Mocking the Draft - Stampede Blue Style

Start here, then stay tuned to tomorrow’s edition. Ideally, we’d trade down with a team who needs a QB and is willing to jump to 15 to grab one (like Detroit with their second 1st rounder), but that is negatively affected by the Denver Situation (see front page for the good analysis). If we do trade down, a DE like Michael Johnson or Robert Ayers is desirable. Staying at 15, the general consensus seems to be a USC linebacker or Mike Jenkins if he’s still on the board.

Needs consist of LB (Matthews or Cushing for OLB, possibly Maualuga at ILB and moving Demeco outside), DE to play opposite of Mario (although that’s less urgent since acquiring Antonio Smith), Safety, Corner. Despite what some paid pundits are saying, we do not need to spend our first rounder on an offensive player. Our glaring team need is on D.

Most people think that their first round pick should be able to start from day one, and should be at a position of need.

At the beginning of the offseason, a DE seemed to be our biggest need. We addressed that with free agency though with the signing of Antonio Smith and the cutting of the corpse formerly known as Anthony Weaver. There is still room to improve this unit, but it’s not an immediate need.

Another position that was in question was FS. Eugene Wilson played average to slightly above average last year, which means that he’s the best FS the Houston Texans have ever had. We re-signed E. WIlson, so this isn’t a desperate area of need, but it could definitley stand to be upgraded.

At CB, we’re either very deep, or we have no depth at all. At CB1 we have Dunta Robinson for another year. When he came back last season, it took a while for him to shake the rust off, but once he did, he still didn’t play as good as we remembered him playing before the injury. He gambled on INT’s and got beat badly a few times because of it. At CB2, we have Jacques Reeves. One of the most infuriating players on our roster. He gets a lot of flak from casual fans because they only see the big plays he gives up. He gets a lot of flak from more serious fans because he’s so close to being good, if he could just learn how to use his hands and to turn his head around. If these two players either return to form or take the next step, we could be set at CB. Our two backup CB’s also show tons of promise/potential. Fred Bennet had a great rookie season, and then dropped off the map. Antwaun Molden comes from a smaller school, but has all of the measurables you could want in a CB. If these two guys progress the way a lot of us feel they should, then they would be capable of taking over for Dunta and Jacques. So, this is either a huge weakspot on the team, or one of the strongest positions on the team (behind WR).

Travis Johnson is a 3 gap DT masquerading as a 1 gap NT. When he got to FSU as a Freshman, he was a highly touted DE prospect. When he was drafted, he was a penetrating 3 gap DT. I’m not sure what position he would actually be good at, but he hasn’t seen that position as a Texan. In addition to Johnson, we have Amobi Okoye who is also a penetrating 3 gap, but had a sophomore slump. We also have Frank Okam, who has the size to be a 1 gap NT, but he rarely ever even cracked the 53 man roster on gamedays. We have another DT (I think it’s DelJuan Robinson) who’s another 3 gap DT. We also have Tim Bulman, who mostly plays DE, but can switch over to a 3 gap DT in passing situations. In addition, we have the newly acquired Antonio Smith who occasionally moved over to DT for the Cardinals last year. This means that we’re pretty deep on penetrating 3 gap DT’s, but we don’t really have a 1 gap NT.

OLB (specifcally SLB) is the position that a lot of us think the Texans should fill with their first round draft pick. We’re set at MLB wth DeMeco, and WLB should be set as well. At SLB, we have a big question mark. We started out last year with Zac Diles playing SLB. Zac seems much better suited to WLB, but Richard Smith, our ex-DC, was an idiot and didn’t utilize the two positions any differently. So WLB and MLB seem to be entrenched, and SLB doesn’t really have anyone suited to it right now.

The only other real area of need is at C/RG. I personally think that C is a bigger problem than RG, but they could both stand an upgrade. Meyer at C and Brisiel at RG played well enough between the 20’s, but they lacked sufficient power to drive people (especially 3-4 NT’s) off the ball in crucial short yardage situations. If we drafted one of the stud centers from the draft, they would almost certainly start over Chris Meyer.

So to recap, DE was taken care of in free agency, as was FS. CB is a question mark, but I feel like we’re going to see what we’ve actually got before spending a first round pick on this position. NT is a position of need, but DT is not. Unfortunately, there’s really only one NT who’d be worth taking at 15, and Raji will almost certainly be off the board in the top ten. SLB is an area of need that can be improved with the draft. C/RG is an area of need also, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone worth taking at 15 for these positions.

Are there trades in this mock draft? If so, I think nearly every Texans fan would tell you that there’s no one who will likely be available at No. 15 who we would absolutely HAVE to draft. In other words, we’d likely move back if we could, both from a bang-for-the-buck standpoint and a stockpiling assets standpoint.

If we have to stay at 15, BigTex and Andy did an excellent job addressing the situation. As much help as we need on the DL and in the secondary, it doesn’t look like there will be great value at those positions by the time we’re on the clock. The best value (at least in all the mocks we’re seeing) for us at 15 is likely at LB; that’s not an area of dire need, but it’s certainly an area that can be improved.