With the 11th Pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Mock Draft, the Houston Texans Select...

With the 11th pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Community Mock Draft, the Houston Texans select...

Aldon Smith, DE, Missouri

This selection and write-up was made by rdy:

You don't have to follow the Texans to realize their obvious weakness is what many would call a swiss cheese pass defense. With the two projected elite corners off the board the next best way to help their secondary is to shorten the time the DB's have to cover their assignments. Last season the Texans recorded 30 sacks, tied for 24th in the league. That must improve.

With Wade Phillips bringing in the 3-4 defense they are going to need a playmaker on the outside who can bring it, and put some much needed pressure on the QB. If he can grasp the 3-4 system pretty quick then I can see him giving the Texans a big boost on the defensive side of the ball.

I have a different philosophy for what I want the Texans to do with this pick. There's nothing wrong with Smith necessarily, but at No. 11 overall, I just get the sense that they are right on the border of missing out on the very top prospects in the draft. I'm under the assumption that one first-round pick on defense isn't going to improve their defense that much, and I would love to see the Texans take Julio Jones here. Can you imagine Jones paired with Andre Johnson and Arian Foster? If Houston can become a more consistent offensive powerhouse and build their defense a little bit in the later rounds, I think that is the way to go.

The Minnesota Vikings are on the clock next (email has been sent to Simmsinns).