It turns out the Houston Texans didn't want that pesky first round pick

The Houston Texans shocked the NFL and its fandoms earlier this spring when they made a deal with the Minnesota Vikings to swap some draft picks. The Texans sent over their 2024 first-round pick for the Minnesota Viking's 2024 second-round pick and their 2025 second-round pick. That 2025 second-round pick would later be flipped to the Buffalo Bills as part of the Stefon Diggs trade.

The deal wasn't well received at the time, but with the arrival of Diggs, many fans have had second thoughts. Still, many wonder why the Vikings would come calling for the Texans' pick and why the Texans said 'yes' in the first place. Well, as it turns out, the Vikings weren't the ones making the call.

According to Adam Schefter, the Texans were the ones making the call. They apparently called the Vikings and made a deal that would see the two-for-one pick swap. The Vikings agreed, which in turn made this an offseason where both teams really used one another to get better. After all the Texans signed former Vikings defensive Danielle Hunter, and the Vikings signed former Texans Jonathan Greenard and Blake Cashman.

While the two teams apparently have a good rapport with one another, that wasn't why the Texans called up the Vikings. Apparently the Texans, according to Schefter, had been looking to increase their draft capital in a way this year where they could multiply their picks and turn around and deal what they needed to to get a player in a future trade.

Schafter doesn't say for sure that Diggs was a target of the Texans when the trade was made, only that the Texans were looking to make a deal for someone and that extra second-round pick was apparently the key.

It's a pretty savvy move from the Texans and one that shows they're playing chess when so many others are playing checkers.