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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mark Lane

USC WR Drake London would help the Texans passing game with YAC

The Houston Texans are going to go all-in on second-year quarterback Davis Mills as their field general.

If the Texans really wanted to give Mills a fair shake, or even stockpile weapons for their eventual franchise quarterback, it would behoove them to look at playmaking perimeter players.

According to Chris Trapasso from CBS Sports, one player who may be able to add a dynamic yards after the catch element to the next offense he joins is former USC receiver Drake London.

At a shade under 6-4 and 219 pounds, London plays how the average fan would expect him too — he ferociously rebounds the football down the field. In fact, his 17 contested-catch “victories” led all of college football last season, and he only appeared in eight games before getting injured. 

Oddly enough though, it feels like the lede is being buried with London’s draft profile. He forced 22 missed tackles in those eight games. Garrett Wilson was credited with 19 forced missed tackles in 13 contests. Treylon Burks? Fifteen of them in 13 outings. And Chris Olave just one on his 65 receptions. And London’s a moose in the open field, powering through anything resembling a less-than-assertive tackling attempt en route to accumulating extra yardage.

The Texans’ leader in yards after the catch in 2021 was Brandin Cooks with 357. If the Texans added London, they would have a receiver who just needed to shake one defender loose with his size to have open space and generate the chunk plays Houston’s offense lacked in 2021.

London is a receiver that projects to go in the top-15 of the draft. If Houston wanted to add London, they would need to do so with their No. 13 overall pick in Round 1. The Texans would need to ensure they had addressed a key roster hole with their No. 3 overall pick before going with a luxury weapon such as London.

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