The Houston Texans have a few needs they could address in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft and at No. 26, the team will likely have to wait and see what comes to them. But if a decent cornerback is on the board, the Texans will likely have to move on the pick given their greatest needs.
Gary Horton of Scouts, Inc. recently posted the primary needs of every AFC team and he says the Texans still need secondary help despite the big signing of Jonathan Joseph last year.
Horton writes, “Johnathan Joseph was a terrific shutdown corner for the Texans in 2011 and a big part of their defensive resurgence. Kareem Jackson is OK on the other side, but he lacks elite speed and ball skills and rotated with Jason Allen, who might leave in free agency. Brice McCain shows some promise as a nickel corner, but, in this blitz-oriented defense, turn-and-run cover corners are critical.”
Someone like Dwight Bentley is a small school corner who could sneak into the first round if scouts like him enough. Mel Kiper has the Louisiana-Lafayette product as the fourth best corner in the draft and it’s likely the three names above him — Dre Kirkpatrick, Morris Claiborne, Janoris Jenkins — will all be gone by the time the Texans pull the trigger. Adding a playmaker like Bentley could go a long way toward improving the secondary.