2024 NFL Mock Draft: Full three-round mock draft with crazy trades

23. Houston Texans: Byron Murphy, DL, Texas

I don’t know that there’s going to be any team in the NFL that’s going to be more fun to watch in the 2024 offseason than the Houston Texans. They are loaded with salary cap space, they have their franchise QB in place, and they are coming off of a worst-to-first season. Free agents are going to want to go there, and whatever the Texans do in the NFL Draft is likely to be icing on the cake.

So why not appeal to the hearts of so many Texas/Texans fans by taking Byron Murphy to come in and be an impact player on DeMeco Ryans’s defensive front? The Texans could lose Sheldon Rankins in free agency. Even if they replace him with Chris Jones, that defensive line will get more of a revamp going forward. Ryans wants to make it painful for teams to try to have to block his defensive front.

24. Dallas Cowboys: Brian Thomas Jr., WR, LSU

The run on offensive tackles earlier in this 2024 NFL mock draft scenario really hurt the Dallas Cowboys, because they probably would love to add someone at that position. Maybe we see them move up.

If not, they sort of lucked into a really great situation here at the wide receiver position. With Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb coming up on massive contracts, the Cowboys are going to need to get some financially responsible players elsewhere on the offense, and what they’ve assembled at the wide receiver position right now is unacceptable.

You could get rid of both Michael Gallup and Brandin Cooks and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Brian Thomas Jr. is a 6-foot-4 playmaker who led FBS with 17 touchdown grabs. His speed and ability to win at all levels of the field could pair great with Lamb.