The Houston Texans need to address their pass rush, and there are still opportunities to bolster the unit in the 2020 NFL Draft class.
According to Pro Football Focus, one of their 10 prospects who won’t get picked high enough is Boise State defensive end Curtis Weaver. The 6-3, 265-pound edge defender would provide the Texans with a younger rusher and someone to bridge the gap when outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus starts to get blocked by Father Time.
This fall is perhaps the most undeserving of any of the prospects’ plunges. The biggest concern with Weaver was his athleticism, but he helped ease that concern with his great three-cone at the NFL Scouting Combine. His production has been off the charts the past two seasons, posting pass-rush grades above 92.0 in both years that combine to form a two-year grade ranking behind only Chase Young. His pass-rush win rate is actually over three percentage points higher than any other edge defender. Weaver’s power off the edge makes his lack of overall burst not that big of a deal. Sure, there’s some risk with that, but he shouldn’t be falling down to the third round as many suggest.
The Texans have the 90th overall pick in the third round. If Weaver falls that low, he should be worth the consideration.
Houston finished the 2019 season tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for the sixth-fewest sacks in the NFL with 31. While some of that was due to the fact that defensive end J.J. Watt tore his pectoral muscle in Week 8 and did not return until the wild-card playoff game versus the Buffalo Bills, the fact of the matter is the pass rush has lost a bit of its bite since Jadeveon Clowney was traded to the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 31, 2019.
Adding Weaver would give new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver another young pass rusher to work into the rotation along with outside linebacker Jacob Martin and defensive end Charles Omenihu.