{"id":758497,"date":"2026-02-17T15:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/758497\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:05:19","slug":"texans-2026-nfl-mock-draft-roundup-post-super-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/758497\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans\u2019 2026 NFL Mock Draft roundup post-Super Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a playoff flameout, the Houston Texans have key players they need to re-sign<\/a>. And they need to add free-agent pieces<\/a>. Also, as draft season ramps up, here is the Texans\u2019 2026 NFL Mock Draft roundup following the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

After a 12-5 regular season and a playoff win over the Steelers, the Texans watched quarterback CJ Stroud suffer a meltdown against the Patriots in the Divisional Round.<\/p>\n

So what direction will DeMeco Ryans<\/a> and the Texans take in the draft with the No. 28 overall selection?<\/p>\n

Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah<\/p>\n

Tim Crean, ClutchPoints<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, spot on. The Texans must improve that offensive line. They don\u2019t want Stroud\u2019s bad playoff game turn into a 2026 regression. And the best prevention is a better offensive line.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing in Caleb Lomu allows the team to shuffle the players they have around and likely cut ties with free agent Trent Brown,\u201d Crean wrote. \u201cLomu is still a little raw, but he has a lot of upside and could create an excellent bookend situation with Aireontae Ersery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blake Miller, OT, Clemson<\/p>\n

Cynthia Frelund<\/a>, NFL.com; Joel Klatt<\/a>, CBS Sports; Todd McShay<\/a>, McShay Report<\/p>\n

Yes, a tackle. But which one? The Clemson product offers an interesting possibility. Frelund said he ascends above Lomu.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy model really likes Miller, who projects as a right tackle at the next level,\u201d Frelund wrote. \u201cThe math favored him even more than Caleb Lomu when evaluating through a position-agnostic lens. His waist-bender projections are second-lowest in the class among both tackles and guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klatt said the Texans must address their biggest need.<\/p>\n

\u201cHouston’s defense is elite, so it needs to keep building on the offensive side of the ball,\u201d Klatt wrote. \u201cThe Texans’ offensive line was better this past season, but it can still improve. Miller started all 54 games in his career and is reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n

McShay said he likes Miller\u2019s physical makeup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see Miller, who\u2019s big and long and has plus mobility for a right tackle, being the pick,\u201d McShay wrote. \u201cHe\u2019s a highly intelligent offensive lineman with great experience (54 starts). He\u2019s known as Mr. Reliable at Clemson, and he\u2019s a force multiplier in the OL room. It\u2019s exactly the makeup that Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia<\/p>\n

Daniel Jeremiah,<\/a> NFL.com<\/p>\n

Are you seeing the issue here? Yes, an offensive tackle is the right call for the Texans. But when there is no consensus, there\u2019s a chance of whiffing on this pick. All of these guys are unlikely to hit as a rookie. Maybe one of them will. Jeremiah likes Freeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Texans did a nice job of maneuvering to land Aireontae Ersery in last year\u2019s draft,\u201d Jeremiah wrote. \u201cNow they get another young tackle to pair with him. Freeling is just scratching the surface of his potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

Brent Sobleski,<\/a> Bleacher Report<\/p>\n

Not so fast, Sobleski said. Maybe the Texans will turn their heads away from the offense and strengthen their already strong defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe automatic assumption is that the Houston Texans will start building around quarterback C.J. Stroud instead of investing in what’s already a top-notch defense,\u201d Sobleski wrote. \u201cLee Hunter played as well as anyone not named Fernando Mendoza during the recent College Football Playoff. He’s not a traditional space-eater. Instead, the 320-pound defensive tackle can be a disruptive force as part of a defensive front that already unleashes hell on opposing backfields.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texans could get hit in free agency. And that\u2019s why Bleacher Report says the defensive line is the first-round direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Texans featured a strong defensive line this past season, starting defensive tackles Sheldon Rankins and Tim Settle are about to hit free agency,\u201d Matt Holder said. \u201cThis pick maintains the Texans’ defensive dominance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter working the edges and Hunter up the middle, no team will be running on Houston’s defense for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overall roundup analysis<\/p>\n

The Bleacher Report idea is intriguing. However, unless they get a game-changer, it\u2019s hard to imagine them passing on offensive line help. And how many times is a game-changer available this late in the first round?<\/p>\n

Take the safe route. Grab the best offensive lineman. And give the offense a chance to keep up with the defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a playoff flameout, the Houston Texans have key players they need to re-sign. And they need to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[3607,18731,7,221,253,2368,6,18732,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-758497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-demeco-ryans","9":"tag-editorials","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-texans","13":"tag-houstontexans","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-editorials","16":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116086593092413368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}