Houston Texans Draft Analysis: Grades and Impact for every player

Grade: C

Kahale Kuio Kalani Michael Wodehouse Warring, or just Kahale Warring if your jaw gets tired, did not step foot on a football field until his senior year of high school after competing in six other sports. He showed enough promise to catch on at San Diego State and quickly began to develop due to his elite, natural athleticism.

Warring, on par with the theme of this draft for the Houston Texans, was dubbed an ascending player throughout the entire draft process. He has a massive, chiseled frame, 6’5″ and 250+ lbs to go with tremendous athleticism, 4.62 40, 36.5″ vertical, 122″ broad jump, and a 4.25 short shuttle.

Warring finished his career as an Aztec with 51 receptions for 637 yards and 8 touchdowns. Not great production but very solid and he was their leading receiver during his final year. He did his best work in the red zone but did show some wiggle in the open field to flash for some big plays.

He is an intriguing prospect and was the best player on the Texans‘ board at the time of the pick so, why the C? There is just a massive logjam at tight end for the Texans right now. I understand drafting your best player available but sometimes you need to look at your roster and maybe take your second best player available if you already have a plethora at that position. So, couple that with him not being a proven player, I can’t grade it any higher.

Impact: Rotational in a tight end logjam

Again, this has nothing to do with Warring as a player. I really like the potential he has because he could turn into an above average starter for a long time. Lance Zierlein compared him to former Baltimore Raven tight end Todd Heap. If he turns into Heap, I’ll eat crow but until then he’s just another log in a massive logjam.

The Houston Texans, surprisingly, took Jordan Akins in the third round of last year’s draft before double dipping in the sixth round drafting Mississippi State’s Jordan Thomas as well. Thomas had a better rookie season than Akins but neither guy was particularly impressive.

On top of those guys, the Texans already have Ryan Griffin at tight end but this pick and recent arrest may spell his time being done here. They also signed renowned blocking tight end Darren Fells this offseason. The path to playing time isn’t obvious which is something you want in a third round pick and he’ll need lots of playing time to continue to develop.