(SportsRadio 610) - Multiple times this week at the NFL Scouting Combine, Texans head coach Lovie Smith referred to defensive line as the engine of what they do schematically.
They want to bring pressure primarily with a four-man front, and will likely draft a player who can help them do it better than last year.
Houston currently has the No. 3 overall pick, and there are at least two players who appear to be ideal fits as edge rushers: Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson and Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Smith did not want to comment on specific players, but acknowledged both of their potential.
"I'm a fan of college football in general," Smith said. "Both of those guys had outstanding college careers. Both of them are going to have outstanding careers in the NFL, along with quite a few others. I think there's a pretty good defensive line class. Again, starting the process of seeing them here in this environment, seeing hopefully some of them workout, and in their pro days, they'll tell us an awful lot. If I'm a defensive lineman, I would like to come to a place like the Houston Texans. We start up front. Again, it's about, as I said, about the defensive line. We kind of read on the run, athletes getting up the field, making sacks and things like that. I think it's a defensive line friendly system."
Pro Football Focus tabbed the Texans as Hutchinson's best fit. It seems unlikely he would make it past the Detroit Lions, who have the No. 2 overall pick. Most mock drafts have the Texans landing Thibodeaux.
"The engine of every defense is the defensive line," Smith said. "There's a certain look we would like it to have, a certain guy we would like to coach it. We have a profile for every position up front. This past year, of course, me being a defensive coordinator, we got a jump start on letting guys see exactly how we're going to play defense. We had a few players that had pretty good years based on the first time out, some potential. Normally that improvement from anything, game 1 to game 2, first year to second year. Can't wait to get started on that."