Texans negotiating with Bush and Williams
Running back Reggie Bush of the University of Southern California and North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams are the two players Houston has targeted.
"We arrived at this decision a short time back that these are the two players that we would pick from to make our first round pick," said Casserly.
The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Bush rushed for 1,740 yards and 16 touchdowns while hauling in 37 passes for 478 yards and two scores in his junior season. He also accumulated 2,890 all-purpose yards (493 KOR, 179 PR) on the campaign.
Williams set a school record with 14.5 sacks and 24 tackles for a loss this season and compiled 25.5 sacks during his three-year career with NC State.
Casserly has also ruled out the possibility of selecting University of Texas quarterback Vince Young.
"After evaluating the quarterbacks in this draft and part of the evaluation process is the workouts in the spring and the interviews, we came to the conclusion to draft a quarterback whether it be Young, Matt Leinart or Jay Cutler - was not the best thing for this football team," said Casserly.
"The best thing for this football team was to use the first pick in this draft to add a premier player at another position," added Casserly. "Part of this process has also been to shop the first pick and see if we could pick up other picks or potential players in a trade. Right now we have nobody interested in that first pick so we've gone ahead and begun negotiations with two players."