2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft - The Houston Texans Select... - Cincy Jungle

With the 26th pick in the 2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, Brett Kollman selected for the Houston Texans, who earned their pick by winning the AFC South with a 10-6 record and heading to the playoffs for the first time in team history. In the playoffs, they defeated the Bengals in the first round and then lost to Baltimore the next week.

With the 26th overall pick in the 2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the Houston Texans select...

Dontari Poe, DT, Memphis

Despite losing so many great players this off season, Houston is still primed to select the best player available at the bottom of the first round. Wide receiver is an issue, but the extraordinary depth of this class can fix this in the second round. OLB is a tad thin, but Houston has had recent success finding great pass rushers out of the first round and could easily continue that trend. Offensive line might seem like a glaring hole, but the joy of being in a zone scheme is the ability to find smaller, quicker lineman late in drafts. Nose tackle, however, was flirting between below average and utter disaster for the entire 2011 campaign. Not only does Poe fit a need, but he is a top 15-20 talent falling all the way to 26.

What Poe brings to the table is exceptionally rare athleticism for his size. Speed, strength, and quickness were all on hand at the combine where he wow'd pretty much anyone who considers themselves a football fan. His hands and feet could use some refinement, but his sheer physical presence practically requires double teams every single snap. This propensity to eat up blockers is what makes him most valuable to Houston, as this frees up JJ Watt, Antonio Smith, Connor Barwin, and Brooks Reed to one-on-one situations. Wade Phillips loves throwing the kitchen sink at offenses in his base 5-2 (which is practically what it is since we have two DE's playing the OLB position), and adding Poe into mix all but guarantees someone is going to be left unblocked. Freeing up opportunities for the rest of your defense is arguably the most important ability of a nose tackle, and Poe will do just that for years to come.

If you thought Houston's defense was scary last year, just wait and see what a full off season and a shiny new nose tackle can do.

Dontari Poe Highlights:

Joe Goodberry's Instant Analysis:

The Texans don't have very many needs but NT is a place that can use an upgrade. Poe is a freak in terms of height-weight-speed ratio but he was relatively unproductive in college. He picked based on potential but it's understandable considering his upside. It's an interesting fit in Wade Phillips' 3-4 one-gap defense.
Grade: B
Value: +6

Draft Overview:

#	Team	Picked By	Name/Positon of Pick
1	Indianapolis	Alex Neyer	Andrew Luck QB
2	Washington	David Farrelly	Robert Griffin III QB
3	Minnesota	Palewook	Matt Kalil OT
4	Cleveland	Jason Garrison	Justin Blackmon WR
5	Tampa Bay	Andrew Bernius	Morris Claiborne CB
6	St. Louis	Jim0ijk	Quinton Coples DE
7	Jacksonville	AK513	Melvin Ingram DE
8	Miami	Dan Lockhart	Trent Richardson RB
9	Carolina	Jason Blanton	Luke Kuechly LB
10	Buffalo	Casey Penn	Michael Floyd WR
11	Kansas City	Kenneth Taylor	David DeCastro OG
12	Detroit (projected trade)	Andrew Perrotta	Stephon Gilmore CB
13	Arizona	Dan Wolford	Riley Reiff OT
14	Dallas	Joshua Foster	Michael Brockers DT
15	Philadelphia	Travis Parker	Mark Barron S
16	New York Jets	Kenneth Taylor	Courtney Upshaw OLB
17	Cincinnati (from Oakland)	Jason Garrison	Dre Kirkpatrick CB
18	San Diego	Anthony Knox	Fletcher Cox DE
19	Chicago	Steve Whited	Kendall Wright WR
20	Tennessee	Jeff Welch	Nick Perry DE
21	Cincinnati	Jason Garrison	Cordy Glenn OG
22	Cleveland (from Atlanta)	Jason Garrison	Ryan Tannehill QB
23	Seattle (projected trade)	Jared Egner	Whitney Mercilus DT
24	Pittsburgh	Jason Garrison	Dont'a Hightower LB
25	Denver	Jared Morgan	Devon Still DE
26	Houston	Brett Kollman	Dontari Poe DT
27	New England (from New Orleans)	Anthony Knox
28	Green Bay	Travis Castleman
29	Baltimore	Jason Garrison
30	San Francisco	Chris Brown
31	New England	Anthony Knox
32	New York Giants	Matt Leitner

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