The Houston Chronicle’s Lance Zierlein joins Mel Kiper Jr.from a few months ago in speculating about a possible Julio Jones marriage to Houston at No. 11 as a clearcut case of Best Player Available. The way the board for his two-round mock plays out, Robert Quinn and Prince Amukamara are both off the board, leaving the Texans with a choice between Jones and Da’Quan Bowers, who continues to slide in the eyes of drafters due to his perceived struggles at Pro Days.
Of course, if the Texans actually encountered this situation, it’s likely that they’d trade the pick or select a defensive player, but it’s nice to see some verification out there from the real NFL scribes that Jones could make sense for the Texans at No. 11.
Zierlein sends Arizona linebacker Brooks Reed to the Texans in the second round of his mock. That’s also a very plausible pick, although given my man-crush on the skillset of Dontay Moch, I might wait and see if I could pick him up in the third round and instead spend the No. 42 overall pick on UCLA safety Rahim Moore.
A couple of noteworthy Texas picks in this mock: Texas cornerback/safety Aaron Williams manages to go to the Titans at #39 overall, joining Michael Griffin to form a pair of Longhorns in that secondary. TCU’s Andy Dalton goes to the Vikings at No. 43, Texas A&M’s Von Miller is a Bill at No. 3, and Baylor gets a pair of first round draft picks in Phil Taylor (21st overall to the Chiefs) and Danny Watkins (30th overall to the Jets).