No one forced Kayden McDonald to stay in Pittsburgh for the second day of the 2026 NFL draft after his name went uncalled in the first round.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asked him to. But the hulking defensive tackle wanted to.
“We had a long conversation yesterday,” McDonald said shortly after being selected in the second round. “He said he wanted me to come back and I told him, ‘I will.’ It just shows who I am. It just fueled me.”
The realization of his lifelong dream was about to happen, and he had an opportunity to be on hand for the announcement. In his words, he was “supposed to be there.” He’d given too much work, overcome too many obstacles and devoured too many opposing rushing attacks not to be.
It still felt just as special on Friday as it would have on Thursday for the Ohio State defensive tackle to hear the Houston Texans draft him with the No. 36 overall pick.
“My mom, just feeling her when I'm hugging her, when I got my name called, knowing that my life has changed forever,” McDonald said. “I'm extremely blessed. Like I said, I'm just so thankful to have everybody around me. There's a lot of people that believe in me. You can't worry about who don't (like you), who hatin’, other people's opinion. You got to worry about what you can control.”
McDonald shared a special draft night moment with his nephew, too.
This video of Kayden McDonald and his nephew could make a grown man cry. (Its me. Im the grown man.) pic.twitter.com/pHaGh97pHO
— Chase Brown (@chaseabrown__) April 25, 2026
McDonald earned his moment to celebrate. And the Texans have cause to celebrate too: They landed the man they tabbed as the single best run defender in the draft. It’s nigh impossible to argue given McDonald’s achievements.
“We felt McDonald was probably the best run defender in the draft,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “Had a really productive season. Defensive tackle that was involved in 60 tackles or 60 plus tackles, whatever it is. It's pretty impressive. The first unanimous All-American defensive tackle in the history of Ohio State's program. They've had a few decent players there. So it's a good kid, young kid.”
Georgia, both the state and the college football team, has produced a line of great defensive linemen for the NFL draft. The Bulldogs offered McDonald, who hails from their backyard in Suwanee, Georgia, but the then-two-time defending national champs didn’t prioritize him. The recruiting services overlooked him in hindsight, too, as he landed at No. 261 overall in the final 247Sports composite rankings for the class of 2023.
Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson recognized McDonald’s talent early, pounced to secure his signature and reaped the benefits of one of the greatest defensive tackles in Buckeye history. Making splashes in OSU’s famed 2024 goal-line defensive packages, McDonald emerged as college football’s best DT in 2025.
Nose guard is a notoriously hard position to produce from. A nose guard can be great for his team while recording 40 tackles. McDonald turned into a void in the middle of opposing offensive lines, quashing opposing run games with 65 tackles and nine tackles for loss. He tacked on three sacks as a pass rusher. He was a unanimous All-American and a finalist for the Outland Trophy, the only defensive tackle to receive those honors nationally. He had the highest run defense grade on Pro Football Focus of any player in the country (91.2).
So, Houston is right to tab him as the best run defender in this year’s draft. McDonald and the Texans seem like an excellent pairing, too. He loves the city of Houston, and he’s surrounded by one of the best defenses and defensive staffs in football right now.
“This is the best fit for me on and off the field,” McDonald said. “Coach (DeMeco) Ryans, GM Nick, D-line coach, the whole staff, they embraced me when I came. I feel like I can be myself around them.”
Ryans took over as Houston’s head coach in 2023, featuring a defensive background, and he’s built one of the NFL’s best defenses since then. In 2025, the Texans had the No. 1 total and No. 2 scoring defense in the league. The defensive line, coached by Rod Wright, finished tied for seventh with 47 sacks and built the foundations for the No. 4 run defense in the NFL.
“Coach Ryans, he does a great job of attacking,” McDonald said. “He makes every player available. Like, everybody can make plays, and that's one thing I like about the defense.”
Houston lost starting defensive tackle Tim Settle in free agency, plus depth at the position in Mario Edwards. Starting three-technique defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins returns for his 11th NFL season, a steady hand with 35 tackles, five TFL and three sacks in 2025. McDonald will contend with fellow former Buckeye Tommy Togiai to start at nose guard, but should be involved in Houston’s rotation in any case.
McDonald wants to prove himself as a pass rusher, but the Texans are more than happy to have a potentially generational run defender in the fold, regardless of whether his pass rush develops.
“We'll see,” Caserio said. “I think the big thing, you gotta play to your strengths. So what a player does well, let's accentuate the strengths. And then if a guy has an area that he can improve, then see if we can get him to improve. I think sometimes it's, even a player has a perception, ‘Well, I want to be able to do this.’ Well, OK. Look, you're 6-3, 330 pounds. The best thing you do is play strong at the point of attack. So your pass rush is probably going to be a little bit different than Denico Autry or somebody else that's rushing inside there. So you have to play to your strengths.”
Houston has plenty of weaponry to send after quarterbacks in edge rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. Where he’s come through and where he’s been, however McDonald is overjoyed to start the next phase of his career.
“Just keep taking steps,” McDonald said. “Anybody that sees me right here in this moment, it's possible. Like, I came from nothing. I've been through so many challenges throughout my life. I always felt overlooked. I always felt like I was the underdog and getting to this stage right here, it's a real feeling. You just got to put the work in, you got to block out the noise and you just got stay true to yourself and stay vision clear.”
