April 23, 2025 • 26 mins
The day before the start of the 2025 NFL Draft, Texans TV's Drew Dougherty and Team Analyst/Radio Sideline Reporter John Harris did their final Mock Draft simulation of the spring. It yielded some helpers on the offensive line, a dynamic playmaker and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Here's Drew, John, It's here, it is here, It is here,
it is here less than a day away, well about
a day away, for we're shooting this on a Wednesday morning.
This is in the Lab, presented by Infinity. I'm Drew Doerty,
You're John Harris, and you're you. The three of us
together are gonna embark on a fun little mock draft simulation.
(00:36):
We've done these throughout the spring and winter. It's never
really winter in Houston, but anyways, it was winter on
the calendar in Houston, and this will be the last one.
You excited?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Uh, yes and no, you know, Drew. People say this
to me all the time. It's like, this is like
your Christmas. I'm like, man, what kind of Christmas does
you guys have? Because I end up I'm on live
radio for like seventeen hours over the weekend. I'm righting
all kinds of articles, I'm doing all kinds of writing.
I don't know about your Christmas, man, but might not
look like that My Christmas is sending the couch, eat
a bunch of candy and cakes and good food, and
(01:09):
watch football and basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
All day and the Texans. No, that's a different story.
Then it's work, and I like that work. But this
is work. But yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I mean all basically, it's like exams you're like doing
I'm doing all the prep work for the exam, so
once I get to the exam, I got all the
answers to the test questions. But I think what's fun
about this, Drew is you know, this is lying season.
Who's telling the truth?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Who's not.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You could trade up, you could trade down, you can
stick and pick, like yeah that those are the three
options basically. So I'm curious to see who's been lying
to us this whole time, and not the textans so much,
but you know, who's been telling the truth about these
particular players. And then what do you find out after
the draft, like, oh, well I didn't I didn't know
that guy committed murder and that's why he felt to
(01:54):
the seventh round.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
You know, you just find out some of those things too.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So hopefully that's not the case for anybody draft, but
it does unearth.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The lies yeah, if you will. Once the draft is over.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It's gonna be fun to see. I can't wait. So
this is Wednesday, we're doing this, releasing it Wednesday afternoon,
this podcast. On Thursday, around lunchtime, the final mock Draft
round up will come out. Oh, you might say, well,
why don't you just put it out today? Well, because most,
not most, but many mock drafters, a significant amount of
mock drafters don't release theirs until Thursday morning, Thursday late morning. Yeah,
(02:32):
so you want to get the the most relevant ones
in and that will come out. And then there's always
some folks that are pretty big timers and they only
do one and wait till this week, or they wait
till tomorrow. So it's coming together. It's coming together. It'll
be out around lunchtime. I'm not gonna say eleven. I'm
not gonna say noon. I'm not gonna say one because
it might not be any of those, it might be
something around that. So just be ready look out for it,
(02:53):
be on your Twitter feed and it'll be a lot
of fun. But the way it's going right now, offensive
line is gonna be the pick in the minds of
the mockers. But there's only one mind. Ultimately that matters,
and Nick Asario will make that call on Thursday evening.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yes, do you like the fact I'm paying homage with
my vest today?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So good looking vest?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Stylish. So with all that in mind, since we're talking
about minds, and our minds are nice, but they're not
the ones that make the decision. But we're going to
try and get inside the mind of the man who's
making the decision. But that's still impossible. But nevertheless, let's
do a mock draft simulation for the final time in
twenty twenty five, and let's share the screen and let's
(03:34):
go go to Pro Footballnetwork dot com. I want to
make sure we let our friends there know how much
we appreciate, how much fun we have and how they've
created an addiction for us.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
That's a good way of putting it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
In addition for getting me in your football NFL draft
A crack ya. So where you're doing seven rounds as
you see me circling there, always do fast, because if
you do anything fast, you're a sucker. MC And we
clicked on the Texans and we're entering our solo draft
and here we go.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Let's start it. Cameron Ward goes number one to the
Tennessee Titans. No big surprise, Hey, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Fly off the board and trades come up. I see
one from the Bengals wonning twenty five and two forty
one for forty nine eighty one and a two next year.
I think that's a little too little, and then kind
of one from the Chargers that I think is a
little too little. It's a lot, but I just can't
do that. And I don't want Royal Canadian whiskey. I'm
sorry about that. Folks got the the ad got me there,
(04:34):
but I want to take the pick. And we see
Derek Carmon there, and Derek Carmon, I think it's going
to be a really good prop. But he's gonna be
a productive guy. He's enticing. But the name right below him,
John Tyler Booker, is by all accounts of the best guard
in the draft. Maybe that maybe the best lineman. You
could make that argument, probably not, but he's there. He
(04:55):
went to Alabama. Will Anderson has gushed about him. Many
others have gushed about You've told the story many times
how the folks at Alabama rave about his leadership, and
then on top of it, he's a fantastic player. Is
this the pick is too too much of a no
brainer because a Booka's there a great.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Za those five picks, those five players that we see
harmony eighteen for them, Booker twenty four, Nolan twenty six,
Zabel twenty seven, Meco Bukat twenty nine. Any of those
five I would feel even Walter Nolan, I know he's
had some you know there there are always some you know,
anger issues, whatever you want to call him, you frustration.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Fine, and Danny, you wipe your hands and say that's
a cool pick. I'm fine with it.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I'd be okay with that because I think they would
surround him in the locker room and really make the
most of that. But you know what I've said, Booker,
no matter what's Booker, golden, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
For me.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So Booker is there, I think this is I'm so
glad to see him there. Let's snatch him up at
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Now, a couple of gen xers, you and me, it's
not Booker, It's not Richard Griico Booker. It's Tyler Booker. Booker,
not Booker. T We love Booker.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
T Okay. Now we're on a fifty eight and second round.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Cowboys want to trade get bent, Cowboys. We're not giving
up that for now. Boys offering seventy six and a
third for this pick. Here is this is enticing from Cleveland.
You're they're they're offering you to move back just a bit,
so you move into the third, but it's the top
of the third, and then you add an at pick
ninety four for pick one sixty six, late third. I'm
(06:30):
intrigued by that. But look, let's look who's on the board. John, Yeah,
this name Kenneth Grant. Yeah, enticing at fifty eight, the
thirty nine right below Travon Henderson. That's my draft crush.
I mean yeah, And I even texted you during games
this year.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I like that Travon Henderson. Then there's some other names
down there, Mason Taylor, a pretty good tight end, t J. Sanders,
defensive tackle. I'm gonna defer to you on this one.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's for me.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It's it's between Kenneth Grant, Travon Henderson, and I make
Henderson the call. But I will defer to you. You
got to you gotta make this call now.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I have Kenneth Grant rated higher than I do Traveon Henderson.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Uh, and I do think Kenneth Grant would definitely help.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I feel like Henderson's a home run hitter. You don't
have offensively home run you know how. We kind of
had to slog through offensively last year, especially after Steph
went down.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
It was a slog It was just it was hard.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We didn't have any really home run hitters seemingly, as
you know, Joe's a home run hitter. But Joe has
to be the f one fifty. You know, you can't
just go bring the Maserati out for you know, a
little day drive when you need it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The f one fifty does not do one ay five.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But Joe's got game breaking abilities, no question.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I don't want to overlook that, but I just feel like, man,
we need we need some big plays.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Henderson's a guy that can create it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Drew, I'm actually going to defer to you on this
one because I think Travion Henderson would be as much
as I think Trenches a lot. I think Henderson being
there at fifty eight, I would want to jump all
over this.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Kenneth Grant love you. I hope you go to an
NFC team and don't haunt our games for the next
decade or so. But let's go with Oh, you know
where Kennth Grant's going. Look at this. Look at the
pick right after ours fifty nine Ravens. Yeah, watch you
watch this good and pick Henderson. See what happens.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
No, he didn't go, but he went a couple of
picks before that, a couple picks after that, So not
too surprising.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
But I could see the Ravens jumping over Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
We don't want to move back twenty in ato.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Now it's seventy nine. No, we don't want to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We don't want to do this one either. Fifteen. So
let's make a pick. Jackson Dart's still there. I bet
he goes before this, you know, I don't think he goes. Yeah,
I don't think he gets this kind of a put
a an astress by this. Okay, Mason Taylor, you like
him tight end.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Lsu Yeah, I mean I've comped him to Dalton Schultz,
and I think Mason's I think Mason's probably a little
bit of a better blocker at this point, maybe than
the Dalton was. But I don't know if that's a
little redundant tight end wise, I don't know. I mean,
look Tyler, Terrence Ferguson's he's down there. Terrence fergus from
Oregon is still on the board. I really like watching
(09:02):
him at the Senior Bowl. In fact, I've got those
two graded about the same. I mean, I don't think
there's as much gap between Mason Taylor and Terrence Ferguson.
Harrold fannag Junior is an interesting one, but I think
you kind of have Harrold Fanna Junior in Brevin Jordan.
And I know Brev's coming back off of the knee injury,
but I think Fanned would fit for a number of teams,
(09:24):
and if the text ended up taking him, I could
see them using him. He's kind of an interesting dude,
kind of a tight end h back move guy.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
I don't even think it's his tight end. He's not
really a wide tight end.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I mean he's kind of a full back move guy,
which is kind of what Brev's done. It's kind of
what gate Stover did last year. But picked seven or
the seventy two right there on their board.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
That's the one Jared Wilton so I mentioned earlier. I've
got a crush on Trevon Henderson this one, Jared Wilson.
I liked, Yeah, And then I heard you say, well,
he's probably the best center in this draft.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, he's the best center in this draft. I mean,
I think he's a pure center.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Now does he come in and start as a center?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Now that's a great point. I think there's gonna be
one hell of a competition. And I think some of
it has to do with you know, we got Booker.
Booker's a guard, so he's gonna play guard. So does
Booker's presence push Titus back out to tackle? I don't
think it does. I think a guard combo of Titus
and Booker would be really, really fun. So then at
that point you've gotten now a competition of Jared Patterson,
(10:24):
Jew Scruggs, who's the second rounder a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Drafted both of them in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And then if you were to draft Wilson, which what
the point to me is, if I take a third
round pick in Wilson but it guarantees me that one
of the three becomes a quality center for this team,
then I'm all for it.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And whether it be Wilson or Juice or Jared or whomever.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You're out you're raising the tides of rights. Yeah, I
want to do this.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I really have been kind of high on Jared Wilson
after watch.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Single time i've had a draft where he's available around here,
I've taken him okay, good, And there's been others. Best
to Alfred, keep going trenches, let's go. Alfred Collins is
the only one that kind of makes me pause here,
but I'm I'm going for you're telling me he's a
sta center or he's gonna yield a starting center. Let's
do it.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Here's the thing too, with with the centers or the
interior off of the lineman. I just don't find the
depth there. So get the depth there, go and get
the get the highest rated guy you can get there.
Interior defensive lineman. Nine ten eleven is still pretty am good. Yeah,
so I think you can get a defensive lineman. I
think there will still be guys on the board ten
(11:31):
picks later that we can look at and be very
happy with. And maybe Alfred Collins is still on the board.
Maybe maybe not. I can't see whether he came off
the board or not. But I think Alfred Collins would
be a guy I could look at seventy nine. Oclok
at eighty nine, that would be a guy. But I
think interior defensive line. There's just so many of them
in this draft. That's such a good class that I
would take Wilson there and then look maybe at interior
(11:52):
defensive line at this pick.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, this has been an unrealistic draft so far because
for the Texans, because we have many trades we have
not But here's a scenario in which I would make
this trade. Okay, let's take a look to hear what
you say. I mean, how do you not do this? Okay,
we're sitting at eighty nine, move back three to get
yeah two yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean almost thirty three.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Go to one thirty seven with the Seahawks.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Like names on the board, now, listen that this does
give me. I like Jayden Higgins, he's in. Do you
like al?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I like Higgins a lot more than I like I
am an Ore. Okay, I like Ferguson that's left on
the board.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If you move back three, one of those guys are
still probably gonna be there.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I think that's true.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
And then you also get that, so you're giving up
three spots here for twenty nine spots later.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
I kind of like it. Let's do it except make
the trade?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
All right? Ursery still there? I am man, are still there?
Ferguson from Ferguson's very interesting.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I love his build, I love his athleticism, very light
on his feet, good hands. I think he can be
a decent blocker. I don't think he's a great blocker now,
but I think he can be even better. I mean,
Terrence Ferguson Kate Stover would be kind of fun. Schultzen,
Schultzen Ferguson. I mean, I think you could have uh
and do some good things with Terrence Ferguson here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But is there a red light blinking over Ersrie because
he's like the fifty six bet? I mean, do you
I know we've gone O line heavy so far, but dude,
there is do you take that best player available and
just do it?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean best player available, I'll probably do it. I mean,
he's a right tackle. If he's a tackle, big strong,
I mean really strong, dude, kind of stiff legged. It's
hard to fall in love with him or I mean
he's one of those guys that really kind of grew.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
On me in this process.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I mean and I'm not gonna sit there and tell
you that I absolutely love him, but in ninety two,
I think that would be a really good fit. I
think is hard to look away from. But I think
by the time we pick again, I think Ferguson'll be
out the board. Now there are some tight ends in
his group that are are are nice, nice guys. I'm
not saying nice guys. I'm saying like nice picks like that.
I would like it, but I think it's hard to
(13:58):
turn away from a tackle like Ursery at this point
in third round.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So I think that's take it, y.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Hey, what have we heard all off season long? Texan's
got to protect better? Yeah, I gotta protect better in
one way or another. That's going to help you do that. Okay,
we're picking one three seven, that's from that trade. We're moving,
we're grooving. Jalen Reed is the top prospect there safety
from Penn State. You see some of these other names,
Belton another tackle, We're not going to do that. Jamari
Caldwell defensive tackle down there. You got Jordan Phillips in
(14:27):
the mix. What are you thinking here?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
All right, Drew? Because I have.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I'm now fifty three, so I've gotten older and so
my brain doesn't work as much.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Can you click on our on my on my picks
on what we've done thus far? Yes, we kind up
to people. So we drafted Booker at twenty five. We
took Treva down Henderson, the running back at Ohio State
fifty eight. Good value there. Jared Wilson is center from Georgia.
We took the best center I have in the draft,
and Arante Erseri from Minnesota at number ninety two. So
we've gone guard tackle center, so we've really bolstered offensively
(15:00):
and taking Traveon Henderson.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
A couple names that I see there that I like.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I mean, Oli Gordon is if we hadn't taken Travon Henderson,
I would think about Oli Gordon, Dylan Sampson. We've already
gotten kind of a better version than Traveon Henderson, but
a very similar model. If you will there, you know
one's a one's a Corolla, one'es a Tursell. If you
remember the Toyota. I don't know why I used Toyota,
but I guess Toyota because it says right above it.
(15:28):
Anthony Belton is a guy I would think, but man,
we've already gotten three offensive linemen. I would take Belton,
convert him to a guard. Jamari Caldwell is really really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
To me, he and Jordan Phillips provide some size what
I've been talking about all along, athletic size. I think
Jamerry Cold was like three twenty five, a little shorter
and stouter, but quick, agile play University Houston four, went
to Oregon.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I felt like he tore dudes up at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Jordan Phillips had a really good Ryan Ball up in Frisco,
up in Dallas. You could I think you could go
either one in a defensive line. I'm gonna lead Caldwell
just because he went to you of h kooks.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
All right, let's take go Cooks, Let's take him go Coops.
Come on, Mark Caldwell. All right, all right, we don't
pick for a while now. Yeah, the name coming off
the board long time. Yeah, we've got you.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Don't pick again until two thirty six.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Sections have gone trenches and running back in this draft and.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Then trenches, trenches, trenches on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
All right, Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
This name excuse me, Uh, Peter Brady right there for
those of you who are old and used to watch
the Brady Bunch, Yeah, voice was cracking. This name, Ingram Dawkins.
This is tantalizing to me because it sounds like he
can play a lot of things. But I want to
hear your I mean, you and I have not talked
about him, but there's a lot of great names that
intrigue me him. I really like the Jalen Conyers. I
(16:52):
want to hear what you think about him. Yes, he's
a tight end, and the Texans have not taken a
tight end in this draft. I also want to hear
your thoughts on Hawes. Timson Smith, defensive tackle out of
Alabama has been taken in some MUCKs. You see Antoine Wells. Yeah,
he's a wide receiver out of Ole Miss. What are
you thinking here? Okay, do you like Ingram Dalks.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Let's talk about Ingram Dawkins, a little bit lighter interior player,
which I think the Texans have enough of.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He you know good, motor plays, hard plays, heavy plays, violent.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I just I don't. I don't love the fifth Plus
we've already gotten called well, so I think We've done
enough on that d line. Zeke Biggers would be a
guy look at because he's longer and really athletic for
a dude that's three ten ish. Kanyers is kind of
like a more tight end version of Taysom Hill. He
can play wildcat, he can play full back. I want
(17:41):
to say he's got quarterback in his system. They would
use him at wildcat at Texas Tech. He's just kind
of a play creator, very very intriguing to me. But
let's flash down to two thirty four. The guy I've
been waiting for was hoping he was still on the board.
When everybody talks about tight end for this team, you
know they're talking about the top end guys in this draft,
(18:03):
but I don't think it's really what the Texans absolutely need.
What the Texans need at tight end is somebody that
can swap paint with a six technique that just goes
to battle, is violent as a blocker.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That's your guy, Joe.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I love the fact that Jackson Hawes is an Ivy leaguer,
graduated Yale, had one year of eligibility transferred on Georgia Tech,
and it was just blocking a physicality that kind of
caught everybody's attention.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Now the Senior.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Bowl, he was very very active catching the football though
he had good soft hands.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I was really impressed.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I was probably more impressed with that and is blocking,
but throughout the season it's just blocking. Its physicality that
get it to me. This is Jackson Hawes all day
to get that kind of in line. Why tight end you're.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Looking for kaboom? Five picks later is hard? That's one
that's your final pick.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Now, one thing we can do on this, let's click
on the offensive tab, Drew.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Let's just look at the wide receivers that are there.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And I think the wide receivers that are there, and
I'm gonna I'm gonna make a case for one of
them here that I really hear.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The receivers that on the board.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Antoine ULLs from Old Miss playmaker, had a great career
at South Carolina before he went to Old Miss. Probably
better at South Carolina at Old Miss. Not a flyer,
but I think it would be a good fit in
this room. Then you got ja Corey Brooks from Louisville.
I would be very happy with Bru McCoy. I've been
following forever.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
It's injuries issues Coundray Lambert Smith can fly.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
This might be it would be a steal potentially to
find him here. But the guy that gets interesting to
me is well two guys. Fton Chisholm from Eastern Washington
makes you miss in a phone booth. He had one
of the better three cone times and it shows on
the field that dude will shake anybody. He's got an
amazing quickness. Now he's not fast, he's like a four
(19:38):
to seven forty, but he's a slot receiver du joure.
The guy that might provide more of that and more
speed is Jimmy Horn Junior from Colorado. Whenever I watched Colorado,
he was the guy that always impressed me. Obviously Travis
Hunter always impressed this, but Jimmy Horn Junior was the
guy that you went, man, he's running away from guys.
He's making plays. I think Horn Junior right here, that's
(20:01):
the call would be the seventh I would. I would
really like to see him with the Texans, So let's
do that, all right. He's a little bit more of
a slot guy, but he's got speed out of the slot.
There are different kinds of slots, like Chisholm from Eastern
Washington is more kind of the true slot, kind of
the whips and pivots and you're working the chaos and
the short you know, five to seven yard range. Then
they're just kind of Christian Kirk who plays in the slot,
(20:23):
but it's dangerous out of the slot because he can
run slot fades, he can run posts.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I wrote an article, you wrote a really good article
about this.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And he's Texas dot Com where he isolates the safety
and beats him one on one with speed.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I think Jimmy Horn is kind of a mix of both.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I think he can really work that chaos in the
shallow areas, but then he's got the speed to be
able to burn down the field.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
So I like getting him in the seventh round.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
All right, look at that the Texans made seven picks
and only one of them was on defense. That's wild.
I don't think you'll see that. But this is what
we had. Yeah, and these were the options in front
of us. You couldn't. I mean, you you walk away
a winner. I think after round one and then it's
icing on cake. And I've used this again, icing on
icing with Jared Wilson, and then from there you get
(21:06):
some good. I mean, it's good players all around. I
like this. I like this draft alone.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Drew, you, you and I kind of have you know,
similar existences in a sense that you know, Texas fans
will take out their vitriol on us in sense whether
it's comments or they see you in the store, like, Drew,
what the you know, what the hell are they doing? Well,
what's the one thing we heard about all year long?
The offensive line? The offensive line? Well, you can't be
(21:31):
dismayed with what we just did with the offensive line
because we added potential starters at all three positions, you know, center, guard,
and tackle.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
We got the guy.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
We've made the competition supremely fierce. It was already going
to be fierce, supremely fierce.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Right and and that's I think exactly what you want
to be able to get the best five battle tested
dudes out of that room. You get a guy and
booker that is thought to be in alpha. And I
remember when I wrote that about Will Anderson Junior. I
remember thinking, Okay, I would love to see it in
Texans locker room. And not only has that been a
big factor in Texans locker room, he set the tone
(22:09):
for the way other people should think about the Texans,
and any players coming in this building should think about
playing for the Texans. And so hopefully Booker is is
that kind of guy. But you know, we heard so
much about the offensive line. You can't sit there and go, well.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's too much on the offensive No, there's no such
thing as too much on the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
And I give you this last year.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
It's about this time that Phedoff Eagles signed a tackle
that had busted with the Jets, couldn't play, too fat,
too big, just didn't get it done. And the Eagles
had all these players already, they already had them on hand.
And then when they signed with Kai Becton, and it
was like, what's really betty'ing gonna do for them? He's
(22:53):
not gonna play tackle. You're gonna put him a guard.
You don't really fit it guard. But Beckton wins the competition,
ends up being the star, and ends up being one
of the better guards in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Last year, the phild Off the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Now I'm not saying that's all work, but that was
a situation in which, well, is that overkill on the
offensive line.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
You didn't have to pay a lot for him.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
But still, you know you got all these guys in
the offensive line you added on their piece. No, it
panned out so us drafting three different offensive linemen on
day one and day two, that's exactly what that painting needed.
That room needed to be painted and it needs all
the paint possible to throw up on the canvas.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Because what happens if CJ. Stroud has that extra half
So that's right, what happens if not getting knocked around,
that's right, ten times a game. He's only get knocked
around four times a game. What happens. Yes, Then with
the offense, the guys you have there who are your playmakers,
they're a little bit more explosive, that's right, because CJ
has time.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That's exactly right. So all that about, you know, well,
too much investment in the trenches. To me, there's no
such thing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
There's no such thing from what we saw as too
much investment in that trench. January. Yes, he on average
this was the magic number. I believe we've talked about this,
but the magic number, it seemed for the Texans last.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Year was four four sacks. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You got stacked four or more times. The Texans went
too and eight. Yep, it was less. It was kind
of like you reversed the number exactly. So you tack
in last year for the first time in a long time,
maybe ever, I don't know, I need to look this up.
The Texans did not have a clean sheet, meaning they
did not have a single game where they allowed zero sacks.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I mean of the year they game they would go
one sack against the Titans, but that was a different
kind of scenario.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, it was in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
They had not a number of games, but they had
a handful where they gave up where they had clean
sheets where they did not give up a sack, and
if you went back and look, those were probably the
ones where they had the most offensive output.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
I remember one was Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I remember that, and that offense that day was pretty
damn good in that game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And
that was playing Austin Deculus and Jiran Christian at tackle
in that game. So gotta get trench help and I
think you just gotta get more and bring it to
the competition.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
That's what the Texans did in this mock draft simulation,
and that was so much fun. I can't wait. Okay,
I'll be here at the stadium. I'm gonna be interviewing
the draft picks after they taken.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Mark the crew gonna be out at the draft party
on Thursday night over Discovery Green. It's gonna be a
lot of fun. Then you'll be here in the building
in the studio Saturday and Friday night, Friday night and
Saturday afternoon. It's gonna be a great, great three days.
Wretch as the Texans, We'll get better.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Cool with you, cool with me. Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Let's do it all right. This has been in the Lab,
presented by Xfinity for John, I'm Drew for you. The
three of us had so much fun. Let's get after
it and we'll talk all about these new draft picks
next week here on in the Lab
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Here's Drew, John, It's here, it is here, It is here,
it is here less than a day away, well about
a day away, for we're shooting this on a Wednesday morning.
This is in the Lab, presented by Infinity. I'm Drew Doerty,
You're John Harris, and you're you. The three of us
together are gonna embark on a fun little mock draft simulation.
(00:36):
We've done these throughout the spring and winter. It's never
really winter in Houston, but anyways, it was winter on
the calendar in Houston, and this will be the last one.
You excited?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Uh, yes and no, you know, Drew. People say this
to me all the time. It's like, this is like
your Christmas. I'm like, man, what kind of Christmas does
you guys have? Because I end up I'm on live
radio for like seventeen hours over the weekend. I'm righting
all kinds of articles, I'm doing all kinds of writing.
I don't know about your Christmas, man, but might not
look like that My Christmas is sending the couch, eat
a bunch of candy and cakes and good food, and
(01:09):
watch football and basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
All day and the Texans. No, that's a different story.
Then it's work, and I like that work. But this
is work. But yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I mean all basically, it's like exams you're like doing
I'm doing all the prep work for the exam, so
once I get to the exam, I got all the
answers to the test questions. But I think what's fun
about this, Drew is you know, this is lying season.
Who's telling the truth?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Who's not.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You could trade up, you could trade down, you can
stick and pick, like yeah that those are the three
options basically. So I'm curious to see who's been lying
to us this whole time, and not the textans so much,
but you know, who's been telling the truth about these
particular players. And then what do you find out after
the draft, like, oh, well I didn't I didn't know
that guy committed murder and that's why he felt to
(01:54):
the seventh round.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
You know, you just find out some of those things too.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So hopefully that's not the case for anybody draft, but
it does unearth.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The lies yeah, if you will. Once the draft is over.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It's gonna be fun to see. I can't wait. So
this is Wednesday, we're doing this, releasing it Wednesday afternoon,
this podcast. On Thursday, around lunchtime, the final mock Draft
round up will come out. Oh, you might say, well,
why don't you just put it out today? Well, because most,
not most, but many mock drafters, a significant amount of
mock drafters don't release theirs until Thursday morning, Thursday late morning. Yeah,
(02:32):
so you want to get the the most relevant ones
in and that will come out. And then there's always
some folks that are pretty big timers and they only
do one and wait till this week, or they wait
till tomorrow. So it's coming together. It's coming together. It'll
be out around lunchtime. I'm not gonna say eleven. I'm
not gonna say noon. I'm not gonna say one because
it might not be any of those, it might be
something around that. So just be ready look out for it,
(02:53):
be on your Twitter feed and it'll be a lot
of fun. But the way it's going right now, offensive
line is gonna be the pick in the minds of
the mockers. But there's only one mind. Ultimately that matters,
and Nick Asario will make that call on Thursday evening.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yes, do you like the fact I'm paying homage with
my vest today?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So good looking vest?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Stylish. So with all that in mind, since we're talking
about minds, and our minds are nice, but they're not
the ones that make the decision. But we're going to
try and get inside the mind of the man who's
making the decision. But that's still impossible. But nevertheless, let's
do a mock draft simulation for the final time in
twenty twenty five, and let's share the screen and let's
(03:34):
go go to Pro Footballnetwork dot com. I want to
make sure we let our friends there know how much
we appreciate, how much fun we have and how they've
created an addiction for us.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
That's a good way of putting it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
In addition for getting me in your football NFL draft
A crack ya. So where you're doing seven rounds as
you see me circling there, always do fast, because if
you do anything fast, you're a sucker. MC And we
clicked on the Texans and we're entering our solo draft
and here we go.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Let's start it. Cameron Ward goes number one to the
Tennessee Titans. No big surprise, Hey, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Fly off the board and trades come up. I see
one from the Bengals wonning twenty five and two forty
one for forty nine eighty one and a two next year.
I think that's a little too little, and then kind
of one from the Chargers that I think is a
little too little. It's a lot, but I just can't
do that. And I don't want Royal Canadian whiskey. I'm
sorry about that. Folks got the the ad got me there,
(04:34):
but I want to take the pick. And we see
Derek Carmon there, and Derek Carmon, I think it's going
to be a really good prop. But he's gonna be
a productive guy. He's enticing. But the name right below him,
John Tyler Booker, is by all accounts of the best guard
in the draft. Maybe that maybe the best lineman. You
could make that argument, probably not, but he's there. He
(04:55):
went to Alabama. Will Anderson has gushed about him. Many
others have gushed about You've told the story many times
how the folks at Alabama rave about his leadership, and
then on top of it, he's a fantastic player. Is
this the pick is too too much of a no
brainer because a Booka's there a great.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Za those five picks, those five players that we see
harmony eighteen for them, Booker twenty four, Nolan twenty six,
Zabel twenty seven, Meco Bukat twenty nine. Any of those
five I would feel even Walter Nolan, I know he's
had some you know there there are always some you know,
anger issues, whatever you want to call him, you frustration.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Fine, and Danny, you wipe your hands and say that's
a cool pick. I'm fine with it.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I'd be okay with that because I think they would
surround him in the locker room and really make the
most of that. But you know what I've said, Booker,
no matter what's Booker, golden, no matter what.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
For me.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So Booker is there, I think this is I'm so
glad to see him there. Let's snatch him up at
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Now, a couple of gen xers, you and me, it's
not Booker, It's not Richard Griico Booker. It's Tyler Booker. Booker,
not Booker. T We love Booker.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
T Okay. Now we're on a fifty eight and second round.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Cowboys want to trade get bent, Cowboys. We're not giving
up that for now. Boys offering seventy six and a
third for this pick. Here is this is enticing from Cleveland.
You're they're they're offering you to move back just a bit,
so you move into the third, but it's the top
of the third, and then you add an at pick
ninety four for pick one sixty six, late third. I'm
(06:30):
intrigued by that. But look, let's look who's on the board. John, Yeah,
this name Kenneth Grant. Yeah, enticing at fifty eight, the
thirty nine right below Travon Henderson. That's my draft crush.
I mean yeah, And I even texted you during games
this year.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I like that Travon Henderson. Then there's some other names
down there, Mason Taylor, a pretty good tight end, t J. Sanders,
defensive tackle. I'm gonna defer to you on this one.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's for me.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
It's it's between Kenneth Grant, Travon Henderson, and I make
Henderson the call. But I will defer to you. You
got to you gotta make this call now.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I have Kenneth Grant rated higher than I do Traveon Henderson.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Uh, and I do think Kenneth Grant would definitely help.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I feel like Henderson's a home run hitter. You don't
have offensively home run you know how. We kind of
had to slog through offensively last year, especially after Steph
went down.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
It was a slog It was just it was hard.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We didn't have any really home run hitters seemingly, as
you know, Joe's a home run hitter. But Joe has
to be the f one fifty. You know, you can't
just go bring the Maserati out for you know, a
little day drive when you need it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
The f one fifty does not do one ay five.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But Joe's got game breaking abilities, no question.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I don't want to overlook that, but I just feel like, man,
we need we need some big plays.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Henderson's a guy that can create it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Drew, I'm actually going to defer to you on this
one because I think Travion Henderson would be as much
as I think Trenches a lot. I think Henderson being
there at fifty eight, I would want to jump all
over this.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Kenneth Grant love you. I hope you go to an
NFC team and don't haunt our games for the next
decade or so. But let's go with Oh, you know
where Kennth Grant's going. Look at this. Look at the
pick right after ours fifty nine Ravens. Yeah, watch you
watch this good and pick Henderson. See what happens.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
No, he didn't go, but he went a couple of
picks before that, a couple picks after that, So not
too surprising.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
But I could see the Ravens jumping over Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
We don't want to move back twenty in ato.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Now it's seventy nine. No, we don't want to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
We don't want to do this one either. Fifteen. So
let's make a pick. Jackson Dart's still there. I bet
he goes before this, you know, I don't think he goes. Yeah,
I don't think he gets this kind of a put
a an astress by this. Okay, Mason Taylor, you like
him tight end.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Lsu Yeah, I mean I've comped him to Dalton Schultz,
and I think Mason's I think Mason's probably a little
bit of a better blocker at this point, maybe than
the Dalton was. But I don't know if that's a
little redundant tight end wise, I don't know. I mean,
look Tyler, Terrence Ferguson's he's down there. Terrence fergus from
Oregon is still on the board. I really like watching
(09:02):
him at the Senior Bowl. In fact, I've got those
two graded about the same. I mean, I don't think
there's as much gap between Mason Taylor and Terrence Ferguson.
Harrold fannag Junior is an interesting one, but I think
you kind of have Harrold Fanna Junior in Brevin Jordan.
And I know Brev's coming back off of the knee injury,
but I think Fanned would fit for a number of teams,
(09:24):
and if the text ended up taking him, I could
see them using him. He's kind of an interesting dude,
kind of a tight end h back move guy.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
I don't even think it's his tight end. He's not
really a wide tight end.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I mean he's kind of a full back move guy,
which is kind of what Brev's done. It's kind of
what gate Stover did last year. But picked seven or
the seventy two right there on their board.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
That's the one Jared Wilton so I mentioned earlier. I've
got a crush on Trevon Henderson this one, Jared Wilson.
I liked, Yeah, And then I heard you say, well,
he's probably the best center in this draft.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, he's the best center in this draft. I mean,
I think he's a pure center.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Now does he come in and start as a center?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Now that's a great point. I think there's gonna be
one hell of a competition. And I think some of
it has to do with you know, we got Booker.
Booker's a guard, so he's gonna play guard. So does
Booker's presence push Titus back out to tackle? I don't
think it does. I think a guard combo of Titus
and Booker would be really, really fun. So then at
that point you've gotten now a competition of Jared Patterson,
(10:24):
Jew Scruggs, who's the second rounder a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Drafted both of them in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And then if you were to draft Wilson, which what
the point to me is, if I take a third
round pick in Wilson but it guarantees me that one
of the three becomes a quality center for this team,
then I'm all for it.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And whether it be Wilson or Juice or Jared or whomever.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You're out you're raising the tides of rights. Yeah, I
want to do this.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I really have been kind of high on Jared Wilson
after watch.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Single time i've had a draft where he's available around here,
I've taken him okay, good, And there's been others. Best
to Alfred, keep going trenches, let's go. Alfred Collins is
the only one that kind of makes me pause here,
but I'm I'm going for you're telling me he's a
sta center or he's gonna yield a starting center. Let's
do it.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Here's the thing too, with with the centers or the
interior off of the lineman. I just don't find the
depth there. So get the depth there, go and get
the get the highest rated guy you can get there.
Interior defensive lineman. Nine ten eleven is still pretty am good. Yeah,
so I think you can get a defensive lineman. I
think there will still be guys on the board ten
(11:31):
picks later that we can look at and be very
happy with. And maybe Alfred Collins is still on the board.
Maybe maybe not. I can't see whether he came off
the board or not. But I think Alfred Collins would
be a guy I could look at seventy nine. Oclok
at eighty nine, that would be a guy. But I
think interior defensive line. There's just so many of them
in this draft. That's such a good class that I
would take Wilson there and then look maybe at interior
(11:52):
defensive line at this pick.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, this has been an unrealistic draft so far because
for the Texans, because we have many trades we have
not But here's a scenario in which I would make
this trade. Okay, let's take a look to hear what
you say. I mean, how do you not do this? Okay,
we're sitting at eighty nine, move back three to get
yeah two yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean almost thirty three.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Go to one thirty seven with the Seahawks.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Like names on the board, now, listen that this does
give me. I like Jayden Higgins, he's in. Do you
like al?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I like Higgins a lot more than I like I
am an Ore. Okay, I like Ferguson that's left on
the board.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If you move back three, one of those guys are
still probably gonna be there.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I think that's true.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
And then you also get that, so you're giving up
three spots here for twenty nine spots later.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
I kind of like it. Let's do it except make
the trade?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
All right? Ursery still there? I am man, are still there?
Ferguson from Ferguson's very interesting.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I love his build, I love his athleticism, very light
on his feet, good hands. I think he can be
a decent blocker. I don't think he's a great blocker now,
but I think he can be even better. I mean,
Terrence Ferguson Kate Stover would be kind of fun. Schultzen,
Schultzen Ferguson. I mean, I think you could have uh
and do some good things with Terrence Ferguson here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But is there a red light blinking over Ersrie because
he's like the fifty six bet? I mean, do you
I know we've gone O line heavy so far, but dude,
there is do you take that best player available and
just do it?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean best player available, I'll probably do it. I mean,
he's a right tackle. If he's a tackle, big strong,
I mean really strong, dude, kind of stiff legged. It's
hard to fall in love with him or I mean
he's one of those guys that really kind of grew.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
On me in this process.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I mean and I'm not gonna sit there and tell
you that I absolutely love him, but in ninety two,
I think that would be a really good fit. I
think is hard to look away from. But I think
by the time we pick again, I think Ferguson'll be
out the board. Now there are some tight ends in
his group that are are are nice, nice guys. I'm
not saying nice guys. I'm saying like nice picks like that.
I would like it, but I think it's hard to
(13:58):
turn away from a tackle like Ursery at this point
in third round.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So I think that's take it, y.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Hey, what have we heard all off season long? Texan's
got to protect better? Yeah, I gotta protect better in
one way or another. That's going to help you do that. Okay,
we're picking one three seven, that's from that trade. We're moving,
we're grooving. Jalen Reed is the top prospect there safety
from Penn State. You see some of these other names,
Belton another tackle, We're not going to do that. Jamari
Caldwell defensive tackle down there. You got Jordan Phillips in
(14:27):
the mix. What are you thinking here?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
All right, Drew? Because I have.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I'm now fifty three, so I've gotten older and so
my brain doesn't work as much.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Can you click on our on my on my picks
on what we've done thus far? Yes, we kind up
to people. So we drafted Booker at twenty five. We
took Treva down Henderson, the running back at Ohio State
fifty eight. Good value there. Jared Wilson is center from Georgia.
We took the best center I have in the draft,
and Arante Erseri from Minnesota at number ninety two. So
we've gone guard tackle center, so we've really bolstered offensively
(15:00):
and taking Traveon Henderson.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
A couple names that I see there that I like.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I mean, Oli Gordon is if we hadn't taken Travon Henderson,
I would think about Oli Gordon, Dylan Sampson. We've already
gotten kind of a better version than Traveon Henderson, but
a very similar model. If you will there, you know
one's a one's a Corolla, one'es a Tursell. If you
remember the Toyota. I don't know why I used Toyota,
but I guess Toyota because it says right above it.
(15:28):
Anthony Belton is a guy I would think, but man,
we've already gotten three offensive linemen. I would take Belton,
convert him to a guard. Jamari Caldwell is really really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
To me, he and Jordan Phillips provide some size what
I've been talking about all along, athletic size. I think
Jamerry Cold was like three twenty five, a little shorter
and stouter, but quick, agile play University Houston four, went
to Oregon.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I felt like he tore dudes up at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Jordan Phillips had a really good Ryan Ball up in Frisco,
up in Dallas. You could I think you could go
either one in a defensive line. I'm gonna lead Caldwell
just because he went to you of h kooks.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
All right, let's take go Cooks, Let's take him go Coops.
Come on, Mark Caldwell. All right, all right, we don't
pick for a while now. Yeah, the name coming off
the board long time. Yeah, we've got you.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Don't pick again until two thirty six.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Sections have gone trenches and running back in this draft and.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Then trenches, trenches, trenches on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
All right, Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
This name excuse me, Uh, Peter Brady right there for
those of you who are old and used to watch
the Brady Bunch, Yeah, voice was cracking. This name, Ingram Dawkins.
This is tantalizing to me because it sounds like he
can play a lot of things. But I want to
hear your I mean, you and I have not talked
about him, but there's a lot of great names that
intrigue me him. I really like the Jalen Conyers. I
(16:52):
want to hear what you think about him. Yes, he's
a tight end, and the Texans have not taken a
tight end in this draft. I also want to hear
your thoughts on Hawes. Timson Smith, defensive tackle out of
Alabama has been taken in some MUCKs. You see Antoine Wells. Yeah,
he's a wide receiver out of Ole Miss. What are
you thinking here? Okay, do you like Ingram Dalks.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Let's talk about Ingram Dawkins, a little bit lighter interior player,
which I think the Texans have enough of.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Now.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He you know good, motor plays, hard plays, heavy plays, violent.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I just I don't. I don't love the fifth Plus
we've already gotten called well, so I think We've done
enough on that d line. Zeke Biggers would be a
guy look at because he's longer and really athletic for
a dude that's three ten ish. Kanyers is kind of
like a more tight end version of Taysom Hill. He
can play wildcat, he can play full back. I want
(17:41):
to say he's got quarterback in his system. They would
use him at wildcat at Texas Tech. He's just kind
of a play creator, very very intriguing to me. But
let's flash down to two thirty four. The guy I've
been waiting for was hoping he was still on the board.
When everybody talks about tight end for this team, you
know they're talking about the top end guys in this draft,
(18:03):
but I don't think it's really what the Texans absolutely need.
What the Texans need at tight end is somebody that
can swap paint with a six technique that just goes
to battle, is violent as a blocker.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That's your guy, Joe.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I love the fact that Jackson Hawes is an Ivy leaguer,
graduated Yale, had one year of eligibility transferred on Georgia Tech,
and it was just blocking a physicality that kind of
caught everybody's attention.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Now the Senior.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Bowl, he was very very active catching the football though
he had good soft hands.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I was really impressed.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I was probably more impressed with that and is blocking,
but throughout the season it's just blocking. Its physicality that
get it to me. This is Jackson Hawes all day
to get that kind of in line. Why tight end you're.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Looking for kaboom? Five picks later is hard? That's one
that's your final pick.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Now, one thing we can do on this, let's click
on the offensive tab, Drew.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Let's just look at the wide receivers that are there.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And I think the wide receivers that are there, and
I'm gonna I'm gonna make a case for one of
them here that I really hear.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The receivers that on the board.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Antoine ULLs from Old Miss playmaker, had a great career
at South Carolina before he went to Old Miss. Probably
better at South Carolina at Old Miss. Not a flyer,
but I think it would be a good fit in
this room. Then you got ja Corey Brooks from Louisville.
I would be very happy with Bru McCoy. I've been
following forever.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
It's injuries issues Coundray Lambert Smith can fly.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
This might be it would be a steal potentially to
find him here. But the guy that gets interesting to
me is well two guys. Fton Chisholm from Eastern Washington
makes you miss in a phone booth. He had one
of the better three cone times and it shows on
the field that dude will shake anybody. He's got an
amazing quickness. Now he's not fast, he's like a four
(19:38):
to seven forty, but he's a slot receiver du joure.
The guy that might provide more of that and more
speed is Jimmy Horn Junior from Colorado. Whenever I watched Colorado,
he was the guy that always impressed me. Obviously Travis
Hunter always impressed this, but Jimmy Horn Junior was the
guy that you went, man, he's running away from guys.
He's making plays. I think Horn Junior right here, that's
(20:01):
the call would be the seventh I would. I would
really like to see him with the Texans, So let's
do that, all right. He's a little bit more of
a slot guy, but he's got speed out of the slot.
There are different kinds of slots, like Chisholm from Eastern
Washington is more kind of the true slot, kind of
the whips and pivots and you're working the chaos and
the short you know, five to seven yard range. Then
they're just kind of Christian Kirk who plays in the slot,
(20:23):
but it's dangerous out of the slot because he can
run slot fades, he can run posts.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I wrote an article, you wrote a really good article
about this.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And he's Texas dot Com where he isolates the safety
and beats him one on one with speed.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I think Jimmy Horn is kind of a mix of both.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I think he can really work that chaos in the
shallow areas, but then he's got the speed to be
able to burn down the field.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
So I like getting him in the seventh round.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
All right, look at that the Texans made seven picks
and only one of them was on defense. That's wild.
I don't think you'll see that. But this is what
we had. Yeah, and these were the options in front
of us. You couldn't. I mean, you you walk away
a winner. I think after round one and then it's
icing on cake. And I've used this again, icing on
icing with Jared Wilson, and then from there you get
(21:06):
some good. I mean, it's good players all around. I
like this. I like this draft alone.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Drew, you, you and I kind of have you know,
similar existences in a sense that you know, Texas fans
will take out their vitriol on us in sense whether
it's comments or they see you in the store, like, Drew,
what the you know, what the hell are they doing? Well,
what's the one thing we heard about all year long?
The offensive line? The offensive line? Well, you can't be
(21:31):
dismayed with what we just did with the offensive line
because we added potential starters at all three positions, you know, center, guard,
and tackle.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
We got the guy.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
We've made the competition supremely fierce. It was already going
to be fierce, supremely fierce.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Right and and that's I think exactly what you want
to be able to get the best five battle tested
dudes out of that room. You get a guy and
booker that is thought to be in alpha. And I
remember when I wrote that about Will Anderson Junior. I
remember thinking, Okay, I would love to see it in
Texans locker room. And not only has that been a
big factor in Texans locker room, he set the tone
(22:09):
for the way other people should think about the Texans,
and any players coming in this building should think about
playing for the Texans. And so hopefully Booker is is
that kind of guy. But you know, we heard so
much about the offensive line. You can't sit there and go, well.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's too much on the offensive No, there's no such
thing as too much on the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
And I give you this last year.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
It's about this time that Phedoff Eagles signed a tackle
that had busted with the Jets, couldn't play, too fat,
too big, just didn't get it done. And the Eagles
had all these players already, they already had them on hand.
And then when they signed with Kai Becton, and it
was like, what's really betty'ing gonna do for them? He's
(22:53):
not gonna play tackle. You're gonna put him a guard.
You don't really fit it guard. But Beckton wins the competition,
ends up being the star, and ends up being one
of the better guards in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Last year, the phild Off the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Now I'm not saying that's all work, but that was
a situation in which, well, is that overkill on the
offensive line.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
You didn't have to pay a lot for him.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
But still, you know you got all these guys in
the offensive line you added on their piece. No, it
panned out so us drafting three different offensive linemen on
day one and day two, that's exactly what that painting needed.
That room needed to be painted and it needs all
the paint possible to throw up on the canvas.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Because what happens if CJ. Stroud has that extra half
So that's right, what happens if not getting knocked around,
that's right, ten times a game. He's only get knocked
around four times a game. What happens. Yes, Then with
the offense, the guys you have there who are your playmakers,
they're a little bit more explosive, that's right, because CJ
has time.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That's exactly right. So all that about, you know, well,
too much investment in the trenches. To me, there's no
such thing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
There's no such thing from what we saw as too
much investment in that trench. January. Yes, he on average
this was the magic number. I believe we've talked about this,
but the magic number, it seemed for the Texans last.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Year was four four sacks. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You got stacked four or more times. The Texans went
too and eight. Yep, it was less. It was kind
of like you reversed the number exactly. So you tack
in last year for the first time in a long time,
maybe ever, I don't know, I need to look this up.
The Texans did not have a clean sheet, meaning they
did not have a single game where they allowed zero sacks.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I mean of the year they game they would go
one sack against the Titans, but that was a different
kind of scenario.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, it was in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
They had not a number of games, but they had
a handful where they gave up where they had clean
sheets where they did not give up a sack, and
if you went back and look, those were probably the
ones where they had the most offensive output.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
I remember one was Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I remember that, and that offense that day was pretty
damn good in that game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And
that was playing Austin Deculus and Jiran Christian at tackle
in that game. So gotta get trench help and I
think you just gotta get more and bring it to
the competition.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
That's what the Texans did in this mock draft simulation,
and that was so much fun. I can't wait. Okay,
I'll be here at the stadium. I'm gonna be interviewing
the draft picks after they taken.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Mark the crew gonna be out at the draft party
on Thursday night over Discovery Green. It's gonna be a
lot of fun. Then you'll be here in the building
in the studio Saturday and Friday night, Friday night and
Saturday afternoon. It's gonna be a great, great three days.
Wretch as the Texans, We'll get better.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Cool with you, cool with me. Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Let's do it all right. This has been in the Lab,
presented by Xfinity for John, I'm Drew for you. The
three of us had so much fun. Let's get after
it and we'll talk all about these new draft picks
next week here on in the Lab
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