When the Houston Texans have brought dominant edge defenders into the fold, they have done so with a first or second-round pick. In 2011, a first-rounder secured J.J. Watt. In 2014, the No. 1 overall pick netted them Jadeveon Clowney.
Watt and Clowney are both long gone, as is the Texans’ edge defense. Houston won’t have anything to do about it until Round 3 with the No. 67 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
However, there is some value that could be had at that late within the first 100 picks. Texans Radio play-by-play voice Marc Vandermeer released his latest seven-round mock draft, and he had Houston going with former Miami defensive end Quincy Roche.
Ok, He looks a little more like a 3-4 OLB than you might like for a 4-3, but he’s going to put on a little weight and be a situational player to start out. He was a double digit sack guy at Temple and not quite there in his one year at Miami but he still logged 14.5 TFLs in 2020. Some players have a knack for getting into the backfield. He’s one of them. Plus we need to replenish the supply of Canes around here (I need to put this in my contract).
Roche left Temple after the 2019 season with 13.0 sacks and 19.0 tackles for loss. When he came to Miami, he provided the Hurricanes with just 4.5 sacks through 10 games. He did get a pass breakup, two forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.
If the Texans were to take Roche, he wouldn’t be a disruptive player right out of the gate. In fact, he might need another season to fully develop as the Texans’ war daddy on the edge. Nevertheless, new general manager Nick Caserio needs to work with his scouting and personnel staff to rebuild the Texans’ once formidable edge defense that was once the envy of the league.