Tag: Armand Membou nfl draft

Texans add rangy OL in 1st round of Draft Wire’s mock draft

Armand Membou could be the next addition to the Houston Texans roster in 2025.

The Houston Texans must upgrade the offensive line if C.J. Stroud stands a chance of making it to the conference championship round in 2025. Shaq Mason and Tytus Howard could be on the move while Kenyon Green’s stay in Houston has more than likely reached its end.

Position flexibility could be essential for the Texans moving into 2025. Howard might rework his contract and shift inside to guard full-time after taking over for Green midseason. Meanwhile, second-round pick Blake Fisher managed the right tackle spot, but he left ample room to critique upon entering the offseason.

That’s exactly why Curt Popejoy of Draft Wire has the Texans selecting Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou in Round, who’s a rangy lineman with impressive athleticism.

A two-year starter for the Tigers, Membou graded out with a 90.9 grade from Pro Football Focus after allowing nine hurries and zero sacks in 410 pass-blocking snaps. In over 1,000 snaps, Membou only allowed three sacks in three years.

Membou is expected to start at right tackle in the pros, but could shift inside in a pinch. Entering training camp, a battle between Fisher and Membou could determine the future offensive line, with the loser shifting inside for the 2025 season.

Houston owns six picks in the upcoming draft this April.

49ers may go outside the box in Daniel Jeremiah mock draft

Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock has the 49ers snagging an offensive tackle who may move to guard.

It’s well within the realm of possibilities that the San Francisco 49ers would use the No. 11 overall pick in this year’s draft on an offensive lineman.

That’s the exact route they took in a mock draft from NFL Media’s draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. His selection for San Francisco is a little bit outside the box given his analysis of the pick.

With the 11th pick, Jeremiah sends Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou to San Francisco.

Membou started 30 of the 35 games he played across three seasons for the Tigers. 29 of those starts came at right tackle with the other coming on the left side. Jeremiah doesn’t think the 20-year-old will necessarily stay at tackle in the NFL.

Via NFL.com:

Membou is the most technically sound offensive lineman in this class. He reminds me of Aljah Vera-Tucker when he entered the league. Membou will be an exceptional guard who can also play tackle if needed.

It would be a pretty steep departure from the 49ers’ team-building philosophy if they took a player they think will play guard in the first round.

In 2021 they selected left guard Aaron Banks in the second round, and he didn’t even start until his second season. Then in last year’s draft they took right guard Dominick Puni who stepped in as a starter on Day 1 and had a terrific rookie campaign.

A first-round pick on a guard, especially one as high as No. 11, wouldn’t make a ton of sense for San Francisco. Membou may be very technically sound, but he never played guard in college, and he’d likely have to swap sides of the line to play left guard after playing right tackle for his last 29 college games.

Of course, if the team believes he’s their long-term answer at right tackle, the selection makes more sense. It could provide an upgrade at RT over Colton McKivitz who did make strides last season. It would also be a cheap RT option which may open the door to spending on a left tackle if they need to in the post Trent Williams era.

Given what we know about the 49ers’ team-building philosophy in the past, a defensive lineman would probably be the top option for them at this spot. However, if the front office and coaching staff think Membou is a long-term starter at one of the tackle spots, they likely wouldn’t hesitate to snag him and improve their offensive line. If they don’t project him as an offensive tackle in the NFL, they’re not likely to go that route on Draft Day.

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Texans land rising SEC star OT in latest Sports Illustrated mock draft

Armand Membou heads to Houston in the latest mock draft from Sports Illustrated.

If C.J. Stroud plans to stay upright in 2025, the Houston Texans need an All-American guard to pair alongside Laremy Tunsil.

There’s a chance for Tytus Howard to return since he’s on the books for two more years, but Houston will probably ask him to transition to guard full-time to stick around. Beyond those two, the Texans could add three new starters by the offseason’s end.

Yes, Houston could benefit from targeting proven talent in free agency, but given its current salary cap and long-term need for stability at guard, shoring up its trenches in the draft with perhaps a Pro Bowl-caliber option. 

That’s the plan in Sports Illustrated’s latest mock draft, which continues to show Houston taking the top offensive linemen available. With fan favorite Alabama’s Tyler Booker off the board, Daniel Flick has the Texans selecting Missouri right tackle Armand Membou at pick No. 25.

“Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud took eight sacks in the team’s season-ending playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round,” Flick wrote. “Houston’s biggest issues are on the interior, but Membou can play both inside and outside—he’s athletic enough to block on the move and strong enough to finish when he gets there. Membou, who turns 21 in late March, didn’t allow a sack or quarterback hit in 410 pass-blocking snaps this season.”

While the Texans could pivot toward the defensive line, their inability to secure long-term interior line help makes Membou’s selection intriguing. The junior started the past two seasons at Missouri and helped the Tigers produce a top-10 run game back-to-back seasons.

Is it the sexiest pick in a draft filled with defensive studs? Not at all. Most fans are hoping with Tank Dell’s injury woes that Houston will take a pass-catcher to build up Stroud’s production.

Finesse only works when physicality is evident. The Texans must fix their power up the middle if expectations are for Stroud to connect with his targets in 2025. Membou, who could compete with 2024 second-round pick Blake Fisher for reps at right tackle, fits the mold.

2025 mock draft: 49ers hammer trenches in 2-round projection

Offensive line. Defensive line. Rinse. Repeat.

The San Francisco 49ers’ list of needs in the 2025 NFL draft may not change much even after free agency shakes out.

They badly need to revamp their offensive and defensive lines. The order in which they do those and how they prioritize them will depend on how the draft board shakes out, but a draft where they spend every pick bolstering the trenches shouldn’t be out of the question.

San Francisco goes after a player on each line in a new two-round mock draft from the Athletic’s Dane Brugler.

Brugler has the 49ers addressing the offensive line first with Missouri’s Armand Membou. Here’s what Brugler wrote about the versatile OL:

Based on the players expected to be available in this range, there is a decent chance the 49ers use this pick to address the trenches, either on the offensive or defensive line. Membou is incredibly underrated, but he plays with exceptional control, athleticism and finish. He would give San Francisco an ascending player with guard-tackle versatility.

A lineman with inside/outside versatility fits what San Francisco has been looking for with their OL selections for the last couple of years. Membou is listed at 6-3, 325 pounds which probably lands him as a guard in the NFL. However, he did play both tackle spots in college and primarily spent time at right tackle where he was the starter for the Tigers in 2023 and 2024. It’s not out of the question he transitions there as a pro, but it would appear he’s more likely to take over at left guard where 49ers starter Aaron Banks is set to hit free agency.

Using the No. 11 pick on a guard doesn’t necessarily fit the 49ers’ team-building strategy during the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era, but given the necessity to revamp the OL it may mean a shift away from their previous strategies if they think Membou can step in and be a Pro Bowl caliber starter.

The 49ers get to the other side of the ball in Round 2 of Brugler’s mock. They select Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen at No. 43 overall.

Nolen is a player who has been mocked to the 49ers before in a one-round mock. The 43rd pick seems like a much better spot to take a shot on Nolen, who had only one year of big-time college production.

His first two college seasons were with Texas A&M, and he did have a strong second season with the Aggies in 2023. That year he posted seven sacks on 16 pressures while working as a productive run defender according to Pro Football Focus.

He broke out in 2024 with 34 pressures and six sacks. His elite run defense grade from PFF was buoyed by his 31 run stops.

There are definitely some questions around Nolen after only one year of high-end production, but the upside is extremely high. The opportunity to find a three-down defensive tackle who can affect the pocket as a pass rusher would be tough for San Francisco to pass up with its second pick in a draft where they need to find DL help.

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