It’s time for Battle Red Blog to release its first mock draft of the offseason with the Senior Bowl currently underway in Mobile, Alabama, and one game remaining in the 2024 postseason.
Houston has the mindset of the “best player on the board” going into the 2024 Draft. Given the horrible teams of the last five years and the obvious gaps on the roster, this organisation is in an unusual position. Now that he has more leeway, general manager Nick Caserio can combine his draft approach of focusing on needs with his long-term objective of identifying the greatest overall player available.
Houston’s top priorities going into the offseason are defensive line, running back, and cornerback, as I discussed last week. We anticipate Nick Caserio doing precisely that in the season’s opening mock draft. The Houston Texans seem to be content with their wide receiving group, despite the online movement to bolster the wide receiver corps. They’ll fill any gaps, if any, through free agency (give me Detroit’s Josh Reynolds).
alongside their first pick, Houston selects a starter cornerback to go alongside second-year standout Derek Stingley Jr. This pick might go to a defensive lineman, and it will probably rely on whether Houston decides to sign CB Steven Nelson or DT Sheldon Rankins again.
Lassiter is ideal for the zone scheme of DeMeco Ryans. He has been a starter for the Bulldogs for two years, and with eight pass breakups, he led the team. But in his two seasons as a starter, he only recorded one interception; that came in his first year when filling in as a backup DB.
Lassiter is a plug-and-play corner with a high floor and low ceiling. Although he might not be the team’s top cornerback prospect, he can lock down the second-best receiver right away.
