Houston Texans: 3 Late round edge rushers for 2020 NFL Draft

2. Chauncey Rivers, Mississippi State

Here is a player that also has a grade for a seventh round selection, but another player who you  don’t know what could occur when in the NFL.

Chauncey Rivers played the edge at Mississippi State in the very tough SEC. Rivers stands at 6’2 and weighs in at 262 pounds, but more importantly he has a lot of natural ability to be an edge rusher. In ’19 Rivers totaled 24 solo tackles, five sacks and one forced fumble at Mississippi State.

The problem with the draft stock of Rivers is more off-the-field as he was asked to leave the Georgia Bulldogs for multiple arrests, and then was academically ineligible at Mississippi State in 2017. That is all in the past, and this is current day, and Rivers is getting a second chance and a fresh start.

Being graded down to the third day of the draft shows Rivers must learn from his past miscues, and there is still work to do to achieve success in making the roster for the Texans or any NFL team that drafts him.

This Texans draft has a forecast of needing edge rushers on the roster. Assuming they have selected at least one edge rusher earlier in the draft, the Texans could still use the services of Rivers, as long as he works on issues like the ones mentioned by Lance Zierlein of NFL.com in the draft profile of Rivers:

"“Has to sit down and really battle to set edges at times … Hasn’t learned to craft a rush play and properly set up his moves.”"

Those two things can be worked on by the coaches in the NFL, so if those in charge of the Texans draft can overlook past transgressions by Rivers, he could work his way onto a roster, and eventually make a difference for the franchise.