Battle Red Blog
Player, position, both?
Now that the 2024 NFL season is officially over, Houston Texans fans can turn their attention towards the pending 2025 NFL Draft, starting on April 24th.
As always happens this time of year, the mock drafts are hard charging, trying to fill the void of actual football news that happens in the 2-week doldrums post Super Bowl.
With the Texans bringing in Nick Caley as the new offensive coordinator and elevating Greg Popovich to offensive line coach (from assistant offensive line coach... ) it might seem that Houston will leverage their 1st round draft capital to land another offensive playmaker.
Meanwhile, the NFL is still a copycat league and once again the NFC East has shown Super Bowl’s are won by a smash-mouth defense that can run roughshod over a high-flying AFC offense. For those who didn’t pay attention, the Philadelphia Eagles defense slapped Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift back into place early and often throughout the big game, ultimately shutting out the vaunted Kansas City Chiefs offense for the entire first half of the contest.
Most, if not all of the other NFL owners, head coaches and general managers paid attention.
Meaning, don’t be surprised if Texans head coach and defensive guru Demeco Ryans is already lobbying for more firepower on the shut down side of the ball.
As of this writing, the Texans own the 25th overall pick.
Round 1, Pick 25
Round 2, Pick 56
Round 3, Pick 89
Round 4, Pick 125
Round 5, Pick 167 (via Buffalo Bills)
Round 7, Pick 243
While many talking heads and football sites scramble to get their mock drafts out into the world, the NFL and a few others are already hip-drop deep into their initial prophesies.
Chad Reuter at NFL.com has Nick Caserio pulling off a draft day trade with former Texans’ offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s new employer, the Miami Dolphins, landing H-Town higher on the board. All to the delight of Ryans.
Pick 13 Jalon Walker
Georgia · LB · Junior
PROJECTED TRADE WITH MIAMI DOLPHINS
The Texans showed they are willing to make a big move for a special player when they traded up for Will Anderson Jr. two years ago. Walker can blitz, play the run at the second level and line up on the edge. Houston sends its first-, second- and third-round selections to Miami for this pick and a fourth-rounder.
Seems like a pretty steep price to pay for one player. And, nothing about this analysis makes me believe he’s a “give up your draft for one piece” sort of defender. Especially when the Texans are a bit more than 1-player away from domination.
Overview
Some see Walker as a “tweener” while others view him as a “hybrid.” Either way, Walker can go. His career snap count is split between edge and...
