Houston Texans mock draft: Best and worst-case scenarios for C.J. Stroud in 2024 NFL draft

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans were one of the feel-good stories of the 2023 NFL season. Bouncing back from the chaos of the Deshaun Watson scandal was going to be difficult, yet with a new general manager and a new coach in DeMeco Ryans, the team has improved tremendously.

Drafting Stroud in 2023 was a big part of why that improvement happened. He is the archetypal franchise QB you build around. Now it’s time for the Texans to give him an elite defense that he can lean on if the team is to go deeper into the post-season in 2024.

The main areas of need are on the defensive line and in the backfield, although the Texans don’t have one single first-round pick this year.

Adding Stefon Diggs was a huge boost to the offense, and this gives Ryans the freedom to fully kit out his defense via the draft.

Houston Texans 2024 NFL mock draft scenarios

Texans mock draft: Best-case scenario

Defense is the name of the game for DeMeco Ryans in the 2024 NFL draft. Sportskeeda’s 7-round NFL Mock draft simulator has presented a best-case scenario in which the Houston Texans vastly improve their defensive ranks.

Starting with their first selection in the second round, the Texans add a potentially elite cornerback in Ennis Rakestraw Jr. Whilst not as strong as the players in the first round, he has a lot of upside and will naturally improve with reps.

McKinnley Jackson is a wide-bodied interior lineman who has an incredible degree of movement for someone his size. This makes him a valuable and versatile asset on the defensive line, capable of stuffing the run and supplementing an effective pass rush.

Jackson has that nasty streak you love to see in a defensive lineman. He finishes tackles and blocks with a vengeance and will make that Texans defense less of a soft target. For the picks available to Houston, this is an excellent return.

Edgerrin Cooper completes the rebuild of the defense arriving from Texas A&M. Cooper is on the field for every down, he’s a lightning rod for a defense to look to for inspiration, especially when defending a long drive.

His speed allows him to track runs well and even offer a preemptive strike when he knows how a play will develop.

Protecting C.J. Stroud is also key, so adding Brandon Coleman out of TCU as a depth player on the offensive line is just smart business. Despite the lack of a first-round choice, this is as complete and varied a draft class as the Texans and Stroud could have hoped for.

Here are the selections in full:

Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB, Missouri
McKinnley Jackson, DT, Texas A&M
Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
Brandon Coleman, OG, TCU
Braden Fiske, DT, Florida State
Max Melton, CB, Rutgers
Khalid Duke, EDGE, Kansas State
Javon Baker, WR, Central Florida
Frank Gore Jr., RB, Southern Miss

Texans mock draft: Worst-case scenario

Conversely, if the draft is to go wrong for the Houston Texans, then the Sportskeeda 7-round Mock Draft simulator has it going badly wrong.

Adding Stefon Diggs to the offense significantly reduced the need for a wide receiver in the draft. However, in this scenario, the Texans take Ladd McConkey out of Georgia for their first time on the clock.

This makes no sense, especially with the Texans needing to add quality on defense. They don’t even address that side of the ball until their fourth selection, with Steele Chambers coming in at LB out of Ohio State.

This is not the burst of starting-caliber quality the team needed on the defensive line. You have to wonder whether a selection as bad as this will put unnecessary pressure on C.J. Stroud to deliver on offense. It’s no good scoring 50 points if you concede 56 points, and that is why you need to build a defense capable of supporting Stroud and his other offensive playmakers.

That was the task for DeMeco Ryans and Co. ahead of the 2024 NFL draft, and in this worst-case scenario, they simply haven’t managed to complete it.

Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia
Trey Benson, RB, Florida State
Brandon Coleman, OG, TCU
Steele Chambers, LB, Ohio State
James Williams, S, Miami (FL)
Logan Lee, DT, Iowa
JD Bertrand, LB, Notre Dame
Michael Barrett, LB, Michigan
Brennan Jackson, EDGE, Washington State