It seems every football fan on the World Wide Web is posting a mock draft this April.
It's true, you don't have to be a pro scout to identify an NFL team's needs and the college players who can make a difference at the next level. But if you are devising a mock draft, you had better know some very good talent evaluators.
Inside the Texans organization, those evaluators are working around the clock in the team's war room. They have assessed every prospect at every position, revised countless draft boards and gone through a week of mock drafts.
It's no secret they have been focusing on the Texans' needs at cornerback, left tackle and running back. But the team's scouts have such a plethora of knowledge, they can tell you if a prospect out of Michigan broke his finger in second grade.
Details aside, the scouts, coaches and general manager Rick Smith want to make sure they are getting the best player available when the Texans' numbers are called because they are committed to improving the overall athleticism of the team, even at positions like linebacker and defensive end where the Texans already boast two stars (DeMeco Ryans and Mario Williams).
Smith has said they also are committed to getting an offensive lineman in this year's draft.
"We do feel good about the depth in this draft," Smith said. "I think that all the draft pundits and the people who have studied these types of things have talked about the fact that this draft is very rich at the offensive tackle position, and that's something that you don't see very often. And so we certainly hope that at some point in this process find a guy that can come in and help us on the offensive line."
There has been the talk in the media that the Texans will use their 18th overall pick on left tackle Chris Williams out of Vanderbilt. ESPN's Todd McShay has the Texans selecting cornerback Mike Jenkins out of South Florida.
Of course, no one will know who is coming to Houston until this weekend. Still, it's fun to play GM and predict, which is why we at HoustonTexans.com decided to put together our own video mock draft.
Defensive tackle Travis Johnson, a reputed college football buff, and running back Darius Walker joined SportsRadio 610's Marc Vandermeer and myself to select all 31 first-round picks.
What went down was not only entertaining, but informative. Click **here** and enjoy!
In addition, during this weekend's draft we will be streaming live video of press conferences, as well as exclusive interviews with Rick Smith. HoustonTexans.com writer Nick Scurfield and myself will keep you up-to-date with periodic blogs. Click **here** to visit our 2008 Draft Central page.
