2013 NFL Mock Draft: Houston Texans Select...

The Houston Texans are a very strong team, but they have a few holes lurking in their roster.

Offense

Their main threats are Arian Foster and Andre Johnson: these guys are among the best in the league at their position. Complement this with a competent QB in Matt Schaub, and a great O-Line featuring Pro Bowlers Duane Brown, Wade Smith, and Chris Myers on the left, and some combination of Brandon Brooks, Ben Jones, Derek Newton, and Ryan Harris rotating in on the right. It looks like Newton is penciled in as the starter at RT, but he has been inconsistent. While RT might be a good target for improvement, it's not the weakest link on the offense. The offense has a few secondary weapons (TE Owen Daniels, injured WR DeVier Posey), but Houston has been in a long hunt for a third offensive threat to help the Big Two.

The options: Houston - and its fans - have been drooling over a new receiver for a long time, and many Texans fans have locked in on DeAndre Hopkins as their dream target. Compared by some to Roddy White, he's a good height/speed/strength combination with good route running and great hands. He's an experienced, consistent, and complete receiver that should be ranked as the best receiver in the draft, according to my humble opinion. Fortunately for Houston, he's still available at this pick. Other receiving options include the similarly talented Keenan Allen, Justin Hunter, Robert Woods, Quinton Patton - this draft is a great one for a WR-needy team like the Texans.

Defense

Wade Phillips runs a very good 3-4/5-2 defense. JJ Watt, the reigning NFL Defensive Player Of The Year, is the absolute star. Next to him on the line are Earl Mitchell at NT and Antonio Smith at DE. Mitchell replaces Shaun Cody, but is not the best option there: the Texans could look to bolster that spot. In the linebackers, 2012 1st rounder Whitney Mercilus takes over for Connor Barwin outside, while Brooks Reed and Brian Cushing keep their spots at OLB and ILB respectively. Bradie James was the other starting ILB, but he was not retained in free agency. Daryl Sharpton is penciled in as his replacement, but he has been in the league for awhile and hasn't shown too much. In the secondary, Kareem Jackson and Johnathan Joseph are locked in at CB and Ed Reed and Danieal Manning are locked in at S. So on defense, the pressing needs are NT and ILB.

The options: The most drool-worthy prospect is inside ‘backer Arthur Brown of Kansas State. Projected as a 4-3 OLB or a 3-4 ILB, he has good speed, strength, intelligence, and coverage abilities. Instinctive and aggressive, Brown is rising up draft boards and I think the hype is well justified. He plays bigger than his six-foot size and he's built like a tank at 240 pounds, and I think his game compares favourably to Jerod Mayo and NaVorro Bowman. There aren't too many other options for ILB - Minter and Te'o are good fits as instinctive ILBs, but they're a tad slow and not as good in coverage. At NT, there's a few prospects available too (Jesse Williams, John Jenkins) but neither appear to be a 1st-round difference-maker.

With the 27th pick in the 2013 BTSC Community Mock Draft, the Houston Texans select Arthur Brown, LB, Kansas State.

Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

In the BTSC version of the draft, the Texans are extremely blessed to have both their dream targets alive here - Hopkins and Brown. I'd run to the podium for either guy here and they are clear Best-Players-Available here.

However, let's look at a few drafting combinations. If we take Hopkins first, we hope that Minter (or Te'o, though we'd rather avoid him) falls to the 27th pick of the 2nd round. If Minter and Te'o are gone, it's a big step down to the next best options.

In contrast, by taking Brown first, we can wait for a WR play-maker to fall to us at 2.27 - someone out of Hopkins, Allen, Hunter, Woods, Patton, or Terrance Williams should be available. And comparing Hopkins/Minter vs. Brown/Woods, I'd go for Brown/Woods. With the four 1st round-worthy targets likely to be available in the 2nd round, it'd make it a lot easier to trade up and get one of them for a decent price.

Check out BattleRedBlog for more Texans stuff - Brett Kollman's piece on the Texans defense is superb football analysis and is worth a read just as a football fan.

	Team	Player	Pos	School	BTSC rep
1		Star Lotulelei	DT	Utah	[Link to pick]
2		Dion Jordan	DE/OLB	Oregon	[Link to pick]
3		Sharrif Floyd	DT	Florida	[Link to pick]
4		Dee Milliner	CB	Alabama	[Link to pick]
5		Eric Fisher	OT	Central Michigan	[Link to pick]
6		Luke Joeckel	OT	Texas A&M	[Link to pick]
7		Lane Johnson	OT	Oklahoma	[Link to pick]
8		Barkevious Mingo	OLB	LSU	[Link to pick]
9		Chance Warmack	OG	Alabama	[Link to pick]
10		Jonathan Cooper	OG	North Carolina	[Link to pick]
11		Tavon Austin	WR	West Virginia	[Link to pick]
12		Xavier Rhodes	CB	Florida State	[Link to pick]
13		Ezekiel Ansah	DE	BYU	[Link to pick]
14		Cordarrelle Patterson	WR	Tennessee	[Link to pick]
15		Jarvis Jones	OLB	Georgia	[Link to pick]
16		Kenny Vaccaro	S	Texas	[Link to pick]
17		Tyler Eifert	TE	Notre Dame	[Link to pick]
18		Sheldon Richardson	DT	Missouri	[Link to pick]
19		Bjoern Werner	DE	Florida State	[Link to pick]
20		D.J. Fluker	OT	Alabama	[Link to pick]
21		Alec Ogletree	LB	Georgia	[Link to pick]
22	via	Eddie Lacy	RB	Alabama	[Link to pick]
23		Sylvester Williams	DT	North Carolina	[Link to pick]
24		Datone Jones	DE	UCLA	[Link to pick]
25	via	Geno Smith	QB	West Virginia	[Link to pick]
26		Johnathan Hankins	DT	Ohio State	[Link to pick]
27		Arthur Brown	LB	Kansas State	c63tho
28					Ram_india
29					TrifeReality
30					MDR21
31					afbassi
32					Mr MaLoR