- 1 day ago
Seth and Sean are joined by Texans Sideline Reporter and Czar of all things FootballTakeover.com, John Harris, for a live mock draft injection penned by the man himself!
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00:00Sometimes, we like to do the bonus mock draft injection when it involves this guy.
00:05He's our good friend. He's Texan Sideline Reporter.
00:07He's the founder of FootballTakeover.com, where you can find all sorts of great draft content and other stuff.
00:13He is John Harris, and he joins us on the program right now.
00:16Johnny, how you doing?
00:18Doing well, boys. Which mock draft injection? I haven't had a chance to listen yet.
00:21We did Nate Tice and Charles McDonald of Yahoo, kind of doing the dueling pianos.
00:26Yeah, what'd they have?
00:27They had Caden Proctor going to the Texans with the 28th over there.
00:31Caden Proctor. Not swarmy. Not happening.
00:33Yeah, okay, good, John. I'm glad. You know what, because we can follow up.
00:35I played a couple of clips from when you were on my Believe in Texans podcast last week,
00:40and that was the very question Sean and I had after we played your clips was,
00:45well, and then some of the anonymous scout reports, which are pretty funny.
00:48Yeah, I don't – is there a really good chance that Caden Proctor's not even on the Texans draft board?
00:54Well, I think one of the things to keep in mind is this guy was a three-year starter at
00:58Alabama
00:59and a good one, and, yeah, we're talking about him at pick number 28.
01:04Yeah.
01:04I mean, this guy with the talent level he has, he should be in the top ten, no questions asked,
01:12and he's not.
01:13I've said I would move him to guard.
01:16I do think his weight is going to be an issue.
01:18I think it has been an issue, and it really wasn't until Alabama came up with,
01:24hey, man, you get under 360, we'll throw you the ball at Georgia.
01:29And it was like, bet, he did it.
01:31And then it was like, holy cow, this guy's a pretty good athlete.
01:34Look, he's got all the skills you could possibly want for a big guy in any position.
01:38I mean, he can move, really, really move, but as a tackle, he gets beat way too much on the
01:44inside.
01:44His technique is not great, I think, for a guy that you really would like to step in right away
01:50at tackle.
01:51I think he's got a long way to go.
01:53I just, I think there's a lot there with him.
01:55You know, he had the whole situation where he was at Alabama, and then he went back home to Iowa,
02:01took a bunch of NIL money, and then went back to Alabama.
02:03Now it's a good business decision, apparently, because Iowa couldn't get that money back.
02:07So he kind of double-dipped in a different way, and then went back to Alabama,
02:10played for a couple years before, obviously, declaring for the draft.
02:13So, you know, I don't know how scouts look at that now,
02:17but it's not really a good way to run your business.
02:20But that said, I just don't get, and I kind of hate to say this,
02:25I don't get swarmy vibes from Caden Proctor.
02:27Okay, that matches the, certainly matches some of the anonymous scouts that we've been reading.
02:32So, yeah, that was the Nate Tice pick.
02:37So, Johnny, let's get to yours.
02:38The main event here, the footballtakeover.com mock draft.
02:42What version of the mock draft is this for you, Johnny?
02:45This is two.
02:46I'll probably do one more, and work it on my Harris 100,
02:49and hopefully it'll be out Friday or even beginning Monday.
02:53Okay, footballtakeover.com.
02:55And it is, the value of the subscription there is second to none.
02:59All right, so let's do this, Johnny.
03:01I'm going to act like Roger Goodell here.
03:03Okay.
03:03And we teased it as this being one of the spicier, saucier mock drafts that we've seen.
03:09Okay.
03:09So, here we go.
03:11We are at the 18th pick in the draft, and Roger Goodell says,
03:14there's been a trade.
03:15The Houston Texans have traded with the Minnesota Vikings.
03:19I'm going to lay out the, I don't know that Goodell does this on the draft,
03:22but I'll give the details of the trade.
03:24The Texans are trading the 28th overall pick, the 69th overall pick,
03:28which is their high third-round pick, and then a sixth-rounder next year
03:32to the Minnesota Vikings, a team that they've worked with before,
03:35for the 18th overall pick.
03:37And with the 18th overall pick, the Houston Texans select.
03:41Johnny, I'll let you do the honors.
03:44Oregon, super tight end, Kenyon Sadiq.
03:47Boom.
03:48Oh!
03:49Gen Z reaction.
03:50Oh!
03:51Oh!
03:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:53Oh, they did it!
03:55Oh, my God, believe it!
03:56So, Johnny, you are on, pretend you're on the set right now on ESPN or NFL.com,
04:03and now you are explaining why this pick makes sense for the Houston Texans.
04:08Well, I'll be doing it for Texans Radio Live, that's for sure.
04:12So, I mean, my reaction would be, you know, really excited.
04:16I've thought about this.
04:18I went back and forth on, you know, first of all, go back to, you know,
04:22what a mock draft is.
04:23You know, I like to bring up different ideas, especially as it pertains
04:27to the team that I work for and that I cover.
04:30And I have, you know, obviously watched what we've done in free agency,
04:35seen what we've done on the offensive line.
04:37I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that's the end-all, be-all.
04:40But I still think when you're talking offensive football, it comes down to
04:45players, not plays.
04:47And that means you've got to add, I think, another weapon in a different capacity.
04:52I think wide receiver, and obviously we don't know what tank.
04:56You know, D'Amico talked about tank at the, you know, the owner's meeting.
05:00Said, you know, maybe not see him in OTAs, but we're going to get him ready
05:02for training camp.
05:04But you just don't know.
05:05That said, you still have Higgins, Noel from last year.
05:10They're going to be in year two.
05:11They take that leap.
05:12Obviously, Nico is bona fide number one, no questions asked,
05:16one of the best receivers in the NFL.
05:18And then you've got the ultimate, old, reliable Xavier Hutchinson.
05:22So you can go, if tank is back, you can go five deep in receiver.
05:26But I still feel like, even with Dalton Schultz, and I thought Dalton was
05:29awesome last year.
05:31I thought he was tremendous.
05:33You're talking about a guy, when he walks in the building,
05:35he might be the second fastest player on the team in Kenya Sadiq.
05:40At 6'3", 240.
05:41Wow.
05:42I love the way that he blocks in split zone.
05:44He wants to put people in the dirt.
05:47He's built like a Greek god.
05:49And he plays like it.
05:50Now, hands can be a little inconsistent at times.
05:53There were some, I thought, some concentration drops.
05:56But there were times where just DB's corners couldn't stay with him in coverage.
06:02And I think when you put it all together with what they want, we talked about being swarmy.
06:07I think he's that.
06:08I saw a segment on him.
06:09I can't remember if it was on game day or if it was on Big Ten Network, where he's come
06:13from, what he's done, kind of from a small town, built his body up, went to Oregon,
06:19you know, kind of had periods of, you know, second-guessing himself.
06:22And all of a sudden, boom, it just, it clicked.
06:25And it really, for me, started clicking last year in a Big Ten championship game against
06:29Penn State.
06:30He had two touchdowns early on.
06:31I'm like, man, look at this guy.
06:33He's got a waist, you know, tiny waist.
06:36He's broad shoulders, big guns.
06:38And he just got in the end zone twice.
06:40And I'm like, whoa, let's keep an eye on this guy.
06:43Now, this all said, Oregon's got a kid next year.
06:46Holy cow.
06:47He's going to be maybe even better at Sadiq.
06:48But take it for what it is.
06:50So why do I make the trade?
06:52I was driving yesterday, and I was way behind the show.
06:55I was going to see Back to the Future of my son, Jack.
06:57And we were looking for someplace to eat in Houston.
06:59And I just happened to be at the point in the show where you guys were talking about
07:03Ryan Wilson's mock draft.
07:06And you talk about, when Ryan Wilson had Sadiq going number 38.
07:09Now, if he goes 38, like, I will be flabbergasted.
07:14Feels like something off the field might have had to have happened for him to drop to 38
07:18between now and the draft.
07:19You don't get athletes like this at that position.
07:22Now, when I say that position, I think you can play any of the tight ends.
07:25Spots, which is another thing.
07:27I think he can play any of them.
07:28Eli Stowers can't do that.
07:30Eli Stowers is basically in the slot playing slot receiver, and he's 6'6", 240.
07:36He's a slot receiver.
07:38He puts his hand in the dirt.
07:39He's going to try because he's willing.
07:42But he's not going to block anybody.
07:43Sadiq will get in there and block a six technique.
07:45He's going to get nasty with it.
07:47Now, is he tremendous, the best I've ever seen?
07:49No.
07:50But when you add it all together with what he can do, it's definitely an asset in his game.
07:55Therefore, I don't think he's getting A to 28.
07:59The other part of this is Minnesota at number 18.
08:02I think Minnesota, and I've been asked, I was on with Paul Allen, their play-by-play voice the other
08:07day,
08:07and he kept asking me about Dylan Tianeman from Oregon.
08:10They really need safety.
08:11Harrison Smith is retiring.
08:13And they need a safety bad.
08:15That's the guy they're kind of locked in on.
08:17And I don't know that he gets to 18.
08:19If he gets to 18, I don't think this deal ends up being made.
08:22But I think moving 10 spots is not a huge penalty, if you will, to go up and get an
08:29athlete like this.
08:30And I think if you were to add an athlete with what they've done already in free agency,
08:34I think you open things up offensively that much more.
08:37You know, and it's funny because we're at this point now where the Texans, since Casario got here,
08:44haven't had a draft pick in the back half of the first round.
08:47And I think a lot of people just assume, okay, well, he's going to trade out of the first round
08:52most likely.
08:52But according to my source, Nick Casario, who said this publicly last year,
08:58is that they did try to trade up or at least talk to somebody about trading up into late teens
09:03last year.
09:05Is that something you think, yeah, you can't read into whatever's happened in previous drafts with Casario.
09:11He's willing to move all over the place, including in the first round.
09:15Absolutely.
09:15I mean, I think that's Nick's M.O.
09:17You know, he'll move anywhere, anytime.
09:20And I think there were multiple players that they were trying to go up and get.
09:26He mentioned that, I think, to you guys.
09:29You know, I think Booker was one of them.
09:31I think Zabel was one of them last year.
09:33And look at what those guys did as rookies.
09:35I mean, we talked about those guys last year at Nauseam.
09:38Those are the two guys that I know I wanted.
09:40I know you guys were in on that as well.
09:43They just couldn't make that deal to get up.
09:46But I feel like this draft is different in that I feel like Sadiq might be that guy they would
09:53go up for.
09:54Now, if for some reason, and I don't even want to bring this up, but if Jeremiah Love fell, okay,
09:59that's another guy.
10:00Oh, don't you dare get me excited, Johnny.
10:04Shawnee, trust me.
10:05I'm right there with you.
10:07Should they pull a Ditka?
10:08They traded their entire draft for a running back?
10:10Whole draft.
10:11Whole draft.
10:12I mean, you know, it sounds crazy when you say it that way.
10:15But I'm at a point now with this team.
10:17I mean, look, you guys have talked about it.
10:19We've talked about it.
10:20Everybody knows it.
10:21They've got to pay a lot of dudes.
10:23They've got to pay a lot of guys.
10:25So you don't need 12 rookies coming in.
10:27Because if they all hit, you're like, okay, who are we paying, who are we not?
10:30So, you know, if you've got to give up some draft capital to go up and get a player and
10:36maximize the value you get out of that one player as opposed to, hey, let's stick and pick.
10:42And let's take a guy we think is good.
10:44But then we'll get these other guys.
10:45Maybe you've got to pay them all.
10:47I mean, how are you going to pay Kamari, Kalen?
10:49You know, you've got to re-up with Nico and Sting at some point.
10:52And, I mean, look, those are first-world problems to have considering what we had in 21 and 22.
10:59But that, to me, might end up being an approach of, hey, well, let's go maximize our one rookie, you
11:08know, maybe moving three picks.
11:09Or in this case, moving two picks, moving that third-round pick.
11:12But it still opened up options.
11:13I wanted to keep 38.
11:15And we'll get to that in a second because I know you guys saw that.
11:17We're like, wait, what?
11:18And we'll get to that in a second.
11:20But I just felt like with those four picks, I felt all along that those four picks will turn into
11:27three.
11:28That they will move up with one of those three.
11:30And I just used 28 because Sadiq was there to go move up.
11:33Yeah, that makes sense.
11:34John Harris joining us, footballtakeover.com.
11:37We're going through his mock draft in which, in the first round, he's got the Texans trading up with Minnesota
11:42to take Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, if you're just getting in your car.
11:46So, Johnny, let's do this 38th pick.
11:48And with the 38th overall selection, Houston Sexton selects.
11:54Johnny, go ahead.
11:55Edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, UCF.
11:58Okay.
11:59Yep.
12:00Now, I know people hear that.
12:02Wait, who?
12:05Well, if you're a Coug and you watched that game this past fall, now the Cougs ended up winning that
12:09game.
12:10Malachi Lawrence was an absolute dude.
12:13Houston couldn't block him.
12:14He used different ways to get to the quarterback.
12:17And so, from a pass rush standpoint, I'll stand 10 toes down and tell you that Malachi Lawrence is the
12:27second best pure pass rusher in this draft class behind David Bailey.
12:30David Bailey at Texas Tech, to me, he's my number one overall.
12:34He's been that way, haven't changed.
12:36I watched that dude from modern day, Stanford, into Texas Tech.
12:40He is the bona fide number one pass rusher in this draft, pure pass rusher.
12:44Now, Arbel Reese, Val Reese, whatever you want to call him from Ohio State, he's an athlete learning how to
12:49be an edge rusher.
12:50He'll get there, but he's not there.
12:52Malachi Lawrence is a pure pass rusher, but he plays violently enough to set the edge.
12:59And when you look at this edge spot, and you guys have talked about it, we know Will and Daniil.
13:05Okay, those guys are unbelievable.
13:08Behind them, okay, I felt like Dylan Horton was underrated and has been underrated.
13:13I felt like the last half of 2025, he made a lot of plays in games, even though he's getting
13:1820, 25 plays a game, that were kind of going, you know, not talked about as much.
13:23So, I feel good about Dylan, but you bring in Dominic Robinson, hasn't clicked yet, it didn't click with the
13:30Bears, maybe it clicks here.
13:32Okay, but I've felt like that position has needed some just outright, this dude goes one-on-one on a
13:40tackle, and he can just, he's a blur off the edge.
13:44I worried about Malachi Lawrence when I first saw him, I was like, oh yeah, he's light.
13:48He's 253, and oh, by the way, there's another 51 who's 253 pounds.
13:53Now, they play totally differently, but Will Anderson Jr. is 253 pounds, Malachi Lawrence is with long arms, and speed,
14:00and athleticism,
14:01and he's got a pass rush repertoire that's a little bit more advanced than, not just a little bit more,
14:07way more advanced than the other guys in this draft class.
14:10Now, at 38, I know people are like, well, he's this on the other guy's boys, he's in the top
14:1540 for me, so I ain't getting him at 58.
14:17And so, I wanted to make sure that I locked in on a guy that had some potential that could
14:26really be an answer one-on-one against tackles if Will's banged up,
14:32if Daniel's banged up, or they need a rest, and they don't have Derek Barnett on the roster anymore.
14:37And you just don't know how many times you can go to that, hey, Derek, how about another one-year
14:42deal?
14:42I don't know if you can go back to that well again.
14:45So, he was sitting on a board at 38, and I thought, you know what, shake things up a little
14:49bit.
14:49I think this is second-best pure pass rusher in this draft.
14:53Let's take him at 38.
14:55No, John, listen, I'm going to commit a cardinal sin in my mind,
14:59because I always get annoyed by scouts who will claim they don't care about 40 times,
15:02but then when they like a prospect, they'll gush about a guy's 40 times.
15:06So, I'm going to do that right this moment, because I don't care about 40 times.
15:09What? This is my experience with Malachi Lawrence.
15:12The first time I saw his name or read anything into him this offseason,
15:16I went to look at his combine workout, and I swear to you,
15:21I thought that there was a glitch or something, and they had misclassified it.
15:25Because, for one, okay, you ran a 4-5-2, which, don't be too impressed by the 40 time.
15:30I'm watching the video, and I'm like, that's a wide receiver.
15:32What is going on?
15:33Like, this is screwed up.
15:34That's not Malachi Lawrence.
15:36He's so fast.
15:37I 100% will buy into just the way he moves and athletically what he provides
15:43and where his upside would be because of it.
15:45I'm with you on Dylan Horton.
15:47I think that he did a lot of the more blue-collar stuff really well
15:50and played way more snaps than people would realize last year,
15:53but he doesn't have that same type of twitch and burst of, like,
15:56Malachi Lawrence is a freak when it comes to that side of things.
16:00And there's so much there.
16:02First of all, he doesn't have to come in right away.
16:04He doesn't have to be Will.
16:05He doesn't have to beat Daniil.
16:07But second half of the season, when he starts picking up on things that he's learned
16:12from Rod Wright, Frank Ocam, and Matt Burke is starting to maybe let him loose,
16:16and then you start thinking, hey, wait a second.
16:18We can put these three guys in our pass rush with Rankins or Toki.
16:23Holy cow.
16:24It's a different type of – you know, last year when they went to their pass rush group,
16:29it was Danico Autry.
16:31Well, now all of a sudden, you can change things up and put him on the outside,
16:35maybe put Daniil on the inside on a guard, put Will inside on a guard, stand Will up over the
16:40center,
16:41do some different things, and you still have edge presence outside.
16:46It's not just all focused on where Will is.
16:48That guy's got to win one-on-one.
16:50I love Malachi Lawrence, and the more that I've watched, I kept thinking, I think this is the right guy.
16:58Now, I can't speak to swarminess.
16:59I don't know that, but I just feel watching him, the way that he plays the game
17:05is the way that Danico and Nick want to see a defensive player play the game.
17:13And, again, if he's – whatever his personality is, he walks in that building as a second-round pick,
17:20number 38, there's going to be a number of defensive players that walk over,
17:24including Will Anderson, and says, son, this is the way we play the game.
17:26If you want to play it this way, then you can get out.
17:28And that's intimidating.
17:30You know, there's a standard you live up to.
17:31We've talked to a lot of young guys and new guys that come over from other teams,
17:35and they're like, oh, they do things differently here.
17:37Yeah, yeah, they do.
17:38You have to play at a different level and a different standard.
17:41But I think Malachi Lawrence strikes me just watching him play, that he's got that in him.
17:49Johnny, I know we've got to let you go here, but I promised the audience,
17:53I'm just going to need like a 30-second answer on this.
17:55You've got Ty Simpson going 33rd in this draft overall.
17:59You've got Fernanda Mendoza going number one.
18:01So it would appear that you are not on Team Orlovsky here.
18:08Orlovsky who says Simpson's a better player than Mendoza, by the way.
18:11Yeah, I don't think that's true, but I don't like any of these quarterbacks, if I'm being honest.
18:16So I'm just kind of whatever.
18:20So, I mean, that's kind of my thought.
18:22It's not my problem.
18:23Yeah, not a Gen Z reaction right there.
18:25Yeah, I don't know.
18:27It's not giving anything to me, to be honest.
18:30But, you know, I'll say this real fast.
18:33Yesterday, I was getting ready to drive into Houston, and I looked at a document I had,
18:38and I already started my document for 2027's draft.
18:42Of course.
18:44I have 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
18:47I have 11 names written down.
18:49And I could absolutely, without a doubt today, tell you I would take six of them
18:54before I would take any quarterback in this draft.
18:57For Fernando Mendoza, who's going to go number one.
18:59Yeah, that was one of the anonymous scouts that we had read, was basically just,
19:04Why are we even talking about this?
19:05This is really, like, in any other draft, this is not, he's not a guy.
19:11I mean, Arch Manning, Lenore Sellers, Dante Moore, Darian Mensah at Miami, who's very underrated,
19:16Sam Levitt, LSU, tremendously talented, Rocco Beck going to Penn State,
19:20and CJ Carr might be better than all of them.
19:22Yeah.
19:22For Notre Dame.
19:23Yeah.
19:24I'll bite your tongue.
19:24We want him there for at least a couple more years, John.
19:26Nah, good luck with that.
19:27I know, I know.
19:29He gone.
19:29He ain't Ty Simpson.
19:31I know.
19:32All right, Johnny, you're the best.
19:35Footballtakeover.com.
19:35You can check out Johnny's work there, of course, and on Texans All Access here on Sports Radio 610.
19:41Does a great job with Mark Vandermeer there.
19:43Johnny, you're the best, man.
19:45Appreciate you.
19:46Appreciate you guys.
19:46I did go a couple more rounds, so you want to check it out, footballtakeover.com.
19:49Indeed.
19:49A couple of offensive linemen I picked with the next few picks.
19:52Yep.
19:52Go check it out at footballtakeover.com.
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