HOUSTON -- The Texans added another Notre Dame player in the second round, taking center Nick Martin at No. 50 overall.
My take: Martin's former teammate Will Fuller is now his current teammate again. Martin is versatile, which the Texans like, and he'll be able to help elsewhere on the interior of the Texans' line in case of emergencies. The Texans' concerns on the offensive line are many and both interior and exterior. This pick addresses one concern: They let center Ben Jones go in free agency and didn't truly replace him like they replaced guard Brandon Brooks with Jeff Allen. They did add Tony Bergstrom in free agency, but he had mostly been a reserve center for the Raiders. Left tackle Duane Brown suffered a torn right quad tendon in the final game of the season and had surgery to repair the injury. Brown is entering his ninth NFL season and replacing him would have been a priority in a few years even without this injury. The injury has the Texans thinking about the future a little sooner. Houston has upgraded at quarterback with Brock Osweiler and at running back with Lamar Miller. For both players it's imperative to have a trustworthy offensive line in front of them.
Tight end still a need: Although Texans coach Bill O'Brien's offense is very tight end-friendly, the Texans have struggled to get the ball to their tight ends in the past two seasons. They've been among the league's worst in tight end targets and have tried to shuffle the lineup at that position to limited results. Garrett Graham entered 2015 as the team's expected starting tight end, but he was inactive for about half the season and the Texans released him this offseason. There weren't any tight ends worth a first-round pick, but the Texans would do well to fill that hole here in the draft.
Still no defensive picks: The Texans typically pay a lot of attention to their defensive needs early in the draft but that hasn't been the case yet this year. In both free agency and the draft, they've been heavy on offense. That doesn't mean they don't have needs defensively. There's still a need at safety and at defensive end. Jared Crick, last year's starter at defensive end, departed in free agency without much resistance from the Texans. They had hoped to upgrade the position and have Crick as a depth piece. That's a position that has yet to be addressed.
What’s next: The Texans have one more pick today -- the 85th overall pick, which is in the third round.