Sounds like a good player with good character to me.

Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak told me they loved Illinois outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus, but there was no way he’d be available when they made the 26th pick.

Well, guess what?

Mercilus was available, and they jumped on him even though they really liked Stanford OT Jonathan Martin and George G/T Cordy Glenn as well as Wisconsin offensive linemen Kevin Zeitler and Peter Konz.

Mercilus is 6-3, 1/2, 261. He ran a 4.68 40-yard dash at the combine. In his one season as a starter for Illinois, he had 16 sacks, nine forced fumbles and 22 1/2 tackles for loss. Those are incredible statistics.

Mercilus left school as a junior to take care of his parents, who emigrated from Haiti.

We lost a couple of top notch linebackers to free agency this year. Adding Whitney Mercilus to Buddy Ryan's defense seems like a good first step to addressing the need this created.

Look for the Texans to draft a wide receiver today.