The 49ers traded backup quarterback Cody Pickett to the Texans on Thursday for a conditional draft pick. Pickett started two games for the 49ers last season, and completed a franchise-low one pass in a loss to Chicago. But the former rodeo cowboy and U. of Washington star gained his greatest notoriety from a brief stint as a special-teams player covering kickoffs and punts. The 49ers will open training camp Friday with quarterbacks Trent Dilfer, Jesse Palmer and Shaun Hill vying to back up Alex Smith.

The Houston Texans are only the second team in the league to sign all their draft choices after the team signed third-round pick Eric Winston, offensive tackle from the University of Miami. The only other franchise with all of their 2006 draft picks under contract was the Chicago Bears who were without a first-round selection.

The Houston Texans signed second-round pick DeMeco Ryans on Friday. Ryans, a linebacker from Alabama, won the Lott Award as the nation's top defensive player and was selected the SEC defensive player of the year.

Texans' rookie Mario Williams doesn't have a history in Houston yet, but his new home certainly does. The NFL's top draft pick purchased the controversial house of fired Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade for about $1.5 million, according to records filed last week. Slade was dismissed after University regents alleged that she misspent hundreds of thousands of university dollars to furnish and landscape the 6,000-square-foot, Mediterranean-style house in the exclusive Memorial Park neighborhood near downtown.