The Houston Texans could stand to beef up their edge defense.
The Texans have Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, Thomas Booker, and Jonathan Greenard under contract as defensive ends. With new coach DeMeco Ryans having a defensive background, one would figure the Texans use one of their 12 picks in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft to add to their defensive ends.
According to Laurie Fitzpatrick from the Touchdown Wire, a name to watch throughout the NFL combine next week is Iowa State’s Will McDonald.
[McDonald] is 6-foot-4 and currently holds the Iowa State record for sacks, with 34, which also tied the Big-12 career-record. He drew double and triple teams and finished the 2022 season with five sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. He had four pass breakups, forced a fumble and has a recovery in his final college season.
Iowa State EDGE Will McDonald and South Carolina Zacch Pickens running the ring. McDonald possesses some of the best bend in Mobile this year.#SeniorBowl pic.twitter.com/vISUFKoKZL
— Quinten Krzysko (@ButkusStats) February 1, 2023
His high-motor and hand fighting helped him against one of the top offensive linemen at the Senior Bowl, Darnell Wright.
Will McDonald from Iowa St. had two of the best pass rush reps from any EDGE this week against Darnell Wright, one of the best tackles in this class. https://t.co/0UE0h1yPbz pic.twitter.com/lGz76xj8p9
— Justin Penik (@JustinPenik) February 2, 2023
McDonald gets the most of his length using several different pass rush moves in order to get to the quarterback including, cross chop, rip, swim move, and spins. We should expect to see these and a variety of moves in the combine.
McDonald probably won’t propel himself deep into the first round, but even if he improves his stock to where he is a viable Day 2 target, the Texans would be able to take him. Houston has picks at No. 33 overall in Round 2 and Nos. 65 and 73 overall in Round 3. The Texans could use their first-round capital to significantly upgrade the offense and still have opportunities to solidify their pass rush with McDonald.
Adding McDonald would also be a low-cost transition from Greenard, who is entering the final year of his contract. If the Texans decided to move on from Greenard in the 2024 offseason, McDonald would be ready enough with a year in the NFL to adequately take over.
