2026 Houston Texans Mock Draft: CJ Stroud Needs Protection, Let's Get Him Some

The 2025 NFL season has come to a close, leaving us ready to start the NFL draft process.

The Houston Texans finished as a solid playoff team but had some obviously holes that made them look like not-really-a-Super-Bowl contender.

Let's start with the positives. The WR core has an elite player in it and a lot of young talent as well. The defense is fantastic. CJ Stroud has shown a ceiling before and he's still got room to grow.

Then there's the negatives. The offensive line was below average at best, and losing their presumed RB1 in Joe Mixon to whatever injury he had that still feels like a mystery to us all didn't help things. There was no true run game here, to which adding RB talent beyond the looked-actually-decent Woody Marks should be a priority too, but even in pass protection, the Texans were just not good enough.

Ultimately, the defense is what kept them in games, and for 2026, they're going to want - and need - to balance that out if they want to take the next step forward as a franchise. It starts up front in my mind.

For this Houston Texans mock draft, we are restricting ourselves from trading and we don't have any details on how free agency will shake out.

Let's get to it.

Houston Texans Mock Draft Picks

• Round 1, Pick 28: Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

• Round 2, Pick 38: Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State

• Round 3, Pick 59: Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech

• Round 3, Pick 69: Emmett Johnson, RB, Nebraska

• Round 4, Pick 106: Isaiah World, OT, Oregon

• Round 4, Pick 128: Harold Perkins Jr., LB, LSU

• Round 5, Pick 165: Sam Roush, TE, Stanford

• Round 6, Pick 202: Nadame Tucker, EDGE, Western Michigan

• Round 7, Pick 244: Andre Fuller, CB, Toledo

Draft Analysis

It's kind of a dream scenario here for the first two days of the draft, as they get two talented plug-and-play offensive linemen as well as a possible RB1, or at least a timeshare back. Kadyn Proctor likely takes over at LT, kicking last year's second round pick, Aireontae Ersey, over to RT where he's likely a better fit, and Iaone becomes an instant starter at one of the guard spots.

Adding Isaiah World, who played tackle but could also play guard here, gives them another young talent to bring into the fold as camp competition with potential starter appeal.

With two young backs that are capable enough and an improved offensive line, this team should look a lot better than it did in 2025, making them a likely early favorite for a Super Bowl run if CJ Stroud can find his 2024 form again.

Fantasy Impacts

I totally glossed over Emmett Johnson above, but in this scenario, he's stepping into a situation where there's opportunity to start right away if he comes out hot during camp. That's not to discount Woody Marks, who I think is a good player in his own right, but the Texans were trotting out Nick Chubb a lot last season for a reason.

Best case scenario for Emmett Johnson is they make him the RB1 and leave Woody Marks for pass-down work. This could, however, end up looking like a true timeshare, which would make it hard for us to trust either of these guys in fantasy.

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