The first night of the most recent NFL Draft, which took place a week ago, drew over 13 million viewers on average throughout the evening. For some perspective, that’s a bigger audience than a normal NBA playoff game. In other words, the selection process for college players in the sport of football is more popular than postseason basketball.

That’s some pretty heady stuff, and it means that everything having to do with the aftermath of the NFL Draft is quite popular. A big part of said aftermath is the report cards generated by the various draft experts across all the media platforms. Some around the NFL despise the draft report card. Take Texans GM Nick Caserio, for example, who said this a year ago:

“We go through the weekend, we’re going to have on Monday, right, or Sunday afternoon, draft grades. It’s the most ridiculous concept that I’ve ever heard of. The players haven’t even been in the building yet and we’re making an assessment about their performance. It’s the same thing in the off-season.”

 With all due respect, I disagree with Caserio. I love draft report cards! It’s fun to grade the classes, which is really just a form of speculation for how we think they will all play out on the field. Within the draft ecosystem, there are a couple dozen draft report cards that rise above the rest as the most respected. Here are the grades for all 32 teams from those 24 draft experts, complete with a Grade Point Average for each team! Here you go:

🚨 2025 NFL Draft Team Grades

I´ve compiled 24 evaluations of the 2025 NFL draft and totaled the team grades.
Sorted by GPA for all 32 teams. I sorted the 24 evaluations by GPA as well. From left (soft) to right (hard graders).
Thanks to all who give out grades every year! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/HW69yxX702

— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) April 28, 2025 So the Texans have a cumulative GPA of 2.93, good enough for 21st in the league, which College Age Sean can respect, as this is the exact meaty part of the curve in which I resided back in the day. The difference is that the Texans actually went to class.

For those of you who find the fonts way too small on the chart above, here is how the Texans fared on the margins, with the two best grades and the two worst grades. For what it’s worth, the Texans got an A- from the easiest grader (Chad Reuter, NFL Network, 3.44 GPA for all 32 teams), and a D+ from the toughest (Thor Nystrom, Fantasy Life, 2.32 GPA for all 32 teams):

TEXANS BEST GRADES

CHAD REUTER, NFL.com: A-

The Texans did well to add two more Iowa State Cyclones to their receivers room, with Higgins and Noel joining former teammate Xavier Hutchinson to support C.J. Stroud. I thought they might take Ersery in the first round, so the trade up for him in Round 2 made sense to me, as did the swap that led to the acquisition of the versatile and tough Smith in Round 3.

Marks is not just a strong runner but can be another target for Stroud as a receiver. We’ll see if patience would have been wiser than giving up a third-round pick next year to move into Round 4 for him. Mertz has some positive attributes but was inconsistent and suffered injuries in college. Hamilton meets a need for young depth at tackle. Lachey lost a step due to injury but could prove to have been a steal in the seventh.

RYAN DUNLEAVY, NY Post: A-

Analysis: Unique situation keeping two sets of college teammates together. Higgins and Noel combined for 167 catches for 2,377 yards last season. It was surprising that they couldn’t squeeze more out of the Giants to trade out of Round 1. Ersery was a must after trading away Laremy Tunsil.

TEXANS WORST GRADES

GILBERT MANZANO and MATT VERDERAME, SI.com: C

Analysis: Houston traded out of the first round before nabbing a pair of Iowa State wideouts in Higgins and Noel on Day 2. The Texans also took Ersery in the second round, adding him to an offensive line in desperate need of help. The questions here aren’t so much about the players selected but the positional need. Houston had to find some receiver help, but two in the top 80 picks is aggressive. The offensive line, even with Ersery, remains a massive concern. —MV

THOR NYSTROM, Fantasy Life: D+

The Texans entered the festivities in desperate need for offensive line help. It had to be a nightmare watching six offensive linemen go in the top-24. Minnesota’s selection of Ohio State OG Donovan Jackson one slot ahead of Houston’s pick may have been the final straw in the Texans’ ultimate decision to bail its slot.

That certainly was not the preferred outcome heading in – but credit Houston for at least acknowledging the situation it was in and taking strong value via trade as opposed to reaching for the next-best option on its iOL board.

Houston picked up No. 99 pick and a 2026 third-rounder from the Giants – who took QB Jaxson Dart – in exchange for sliding down nine slots to No. 34. In that slot, the Texans began their aggressive efforts to fix the receiver room via WR Jayden Higgins. In Round 3, they reunited Higgins with his collegiate teammate Jaylin Noel.

SUMMARY
In this highly important report card process (tongue firmly planted in cheek), It’s difficult to garner a grade above a B+, if you don’t have a first round pick. The Texans traded out of the first round on Thursday night last week, but they crushed the second day of the draft. Their second and third rounds were sensible, and high in both volume and quality of players. With the nine players they drafted, they filled needs and seemed to find players that fit their culture. An overall CPA of 2.93 feels a bit low, but we will take it. The proof will be in the play on the field, come September.

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.