The fascinating aspect of mock drafts is they theorize what teams might do after a key part of the offseason: free agency.
The kickoff of the new league year every mid-March opens the floodgates for teams to spend money on free agents to shore up roster deficiencies, or have to allow talented veterans to walk due to salary cap constraints.
The Houston Texans have a quandary on their hands with receiver Brandin Cooks. The former New Orleans Saints 2014 first-round pick does not want to be a part of a rebuild, but he is tethered to Houston thanks to a contract reworking that keeps him with the Texans through the 2024.
According to Over the Cap, Houston can’t just cut Cooks outright — unless they wanted to eat over $34.2 million in dead money against the salary cap. Trade options are a little better as a pre-June 1 trade costs Houston a little over $16.2 million in dead money with just over $10.2 million in salary cap savings.
A post-June 1 trade costs Houston a little over $8.1 million in dead money with around $18.4 million in salary cap savings. However, not many teams are going to be in the market for veteran wideout entering his 10th season — not after the NFL draft — and that puts the Texans in a conundrum.
According to Chris Trapasso from CBS Sports, one way that the Texans can adjust to whatever happens with Cooks is to draft USC receiver Jordan Addison with the No. 12 overall pick in Round 1 of the 2023 NFL draft.
Addison can either learn lots from the similarly sized Brandin Cooks in Year 1, or act as his instant replacement. With [Bryce] Young and Addison, this is a quality first-round haul for Houston.
In Trapasso’s mock, Houston takes Alabama’s Young at No. 2 overall, and the rookie would ostensibly have a stacked receiving corps with Cooks, Addison, Nico Collins, and former Crimson Tide teammate John Metchie.
