Houston Texans-focused Big Board<\/a>. For those who believe this is too late to select a defensive tackle, consider GM Nick Caserio has never selected a DT before the SIXTH ROUND. Orange represents the best player in the second tier of DTs (Peter Woods, Kayden McDonald, Lee Hunter, and Christen Miller) first, and (Orange, Gracen Halten, Darrell Jackson Jr., and Rayshaun Benny) second.<\/p>\nI have Orange rated above Oklahoma\u2019s Gracen Halten due to the latter\u2019s similarity to players currently on the roster. The Texans could use a hulking 6\u20194\u201d, 325-pound beast in the middle to absorb combo blocks. Orange will need time to readjust from the Cyclone\u2019s 3-3-5 scheme to become more of a one-gap responsibility DT. With time, Orange will develop into an every-down stalwart up front that allows the defense to play more freely.<\/p>\n
Round 3, Pick 69: Zakee Wheatley, S – Penn State<\/p>\n
A perfect fit in the Texans defense. Wheatley possesses sideline-to-sideline range and put up elite PFF Coverage grade of 83.5. He lined up as both a free and strong safety at Penn State, but projects to be a deep safety in two-high looks, which will allow him to play downhill. Wheatley will remind Texans fans of Eric Muray; a deep-lying midfielder who can come down in zone coverage and lay out defenders. What Wheatley lacks in athleticism he makes up for in route recognition, field vision, anticipation, and acceleration.<\/p>\n
Wheatley recently turned 24 and will need to compete to eventually earn a consistent role in a stacked Texans defense. However, his addition to the secondary provides depth behind Calen Bullock, something that was sorely needed last season. Wheatley also sits at 32 on my Houston Texans Big Board.<\/p>\n
Round 4, Pick 106: Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE – Penn State<\/p>\n
Dennis-Sutton will be slated to back up and learn from Danielle Hunter for the next two seasons.<\/p>\n
His length, power, and pass-rush toolkit have the potential to develop into a legitimate starter. He falls due to his predictability and inconsistent production over multiple years at Penn State. Houston is a fantastic landing spot for Dennis-Sutton who can immediately rotate in, learn amongst the best in the league, and eventually become the full-time starter in several seasons.<\/p>\n
While his explosiveness didn\u2019t pop off the tape, his NFL Combine metrics certainly spoke for themselves. His 40 yard dash, Vertical Jump, 3-Cone Drill, and Broad Jump all graded in the 90% percentile for the position.<\/p>\n
Round 5, Pick 141: Emmett Johnson, RB – Nebraska<\/p>\n
This is a \u201cmy guy\u201d of the 2026 class. Johnson\u2019s highlight film at Nebraska illustrated an electric blend of urgency and vision that is woefully lacking in this running back class. Johnson can run in both gap and power schemes and blends a one-cut style approach with a patience that\u2019s truly refreshing to see.<\/p>\n
A gritty runner who takes pride in earning each yard, Johnson is the most \u201cSWARM\u201d mentality running back in the class. He also caught over 80 passes in two years at Nebraska, which opens him up to immediate third down responsibilities.<\/p>\n
His floor is a change-of-pace back with a ceiling of 1,200 total yards per season upside.<\/p>\n
Round 5, Pick 167: Josh Cuevas, TE – Alabama<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an argument for tight end to be drafted earlier than this, but it did not come to fruition. However, the Texans land an insurance policy on Brevin Jordan with a productive, receiving-first tight end with College Football Playoff pedigree. Cuevas followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington and shined in their offense and became Ty Simpson\u2019s safety valve over the middle of the field.<\/p>\n
A late season injury derailed his productivity, but Alabama\u2019s offense ran through the LA native late in the year.<\/p>\n
His 6\u20193\u201d, 245-pound frame limits his overall ceiling, but he is second to Eli Stowers in his fluidity and route running capability in this class. Cuevas could benefit from extending his hands from his frame to be more of a pure hands catcher, which invites defensive backs to break up passes outside of his frame and led to three drops this past season.<\/p>\n
Round 7, Pick 243: Fa\u2019Alili Fa\u2019Amoe, OT – Wake Forest<\/p>\n
Purely a name to frustrate the hell out of Marc Vandermeer. Kidding, of course.<\/p>\n
Fa\u2019Amoe grew up in American Samoa (shocking with that name) and quickly earned starting reps at the collegiate level. He racked up three years of starting right tackle film between Washington State and Wake Forest.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be given a chance to compete at tackle, but his true future is at right guard given his frame and lack of athleticism in space. He pulled quite often at both schools and projects well in a zone scheme. A well-compact build and sturdy base against bull rushes, he can make the transition on the practice squad with the potential to compete for a starting guard spot in a season or two.<\/p>\n
Fa\u2019Amoe has a proclivity for physicality and plays through the whistle as apparent in his film<\/a>. While length is an unmitigated issue, a move inside to guard will capitalize on his aggression and ability to stymie bull rushers while hiding some of his athletic limitations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As you\u2019ll see in an article later this week, this will be the most complicated draft to predict…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,22816,22817],"class_list":{"0":"post-240463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news","11":"tag-houston-texans-draft","12":"tag-houston-texans-mock-drafts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}