{"id":887645,"date":"2026-05-10T17:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887645\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:33:17","slug":"latest-on-texans-ol-keylan-rutledge-team-was-prepared-to-trade-back-into-round-1-for-dt-kayden-mcdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887645\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Texans’ OL Keylan Rutledge; Team Was Prepared To Trade Back Into Round 1 For DT Kayden McDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their first selection (No. 26 overall) in the 2026 draft, the Texans added<\/a> Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge<\/a>, who was seen as a reach in certain circles. NFL.com draft guru Daniel Jeremiah had Rutledge as the 47th-ranked player on his board, and we recently heard some members of the Seahawks\u2019 front office graded Seattle fifth-round pick Beau Stephens<\/a> more highly than Rutledge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Still, the division-rival Titans were prepared to make Rutledge a first-round choice<\/a> as well, and one NFC executive told ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler<\/a> that the former Yellow Jacket was the top guard in the class (ahead of even Vega Ioane<\/a>, who went to the Ravens at No. 14 overall). Fowler \u2013 who reported prior to the draft that Houston had done a great deal of work on Rutledge<\/a> \u2013 says Texans brass \u201cidentified him as a favorite.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

General manager Nick Caserio\u2019s other offseason moves (which included signing<\/a> longtime Browns guard Wyatt Teller<\/a> and re-signing<\/a> 2025 RG1 Ed Ingram<\/a>) make it unclear exactly where Rutledge will line up as a rookie or if he will begin his pro career as a reserve. If a guard spot is not an option, he could compete with Jake Andrews<\/a> for the starting center job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just as Caserio traded up several spots in the first round to secure the opportunity to select Rutledge, he did the same in the second round to grab Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald<\/a> at No. 36. Caserio swung a deal with the Raiders<\/a> to move up from No. 38, but as Fowler reports, the Texans GM was prepared to go as high as No. 33 and even explored a trade back into the first round after selecting Rutledge.<\/p>\n

That underscores the Texans\u2019 belief in McDonald, who should find a notable role in the club\u2019s DT rotation alongside returnees Sheldon Rankins<\/a> and Tommy Togiai<\/a>. Houston, which boasted perhaps the best defense in the league in 2025, lost Tim Settle<\/a> to free agency, thereby opening an immediate vacancy for McDonald.<\/p>\n

Consistent with a report made by NFL insider Jordan Schultz when the Texans turned in the card for McDonald, Fowler says there was some belief the Giants \u2013 who had traded<\/a> DT Dexter Lawrence<\/a> before the draft and who held the No. 37 choice \u2013 may be a threat for the Ohio State alum. Perhaps out of fear of losing one of his top targets<\/a> to another team, Caserio made sure to leapfrog Big Blue, though a New York source told Fowler that CB Colton Hood<\/a> was the player they wanted all along. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their first selection (No. 26 overall) in the 2026 draft, the Texans added Georgia Tech guard Keylan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[4955,68580,7,221,253,2368,2201,51905,56,6,222],"class_list":["post-887645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-colton-hood","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-kayden-mcdonald","tag-keylan-rutledge","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-texans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116551484629725599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}