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Happy Easter! But less talk, more mock.
Pick | Name | Position | School |
1 | Blake Bortles | QB | UCF |
51 | Stephen Tuitt | DE | Notre Dame |
71 | Chris Borland | ILB | Wisconsin |
82 | Demarcus Lawrence | DE | Boise State |
101 | Chris Smith | DE | Arkansas |
135 | Marcus Roberson | CB | Florida |
141 | Jordan Zumwalt | ILB | UCLA |
145 | Walt Aikens | CB | Liberty |
177 | Michael Campanaro | WR | Wake Forest |
181 | Storm Johnson | RB | UCF |
211 | Joe Duncan | TE | Dixie State |
216 | James Stone | C | Tennessee |
256 | Charles Leno | OL | Boise State |
Click here to see the full results of the mock, and click on the name of each player to see their profile on Texans. In the 2nd round I did trade back to pick up an extra 3rd round pick and then made some other moves to add a couple additional selections.
"In the 2nd round I wanted to add a pass rusher, but instead of landing a rush linebacker option, I grabbed one of the better 5 technique players in this draft. Stephon Tuitt should team up with J.J. Watt to be a major threat along the defensive line. Chris Borland should be able to start at inside linebacker as a rookie. DeMarcus Lawrence and Chris Smith are the edge rushers the Texans need to add and should contribute some as rookies.
"With the next couple of picks I wanted to add some more defensive depth, while later I added some guys who could give some nice quality offensive depth."
After addressing that pesky quarterback situation, Shoup went heavy towards defense-- addressing the defensive line, linebacker group, and edge rush. It's kind of a running joke around here how many connections Bortles has to Bill O'Brien, but now that BRB selected Tuitt in the SBNation Mock Draft, and Brett wrote a fantastic film review of Campanaro, there are a few more more players with #connections to consider. Also Chris Borland went to Wisconsin, J.J. Watt's alma mater. Connections!
Still, I love this draft much more than the second if only for the lack of Derek Carr; the defense gets an infusion of talent while the team gets its future signal-caller in Bortles. We'd better hope the offensive line was addressed enough last year with Brennan Williams and David Quessenberry because another seventh-rounder won't cut it... Derek Newton is proof enough of that.
The fact of the matter is that unless the Texans trade down enough times to secure 17 picks like Shoup's first draft, there's probably going to be a position left unaddressed.
That's it, peeps. Discuss the possibilities in the comments, and enjoy your Sunday. Big, big thanks to Steve Shoup and the crew over at Fanspeak for writing these three mocks for us. Head on over to their site and make a mock draft of your own if you wish, and then share your results.
Oh, and if you didn't get the Bort license plate joke, here's a clip from my Top 1 favorite Simpsons episode ever to explain: