Houston Texans pair former great teammate CJ Stroud in new 2025 mock draft

The Houston Texans had an incredible 2023 season when they were expected to win about five games, but ended up winning ten games, the AFC South and a playoff game all because of their second overall pick last year when they took Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud.

Stroud has taken the Texans to new heights, and they are now one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl this season. They even upgraded their offensive position this offseason, trading for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs to go along with their already talented wide receivers Tank Dell and Nico Collins.

Collins and Dell will be in Houston for a while, but Diggs can become a free agent after this season, and there’s a good chance he won’t return to the team. So the Texans will need to find a wide receiver to replace him, and in a new 2025 NFL mock draft, Stroud gets a guy he knows very well.

Houston Texans draft Emeka Egbuka in 2025 NFL mock draft

A new mock draft from USA Today’s Jeff Risdon titled 2025 NFL Mock Draft: Early Projections with All-22 for Every Prospect has the Houston Texans taking Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with the 20th pick.

Egbuka is entering his senior season at Ohio State and was going to be a first or second round pick in this year’s draft if he came out, but he decided to return to school for one more season, and there is lucky he could do it. will be the first wide receiver off the board in this year’s draft.

Egbuka suffered an ankle injury last season, which prevented him from playing at his best. Yet in 2022, when paired with Stroud, he had 1,151 receiving yards and ten scores in an offense that also boasted college football’s best wide receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr.

Here’s what Risdon wrote about the Texans taking Egbuka in next year’s draft.

Sometimes players have to adapt to injuries. That was the case for Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka in 2023. An ankle injury in October forced him to miss three games, and the “tightrope” surgery he underwent to get him back on the field left him without the vertical dimension of his game that was evident. in 2022. So, Egbuka did what great players do: he adapted. He still caught 41 passes on 60 targets for 514 yards and four touchdowns, but his repertoire consisted of more hooks, slants and putbacks than the year before. Last season, Egbuka proved to be a do-it-all receiver in less than ideal circumstances, and that will help him get through (hopefully) a healthy 2024.

As for his fit on the Texans, Houston already has Tank Dell as a dynamic vertical component and Nico Collins as his No. 1 overall receiver. Egbuka’s understanding of the game, combined with his experience with CJ Stroud, would make him an ideal end point for Bobby Slowik’s offense.

It would be great to see Stroud and Egbuka team up again with the Houston Texans, and they could become one of the best quarterback/wide receiver duos in the NFL.

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