Gettin' All Mocky In This Ish

Because we haven't done enough Mock Drafts, or talked about the draft, or thought about the draft, or had deeply graphic thoughts about hunky football players working out in front of a bunch of dirty old men holding stop watches, here's my take on a Mock Draft!  Yay, me?  Oh, yes, baby!

I'm going to look at this thing two ways.  First, I'm going to state what I would do.  Then, I'll say what I think the Texans would do.  Of course, we'll also have a real-time Mock Draft working when that time comes.

To start, I'm going to stick with my long running conspiracy theory: we trade our #20 and #51 picks to the Chargers for their #28 and their #40 picks.  Hey, this is my Mock Draft, and I'll make deals if I want to.  Kinda.  Anyway, the points in this scenario roughly work out (we get 1240 and they get 1160), though we might have to throw in a 4th or 5th to get it done in real life.  So, here we go:

Pick #28 (from San Diego):

I take: Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers

Texans take: Devin McCourty

McCourty is profiling best as a zone corner versus man, and as long as we are going to play Frank Bush's craptacular zone coverage, he's a great pick here.  He's also a special teams beast, and we could use the help.  Even though MDC doesn't see it as a problem, I am worried about our depth at CB.  Right now, our #3 CB is Brice McCain, who I thought played very well at times last season.  #4 is Antwaun Molden, who continues to keep the IR well occupied.  We will take a CB early, so it's just a matter of who.

Pick #40 (from San Diego):

I take: Linval Joseph, DT, ECU

Texans take: Ben Tate, RB, Auburn

Commentary: Joseph has been shooting up the draft boards as of late, and in keeping with the theory "If your guy ain't there when you next pick, it ain't an over-reach," I take my DT here.  Linval is a man-beast with incredible strength and quickness, and he fixes our NT problem immediately and swiftly.  You'll note, compared to MDC's draft, I'm taking him two rounds earlier.  First, I think he's starting to feel a lot of love around the country, and secondly, true NT-capable players are going to be in extremely heavy demand.

As for the Texans, I believe we'll see some give to the crowd demanding a RB early, even though I've stated plenty of times I disagree.  Tate is going to be a good player, but I still don't see RB as that strong of a need.

Pick #81:

I take: Mitch Petrus, G, Ark

Texans take: Jerome Murphy, CB/S?, South Florida

Commentary: As far as Petrus?  What Matt said.  We could possibly wait until the 4th to take Petrus, but I believe we need to address the running game sooner rather than later.  After Mike Iupati and Jon Asamoah (which I think is Jordann's stage name), Petrus and Mike Johnson are clearly the next two best Gs available.

I would not be surprised to see the Texans take another CB early, and Murphy could swing to FS fairly easily.  He has some attitude issues, but his athleticism will be hard to overlook.  In this draft, though, I see demand for CB being at a peak, and I think the Texans will scramble to secure a couple.

Pick #118:

I take: Andre Roberts, WR, Citadel

Texans take: Jeff Owens, DT, Georgia

Commentary: I admit to going for the freak factor here with Roberts, but the simple fact is we really need to get Andre Davis off the field.  While Roberts didn't return kick-offs in college, he was a prolific punt returner, which would help keep Jakespeare's wheels (and literary mind) fresh.  Allowing Roberts to slowly work his way into a bigger role at WR would be both productive and could pay off...just as it has with JJ.

Why Jeff Owens?  The Texans have got to know there's a gaping hole at DT.  They have to.  Instead of addressing the problem with a true complement for Amobi Okoye, they'll nab a clone that won't do us a heckuva lot of good.  I'm calling it right now:  The Texans won't draft a true NT like we need.

OK, that's all I'm going to do.  I mean, this stuff is a crap shoot as it is, and once we get past the 4th, I'm pissing against a hurricane here.  That said, there are a couple more areas I'd like to address.

First, I would love to grab a true OLB to compete with Diles and Adibi.  If Adibi just isn't going to get out of Bush's doghouse, then let's dump him and move on (I am talking about both Adibi AND Bush, for the record).

Finally, I would have to take a look at a LeGarrette Blount type player.  As I've said ad nauseum, I see a bigger problem with the blocking than the run game.  Blount is a bruising runner who flashed 4.6-40 speed.  Deji Karim, though entirely differently built, would also interest me late.

So, that's all for me.  Feel free to laugh and taunt.