Houston Texans
(3) Derek Stingley Jr. CB LSU
(15) Kenyon Green OL Texas A&M
(37) Jalen Pitre S Baylor
(44) John Metchie III WR Alabama
(75) Christian Harris LB Alabama
(107) Dameon Pierce RB Florida
(150) Thomas Booker DE Stanford
(170) Teagan Quitoriano TE Oregon St.
(205) Austin Deculus OL LSU
Immediate Impact: CB Derek Stingley, OL Kenyon Green, S Jalen Pitre
The first three picks for the Texans will become immediate starters. Stingley and Pitre will make up half of the starting secondary with Stingley becoming CB1 and Pitre slotting in at free safety. Pitre will also pair well with Desmond King as either can play slot corner or line up like a safety and be used in different ways. Kenyon Green initially looks like a starter at OG but I’m not ruling him out at RT until they say he’s starting somewhere else. He might be their best option at LG, RG and RT so they just need to see who else fits where and find the best combination of five. Green is a road grader in the run game wherever he lines up so he’ll start somewhere.
Best Value: RB Dameon Pierce
Marlon Mack, Rex Burkhead, and Royce Freeman are the names on the depth chart for the Texans so they drafted Dameon Pierce in round four. Pierce is a bowling ball, he’s built low to the ground and he has a thick lower body, he doesn’t go down easily. Drafting a run blocker like Kenyon Green and a RB like Pierce tells you all you need to know about the offense the Texans plan to run. Pierce should end up the starter at some point this season.
Sleeper: LB Christian Harris
The Texans have Christian Kirksey penciled in as their starting MLB and while Kirksey has had a solid career, he’s turning 30 this year and hasn’t always been the picture of health. Harris is a little undersized but he’s lightening fast and athletic as hell. He can learn a lot from Kirksey and will replace him, probably sooner rather than later. Harris also has the benefit of being an Alabama defender, those guys are usually pretty good.
Overall Analysis
Derek Stingley Jr. might be the best CB in this draft, Kenyon Green is going to be a really good offensive lineman for a long time, and Jalen Pitre is a potential star at safety. The Texans took a shot on WR John Metchie III. He had a knee injury late in the season but he could be back by the beginning of next year. He may not be at his best right away but he can be a help to this WR corps. The Harris and Pierce picks are the type of middle round picks that can help turn around a bad roster. DE Thomas Booker and OL Austin Deculus are a couple of guys who could add depth on the lines but probably aren’t going to make a big difference. Teagan Quitoriano isn’t likely to move the needle at TE either.
Indianapolis Colts
(53) Alec Pierce WR Cincinnati
(73) Jelani Woods TE Virginia
(77) Bernhard Raimann OL Central Michigan
(96) Nick Cross S Maryland
(159) Eric Johnson DL Missouri St.
(192) Andrew Ogletree TE Youngstown St.
(216) Curtis Brooks DL Cincinnati
(239) Rodney Thomas II LB Yale
Immediate Impact: WR Alec Pierce
The Colts traded for Matt Ryan so he should be here too but more importantly, they drafted a WR for him to use. It was basically Michael Pittman Jr. and a whole lot of nothing. T.Y. Hilton is still a free agent but he’s been injured and ineffective for a couple of years now. Pierce fits the size/athleticism combo the Colts like. He’s 6’3 213 lbs. of pure athlete. He needs to work on his route running but it’s not like the Colts have someone else who’s going to hold him off from starting opposite Pittman.
Best Value: OL Bernhard Raimann
Raimann was getting some first-round buzz late in the draft process but that was always a bit overblown. He’s little older of a prospect but he came to the game late so he’s still learning. He’s actually technically sound but he’s only been a lineman for a couple of years so his size and playing strength need to catch up. There’s a chance the Colts give him a shot at LT given their lack of options at the position so he could end up the starter there. I would advise signing a stopgap veteran like Duane Brown or Eric Fisher and giving Raimann a chance to develop but that might not happen.
Sleeper: S Nick Cross
The Colts have a way of finding safeties that aren’t highly rated and turning them into quality starters. Maybe that will be harder with out some of the defensive staff they lost when Matt Eberflus left to take the head coaching job in Chicago but let’s assume they can still do it. Cross is long, athletic, and fast and he should fit their scheme quite well. They aren’t very deep so he should get some time and he could be ready to take over as a starter in a year or two.
Overall Analysis
They traded away their first-round pick last year to get Carson Wentz, that went poorly. They had to trade away more picks to get Matt Ryan to make up for that mistake. It’s going to take a toll on their roster at some point. They need to hit on as many picks as they can and they got some solid ones. Pierce needs refinement but he has a high upside. TE Jelani Woods is an intriguing prospect as a huge athletic guy much like a guy they already have Mo Alie-Cox. They should know how to use him. They doubled up at TE in round six with Andrew Ogletree, another really tall guy who can be a weapon in the pass game, although he doesn’t block much at all. Raimann and Cross were third-round picks with Woods and they need to hit on those guys because that’s how they make up for not having higher picks due to all those QB trades. DL Eric Johnson, DL Curtis Brooks and LB Rodney Thomas II are all depth pieces for the defense that will have to fight to make the roster.
Jacksonville Jaguars
(1) Travon Walker OLB Georgia
(27) Devin Lloyd LB Utah
(65) Luke Fortner OL Kentucky
(70) Chad Muma LB Wyoming
(154) Snoop Conner RB Ole Miss
(197) Gregory Junior CB Ouachita Baptist
(222) Montaric Brown CB Arkansas
Immediate Impact: OLB Travon Walker, LB Devin Lloyd, C Luke Fortner
I’m a little apprehensive about what’s going to happen with Travon Walker. He’s a fantastic athlete but the Jaguars are planning on running a base 3-4 defense and having Walker be one of the pass rushing OLBs. That’s a fine plan for Josh Allen but Walker isn’t a refined pass rusher and now he’s going to be asked to be a standup LB. He’s going to have an impact, I just hope for his sake, it’s a good impact. Lloyd will be a stud at LB and they can use him as in ILB and blitz him from there, or he can play OLB too. Fortner gets the unenviable task of being a rookie starting center on an offensive line that has some questions. Hopefully for his sake, Brandon Scherff is healthy and lining up next to him at RG, that would ease his transition.
Best Value: Fortner
One of the reasons teams don’t normally take offensive guards and centers in round one is because guys like Fortner are almost always available in the middle rounds. Fortner can be a starter, and while he doesn’t necessarily project as a future Pro Bowler like a Tyler Linderbaum, he will get the job done for quite some time. The Jaguars needed interior offensive line help even after signing Brandon Scherff at RG and Fortner is a starter and they got in the third round.
Sleeper: LB Chad Muma
The Jaguars drafted Devin Lloyd and signed Foye Oluokun in free agency so they have two starting ILB, however, don’t sleep on Muma. He’s a three-down LB who can give Oluokun a breather or play for Lloyd if they want to use Lloyd outside at certain times. Muma was perhaps a luxury pick since they didn’t really need a LB but he was too good to pass on where they got him. He has starter potential down the line.
Overall Analysis
The Jaguars first four picks are good players. Walker, Lloyd, Fortner, and Muma all have starting potential and the first three should start right away. I’m a bit worried about how they plan to use Walker but I have more faith in Doug Pederson and his coaching staff than I had in the last Jags coaching staff. Walker was a big bet on a lottery ticket but if he lives up to his potential, he can be a franchise defining defender. Lloyd is going to be a stud early and while they had to pay a little draft capital to move up for him, he will make a difference on that defense. Fortner and Muma are third rounders who can really help this roster, this team needs talent.
RB Snoop Conner is a bigger back with some pop but he doesn’t have great speed. James Robinson and Travis Etienne would be ahead of him on the depth chart but they are both coming back from injury. There isn’t much else at RB so Conner will have every opportunity to show what he can do. The two CBs that were the last two picks are going to find it difficult to get snaps considering the team has Tyson Campbell, Shaquill Griffin, Darious Williams, and Tre Herndon ahead of them. Nice prospects but not great players.
Tennessee Titans
(18) Treylon Burks WR Arkansas
(35) Roger McCreary CB Auburn
(69) Nicholas Petit-Frere OT Ohio St.
(86) Malik Willis QB Liberty
(131) Hassan Haskins RB Michigan
(143) Chigoziem Okonkwo TE Maryland
(163) Kyle Philips WR UCLA
(204) Theo Jackson S Tennessee
(219) Chance Campbell LB Ole Miss
Immediate Impact: WR Treylon Burks
The Titans traded AJ Brown to the Eagles and then used the pick they got from Philly to immediately draft Brown’s replacement. Burks is a similar body style and should be able to do a number of things Brown did, he’ll just need some time to learn the offense. I love Burks and his power game should match Tennessee’s preferences just fine.
Best Value: QB Malik Willis
I probably dislike Willis as much as a prospect as anyone, he’s really raw and I never thought he was all that great. That said, he has loads of potential. He’s a great athlete with a plus arm and now he’s a third-round pick instead of a first-round pick which takes the pressure off. He has time to develop his game and he could be a starter is two or three years. If the Titans got their future starting QB in round three, that’s good value.
Sleepers: RB Hassan Haskins, WR Kyle Philips
The Titans rely heavily on the ground game and while they found some stopgap replacements for Derrick Henry last year when he was hurt, that’s a bad plan moving forward. Haskins is a big back with the type of power they like and while he may not have elite breakaway speed, he’s the best backup RB they have had in quite some time. He has a legitimate chance to be Henry’s eventual replacement too, Henry can’t play forever.
Philips is the quintessential slot receiver. He’s not big, he’s not all that fast, but he’s great inside and he’s fearless. Too many of these guys have thrived in the NFL and he can be the next one. He played in Chip Kelly’s UCLA offense so he needs to work on his route running but they can coach him up.
Overall Analysis
They made a major move trading AJ Brown and they are putting a lot of stock in Treylon Burks being the guy to replace him. I like Burks but Brown was a veteran who had really developed into a top WR. It’s a big ask. CB Roger McCreary is a guy I really like. He was a three-year starter in the SEC and top-notch cover guy the whole time. The knock on him was he has short arms, the WRs in the SEC thought his arms were plenty long. OT Nicholas Petit-Frere looks the part of a top OT but he just doesn’t play like one. For a guy his size he gets handled pretty regularly by defensive linemen, he has some serious work to do to be an NFL lineman. QB Malik Willis is another guy who looks the part, he’s fast, athletic, and can throw the football a mile. However, he’s really raw, pulls the ball down too quickly, and doesn’t read defenses all that well. He’s a work in progress.
I love the Haskins pick for the Titans, he’s a great fit. TE Chigoziem Okonkwo is the type of H-back/TE the Titans love. You have to like the commitment this franchise has to their sort of player. Philips is the exact type of slot receiver you take in the fifth round and he catches 70 passes in about three years. Theo Jackson is a solid backup safety prospect and they could use one of those. LB Chance Campbell is an athletic guy who’s limited in what he does. He’s probably a practice squad guy.
The Hott Read 