With the second pick in the Pod Community Mock Draft, the Houston Texans select..

The Pride of Detroit Community Mock rolls out. We already have a mild surprise with the first overall pick, as the Carolina Panthers—as general managed by commenter BigJShaky—went with Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who is not currently the favorite to be the first overall pick.

Now we move to the Houston Texans, a franchise that has seemed just lost over the past few years. For the second straight draft, they have two first-round picks. Last year, it was 3 and 15. This year, it’s 2 and 12. Certainly, that’s enough resources to finally get this thing turned around, right?

For our purposes, it will be up to katmandoo122 to help turn things around in Houston.

With the second pick in the Pod Community Mock, Texans general manager katmandoo122 selects...

C.J. Stroud, quarterback out of Ohio State.

Here is katmandoo122’s explanation:

“It is a no-brainer that the Texans were going to select a quarterback, right? Right? After the Bears traded the pick, everyone read how they would take whichever QB was left after Carolina. So, it was a foregone conclusion.

“Except that it was not.

“Nick Caserio and I use a hybrid talent/positional value matrix that made C.J. Stroud number one on the Texan’s big board, with Will Anderson virtually tied with Bryce Young for number two. Simulations had the Panthers selecting Stroud, so the last two weeks involved a great deal of debate about Young vs. a combination of Anderson along with hoping for a QB to drop to 12. Then things got easy.

“Caserio came up in the ‘Patriot Way.’ Although some Patriot scions have sullied that term (to say the least), for Caserio, it means don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Stroud represents that mentality perfectly.

“Yes, he has prototypical size for the position (6-foot-3, a bit over 215 pounds). Yes, his arm strength is high, able to make those difficult outside-the-numbers throws. Yes, his accuracy is stellar, completing over 66% of his passes with a college football-leading 9.5 yards per attempt. Stroud’s willingness to throw in Indianapolis along with being nearly perfect when doing so gave Caserio a great deal of comfort about both Stroud’s mental and physical talents. Here’s a kid used to performing under the lights.

“But ultimately, what sold Caserio on him was his progression as a player. As a true freshman, he had one snap. As a redshirt freshman, he started. He lost four games as a Buck but got progressively better nearly every game, culminating in a dominating performance against an NFL-level defense in the CFP. When C.J. was there at 2, the only thing Caserio had to worry about was not getting in trouble for submitting his pick too soon.”