A Houston Texans mock draft that we can fully support (aka Mock 1.0)
By Chad Porto
Round 3, Pick 86 - S Jaden Hicks, Washington State
Currently, Jalen Pitre ( 61.8 PFF) and Jimmie Ward (68.4 PFF) are the team's starting safeties according to early depth charts. M.J. Stewart may be in contention as well, but we'll see. The safety position was the team's Achilles heel last year, and a lot of teams were able to exploit it.
Ward and Pitre were the team's top starters at the position last season, but Eric Murray and Stewart also got starts. The team needs new starters, however. They need to add guys to the equation that can bring up the play around them, and make the secondary less of a liability and more of a reliability.
Going with Jaden Hicks here makes sense. He's improved in every season he played in college and shows da great aptitude for guarding against the pass (83.0 PFF). His run defense is suspect (65.3), but at safety, the hope is that he doesn't have to play that close to the line of scrimmage in the NFL. With a 4.5 40-yard dash, he should be fast enough to keep up with most receivers should they try to challenge him one-on-one.