Battle Red Blog
Texans seventh rounder senior year film will inspire greatness
Seventh round picks are the scratch-off lottery tickets of the NFL. Turning one into a rotational, or even contributing member of a football team is exceptionally rare. This draft, the Houston Texans are hoping Kyonte Hamilton can scratch and claw his way to a role on this deep Texans defense.
The former Rutgers defensive tackle and 2020 National Preparatory School Wrestling State Champion was selected with the 224th pick in the NFL Draft. He is the second DT in a row that Houston has selected in the seventh round, the other being Marcus Harris from Auburn. Harris was cut in preseason but landed on the Patriots roster. Hamilton is hoping for a different story this season.
This is my third edition of film breakdowns from the Texans 2025 NFL Draft class. So far we’ve covered WR Jaylin Noel and RB Woody Marks, whose film you can see below.
Today we are flipping the film to the defensive side of the ball. Finding film on Hamilton was devastatingly tough. Hamilton is number 48 and can be found playing across from the center on most snaps.
Tall and well proportioned, Hamilton flashes agility and several pass rush moves once the ball is snapped. I wouldn’t call him dynamic, which is why he fell to the seventh round, but there’s enough tape here for Houston to throw a late round flier his way. He is a well-rounded defensive tackle who had his best statistical season in 2024, but even so didn’t light up the stat sheet at Rutgers.
The biggest red flag was his performance while being double teamed. In the pass rush he all but stopped his feet and looked to bat down passes. In the run game he never corkscrewed between the blockers or created pile ups at the point of attack. Where he does shine is maintaining gap integrity in zone schemes.
Based on the film, Rutgers defense highly prioritized gap integrity over interior pass rush. This deters Hamilton from going after the QB on a consistent basis. You see this in lower-tier programs where conservative defensive fronts are predicated on containment rather than impacting the game. He won’t shed blockers and prefers to drive through the contact. He has been taught to use his hands, he lacks consistent hand placement, purpose, or how to capitalize when he does win with his hands.
He primarily plays shaded over the center in the A-gap, but I actually enjoy his tape as a defensive end in Rutgers’ heavy set short yardage packages.
Hamilton fits the mold of well-built, athletic, and effortful defensive tackles that Houston covets. Hamilton adds youth to a well-seasoned DT room. Based on the film, quality of depth at DT, and necessary improvement Hamilton must achieve, I doubt he finds a roster spot in 2025. His “fit” with the Texans is developing on the practice squad where he can improve and...
