acumen but could be defined on the sideline inside NRG Stadium by his ability to produce an elite offense during his second run with Houston’s NFL team.

Here’s the thing: The Texans and the rest of the NFL already have enough game tape, indepth scouting and background intel on Young, Stroud, etc., to make the picks now.

The combine is great for TV while MLB is still warming up, the NBA is gradually inching toward its real season and March Madness awaits.

But in reality, the combine is absurdly overrated, just like pro days.

An actual national headline from March 2014: “Johnny Manziel impresses at pro day.” You see?

It’s mostly stuff, nonsense, noise, propaganda and internet gibberish.

Patrick Mahomes was overlooked at the top of the 2017 draft.

Baker Mayfield was wildly overvalued in 2018. The same for Jameis Winston in ’15 and Sam Bradford in ’10.

Carson Wentz, the No. 2 overall pick in 2016, is the latest reminder of the boom-bust cycle that often defines the most important position in sports.

When you get it right, a franchise and fanbase proudly move forward at the same time.

When you get it wrong, you almost always end up with a new GM and it takes at least half a decade to recover from the blatant miss.

This would be even more fun if the Texans’ helmet were leading everything on the rolling TV screen and we spent each day for the next two months debating No. 1.

During the dark, old days, we’d be bitterly saying “Same ol‘ Texans,” while Indy jumped them in the draft and the QB the Texans wanted became a Colt because a fired coach insisted on winning a meaningless game against the Colts.

But these are the new Texans, so surely they will get this huge pick right.

Young? Stroud? Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.