Draft Grade: Teagan Quitoriano brings competition at TE for Texans

Texans general manager Nick Caserio adds a new TE to the mix in fifth round.

Teagan Quitoriano is the newest tight end to join the Houston Texas as he was drafted with the 170th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, giving the franchise some much-needed depth and competition at the position.

The fifth round choice of Quitoriano gives the Texans a player who has potential to become a well-rounded player in the NFL, plus he’s 6’5″ and had 22 reps at bench press at the NFL Combine, so the  height and strength is there to become a very good player for the franchise.

NFL.com says Quitoriano can be an “average backup,” and for the Texans this upcoming season that actually would be an ideal starting point for the new tight end. Remember, the team is in the midst of a complete rebuild and Quitoriano shouldn’t have to be the next Rob Gronkowski in his first year, so the ’22 season can be a developmental year of sorts for the rookie fifth round pick.

The draft profile by Lance Zeirlein also has the following comments about the newest Texans tight end:

"“Has good foot quickness for his size and the agility to become a solid route runner with run-after-catch talent over the first two levels. The difference between becoming a backup tight end or eventual starter rests on whether he’s willing to become more of a glass-eating in-line blocker as a pro.”"

The best part about this fifth round pick is Houston is taking a chance on potential and improvement for a player who is close to being much better than he’s ever played before. Getting to work with Pep Hamilton as his offensive coordinator will give Quitoriano the opportunity to learn from someone who has a vast amount of success and coaching experience.

Draft Grade: What is the grade for this 5th round selection by the Texans?

This isn’t a bad pick by any means, and the “average” grade is here because there is still a lot of work ahead for Quitoriano as some believe his “in-line” blocking needs improvement and he’s still working on perfecting his route running.

Before everything is said and done this grade hopefully is too low once the Texans are in the ’22 regular season schedule. In doing so ,that means he’ll be making the offense better than it was a season ago, and this grade will be proven to be not high enough.

Houston did a nice job by adding a tight end since they lost Jordan Akins in free agency (Giants), and the only other returning players at the position with any sort of numbers are Brevin Jordan and Pharaoh Brown, who will be in competition with Quitoriano.

Time will tell how great Quitoriano can be, but this was the best spot in the draft for the Texans to select a tight end and a player who they can develop during the roster rebuild that’s currently taking place.