Mel Kiper mock 23. Houston Texans (via CLE) Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma Houston is without its own Round 1 selection due to the trade up for Will Anderson Jr. from last April, but it has this pick as part of the Deshaun Watson deal from 2022. And even though the Texans are coming off a season that featured a surprising playoff win, I see clear needs for them in the front seven on defense and along the offensive line. So with Laremy Tunsil holding down the left tackle position, Guyton could step in at right tackle, where he started 14 games for the Sooners. As I wrote in my Big Board rankings, 6-7, 327-pound Guyton is physically what NFL teams want in a future Pro Bowl-caliber right tackle. He moves like a tight end (he used to play there). He has a ton of natural talent, although he doesn't have as much experience as the tackles likely to be taken ahead of him. For a team that ranked 29th in yards per rush attempt on offense (3.7) last season, Guyton could be an excellent addition.
I’m really liking Steve Smiths WR 2024 draft deep dives. He did one on Nabers a few days back but that dude ain’t falling to 23 so I didn’t bother posting. He still thinks Adai body catches too much and why it’s a problem in the NFL. Feels he’s gonna increase his draft stock as the process continues. Answers some fan questions about Puka and Rome Odunze.
Texans aren't drafting a RT in the first round. Do these national pundits not know who the Texans paid last off season to play RT? Howard only played LG because of early injuries and Fant played good, and they felt the best way to get all the top OL players on the field was Howard at LG. Next season Howard will return as full time RT...it's the center and LG that the Texans will need to decide which of their young players will take over. If the Texans draft OL, they will be for depth and that will come in the later rounds...much later.
Let me re-word my (personal) idea: Nico is our Andre/Dhop Tank is the Coutee that was promised “X Player” is our Will Fuller. 1. I am not saying Nico is equal to those guys, and obviously not saying tank is equal to coutee, just the positional preference and role. 2. It’s funny that “x player” and two of my top choices are Xavier Legette and Xavier Worthy. Others I like: Troy Franklin, Brian Thomas
I can’t understand it. Are they really that dense and misinformed? Or are they just picking BPA and making it fit? Maybe they just don’t pay that close attention to all teams, but it feels like this is Mel Kipers only job and he can’t just make 32 educated guesses?
Agreed they wont be taking an OT in the 1st rd. What makes you so sure Howard will return at the level he was playing at before he got hurt? He wasn't playing well and that might be as good as it gets for Howard. I know he was playing out of position but players have fallen off clifs coming back from injury before. Look at Derrick Newton a RT that never made it back from injury.
They signed him to a big contract because he was good at RT...so let the guy play RT until he shows that he isn't any good. He wasn't good last season playing LG...and he was never good at that position.
He was avg at RT and it's unlikely coming back from this type of injury that he will be as good as he was before the injury. But hopefully he beats the odds and can get back to his avg RT self.
Happy Combine weekend to all who celebrate. Spoiler https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/dr...ne-workouts-preview-top-prospects-predictions Which prospect is going to dominate his combine workout? Kiper: Penn State edge rusher Chop Robinson. The more I watch his tape, the more I like him. He has good straight-line speed but is also incredibly quick and explosive in short areas. He should be at the top of his group in all of the drills, and people around the league are excited to see his testing numbers at 250 pounds. I have him at No. 25 on my Big Board right now, and I projected him at No. 31 to San Francisco in my latest mock draft, but a big combine performance could push him up boards. Miller: Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze. You might not think of the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder as the elite workout warrior type, but in talking to scouts, Odunze came up often as an all-around prospect who could wow during his workout. Based on scout feedback, he is expected to run in the mid-to-high 4.3 range, get below 4.25 seconds in the short shuttle and jump over 36 inches in the vertical. If he does that at 215 pounds, heads will be spinning inside Lucas Oil Stadium. He's No. 4 overall on my board. Reid: Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins. He's a true technician, and his foot quickness and instant reaction skills when breaking on passes don't take long to notice when you flip on the tape. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Wiggins also had two incredible long-distance chase-down tackles from behind last season (against Miami and North Carolina), each resulting in a forced fumble. Considering that straight-line speed, I wouldn't be surprised if the potential first-rounder runs in the mid-to-high 4.3s and jumps over 40 inches in the vertical. Yates: Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. While the linebacker class is not considered deep, Cooper stands tall above the rest in my book. He was used frequently as a pass-rusher off the edge in 2023, leading to eight sacks, and he's long, fast, explosive and versatile as a prospect. He should be at or near the top for all linebackers in the vertical and broad jumps, and I'd expect the buzz around Cooper as a first-round pick to ramp up after Indy. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder went 24th overall to the Cowboys in my post-Super Bowl mock draft. Which prospect has the most riding on his workout? Miller: Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman. He came out hot in his first season with the Seminoles after transferring from Michigan State, catching nine passes for 122 yards and three scores against LSU in Week 1. But Coleman struggled to find consistent production after that, topping 100 yards in just one other game (vs. Syracuse). The 6-foot-4, 215-pound receiver has jaw-dropping catches on tape, but scouts need to see his timed speed and a full route tree in workouts. Coleman is currently my WR5, but a poor workout could drop him out of Round 1 entirely. Reid: Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims. In a loaded OT class, Mims is viewed as a first-round pick, but durability will be a factor in his draft stock. So first and foremost, Mims (6-foot-7, 340 pounds) will need to show that he's fully healthy after missing six games with an ankle injury and then exiting early with another one in the SEC championship game. According to a source, Mims plans to participate in all testing and on-field drills, and I'll be paying close attention to how fluidly he moves -- especially in positional drills -- and how strong that ankle looks. Yates: Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry. McKinstry entered last season in the conversation for the best defensive back in this entire class, and while it is more about what others did than what McKinstry didn't do, the 6-foot-1, 195-pounder slid outside the top five in my CB rankings. A strong weekend in Indianapolis -- especially in the 40-yard dash -- is essential for McKinstry to climb back into the CB1 mix. Name your five-man track team that will light up the 40-yard dash. Miller: Texas receiver Xavier Worthy, Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins, Oregon State receiver Anthony Gould, Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell and Michigan receiver Roman Wilson. I'd happily take this 2024 draft class team to the Olympics. Each player is rumored to have run something in at least the 4.3s during pre-combine workouts, and Worthy and Wiggins both have 4.2s buzz around their names. But Gould is the real sleeper here. The wideout was clocked by team scouts in the 4.3s before last season began, and a few months of speed training could have him turning heads. Which prospect is going to wow scouts with his broad and vertical jumps? Reid: BYU offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia. He didn't really stand out at the Senior Bowl, and there are still questions about his best position projection for the next level, but he can make a statement with his explosion and mobility at the combine. Suamataia has a chance to run in the high-4.9s at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds, but the jumps could really pop. His vertical jump could exceed 35 inches, and he might challenge the 10-foot mark in the broad jump. If his numbers are in those ranges, he is probably a first-round pick come April. Which prospect's measurements will teams be paying close attention to in Indy? Kiper: I have two for you. The first is the weight of Texas defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat, who didn't get on the scale at the Senior Bowl last month. Sweat, my second-ranked defensive tackle, was listed at 362 pounds this past season -- and he dominated at that size. Will he come in leaner to try to boost his workout times? Ideally, he'd be similar to his playing weight, but I understand why he might be closer to 340 in Indianapolis. Sweat moves really well for his stature, but stamina is important for nose tackles who might not be three-down players. The other is the height of Utah's Jonah Elliss, one of the best pure pass-rushers in this class and my No. 8 outside linebacker. Looking at the NFL's top 15 edge rushers by sacks last season, the only one under 6-foot-3 was Philadelphia's Haason Reddick, who wins with his excellent physical traits and quickness. Elliss was listed at 6-foot-2 in college, and he's not going to test as well as Reddick did before the 2017 draft. That means teams will be paying close attention to see if he's really 6-foot-2 or if he's under that.
Spoiler Whose medical reports will be most important this week? Yates: This matters most for UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu. He was the best draft-eligible defensive player on tape in the country last season and plays a premium position as a talented pass-rusher who totaled 13 sacks in 2023. But Latu was forced into medical retirement in 2020 while he was still at Washington because of a neck injury, although he was able to resume his career at UCLA over 2022-23. The reality is that each team's medical staff will have a different level of comfort surrounding Latu, but those who have full clearance on his health will view him as a top-15 player on the board. On Wednesday, Latu said that "no teams have talked about any kind of concern." Other guys to watch include Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and NC State linebacker Payton Wilson, who have each dealt with knee and shoulder injuries. Plus, Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean's 2023 season ended early with a leg injury, and Texas running back Jonathon Brooks tore his ACL in November, so scouts will want to see how their respective recoveries are progressing. What's the best piece of buzz you've heard heading into the combine workouts? Reid: I'm still hearing that J.J. McCarthy will be the fourth quarterback off the board. NFL teams haven't been too afraid of the unknown when it comes to drafting QBs in recent years, and there are plenty of teams with mid-Round 1 grades on McCarthy that feel the run-heavy Michigan offense just means untapped potential. There are three QB-needy teams just outside the top 10 -- the Vikings (No. 11), Broncos (No. 12) and Raiders (No. 13) -- and McCarthy could end up going in that range. Miller: Get ready for the offensive linemen to dominate Round 1. We've talked about this being a deep quarterback, wide receiver and cornerback class, but in conversations with scouts leading up to the combine, word is as many as 10 O-linemen could be selected on Day 1. The 2023 draft had just five linemen in the first round, but this year's group is super talented and there are a ton of teams with big needs along the line, so the belief is we'll see roughly a third of the first round dedicated to the offensive trenches. Yates: Quinyon Mitchell's domination of the pre-draft process is only just beginning. Being in a non-Power 5 conference and not routinely facing dominant wide receivers, Mitchell had a strong showing at the Senior Bowl to reinforce that he can hang with anyone. If he now pairs that with a 40-time that mirrors the play speed we see on tape, then we'll have a conversation about him being the best corner in the entire class. Give us your best prediction for combine week. Miller: Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II will turn in an all-around performance that will put him in the "first defender off the board" conversation. My No. 13-ranked player, Murphy pops on tape as a fast, sudden mover with rare strength at the point of attack. The 6-foot-1, 308-pounder easily moves around offensive linemen and has the quickness to jump into the backfield. That will show up in workouts, where sources say Murphy could run in the 4.8-second range in the 40-yard dash. In a draft class light on defensive talent at the top, Murphy could easily become the first defender drafted with a strong workout, especially at a premium position. Reid: Eyes might be focused on Chop Robinson, but it will be Penn State edge rushing counterpart Adisa Isaac who will be the talk of the combine. I think Isaac will flash high-end explosiveness at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds. Running in the low 4.5s, reaching the high 30s in the vertical jump and going well over 10 feet in the broad jump isn't out of the question. Exiting Indianapolis, the back half of Round 1 chatter will only get louder for the explosive pass-rusher. Yates: Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey will run in the 4.3s. McConkey was borderline uncoverable during the Senior Bowl week, flashing the suddenness and route running that travels to the NFL level. He'll pair that with a blazing 40 time, and it will launch another round of conversation about McConkey belonging in the back end of the first round.
