Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting," which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.
The Texans have selected number one overall thrice, David Carr in 2002, Mario Williams in 2006, and Jadeveon Clowney in 2014. The team never selected number two overall and number three overall once, Andre Johnson. No player selected by the Texans has been inaugurated into the NFL Hall Of Fame. The Houston Texans have only once drafted two or more times in the first round, which occurred in 2004.
^On April 24, 2004 the Texans traded a second round pick, third round pick, fourth round pick and fifth round pick to the Tennessee Titans for this pick and a fifth-round pick.
^On April 23, 2005 the Texans traded a first round pick to the New Orleans Saints for this pick and a third round pick in the 2006 draft.
