The four-way quarterback horse race has certainly been the center of attention heading into the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27, but there's just as much intrigue and important around the edges—literally. In this sense, former Texas Tech pass rusher Tyree Wilson has steadily risen up draft boards since the combine as teams such as the Texans increasingly find themselves enamored of his physical traits and potential.
“I will not be surprised if, in the Edge category, Tyree Wilson is picked ahead of Will Anderson,” NBC Sports' Peter King wrote in his Football Morning in America column. “I particularly will not be surprised if Houston—whether at two or through a trade-down if the Texans don’t take a quarterback—takes Wilson over Anderson.
While Will Anderson has the pedigree as one of the most productive pass rushers in college football history during his time at Alabama, Wilson is a freakish athlete even by NFL standards. Standing 6'6, 271 pounds with a 7'4 wingspan, Wilson is proof positive of the planet theory; there simply aren't that many people in the world who are this big and this fast, so you have to draft them when you have the chance. Although he didn't match Anderson's gaudy sack totals, Wilson was also no slouch on the field, notching 27.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks across his final two seasons.
“DeMeco Ryans could look at Wilson after his year in San Francisco and say, ‘I got my Nick Bosa,’ said someone in the league who knows Ryans,” King reported. Similarly, King talked to another coach whose team has a top 10 pick who agreed that “Wilson will be a better pro than Anderson.”
Still, the surprising aspect isn't that Wilson could go early in the NFL Draft, but that the Texans might bypass picking a quarterback with the second pick. Despite the fact that Tyree Wilson is a natural fit for a Texans team that needs more defensive solidity, the team has a very definite ceiling until it finds a Davis Mills replacement.
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