Why are Houston Texans losing their draft pick? NFL imposes $175,000 fine on franchise

Given the current state of the Houston Texans, the franchise can't afford to lose any draft picks. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened to the AFC South team.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Texans will be losing a fifth-round draft pick and will be fined $175,000 for an accounting error that the league believes led to a salary cap violation.

That isn't exactly what Texans fans want to hear. While there is no official word as of yet, Houston "believes" that it was an accounting error that goes back to Deshaun Watson still being with the team.

If there is any good to come from it, it is that the Texans were only punished with losing a fifth-round draft pick and not a higher one. Given that a fifth-round selection is a bit like a lucky dip, the Texans will consider themselves rather fortunate.

The incident does feel like a simple misstep on the Texans' part, but that hasn't stopped the NFL from docking them a draft pick and fining them as well.

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Houston Texans still have an impressive draft haul despite the sanction

Indianapolis Colts v Houston Texans

Even with the NFL stripping the Texans of a fifth-round pick, the franchise still has an impressive haul at its disposal in this year's NFL draft. While it is not known if the draft pick lost is for this year or not, the Texans' official website states that the team has 11 draft picks.

That could be down to 10 with the loss of the fifth-round selection. Still, the Houston Texans have the second overall pick along with pick 12 (from the Browns), pick 33, pick 65, pick 73, and then a fourth-round pick and four sixth-round picks.

That is still quite the haul.

The second overall pick for many will be used to draft a quarterback for new head coach DeMeco Ryans, despite the deep free agent class. Whether that be CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, or even Will Levis is not known.

But having pick two and 12 certainly gives Texans fans a reason to be excited about which players the franchise selects. They just potentially won't have a fifth-round pick this year.