Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan reviewed the 2013 NFL Draft with Texans insider Nick Scurfield. In this "Scout's Take" series, we'll share his thoughts on each of the Texans' nine draft picks, from tight end Ryan Griffin in the sixth round to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the first.*
WR Alan Bonner – (6th round, 195th overall)
5-10, 193 – Jacksonville State – Newnan (Ga.) H.S.
Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan
"Alan's another guy when I looked at the sixth-round guys that I was kind of excited about. I personally didn't go to the school call, but I ended up watching quite a bit of tape on him throughout our process. I know our scouts had liked him and the coaches had liked him. He played at a slightly smaller school in terms of not the traditional Division I-A type school you see in the big conferences, but he was a very interesting prospect, I thought, when we looked at him. He's a good athlete. He went to the Combine, performed well there. I think the thing you really saw when you watched him was he's (got) really, really good quickness into and out of his breaks. He's got some savvy to him. He's got good hands. He plays bigger and faster than his size and timed speed. He's one of those guys when you're kind of going through your draft evaluation process, you're sort of thinking in the back of your head where guys would be really
good guys if they slid to a certain point in the draft. When he was there in the sixth round, from my standpoint, I thought he was a very interesting and good prospect to get at that point in time. It'll be interesting to see how he ends up doing in the league, but I think the initial impression coming out of mini-camp is he's done a good job for us.
"I personally thought he had a lot of qualities as a receiver, but he does have return ability on the college tape when you watched him. He's definitely going to be competing for a potential spot as a punt returner, I would think, possibly kick returner. When I watch him as a punt returner, he has really good vision, shows some savvy and feel and elusiveness. I think he has sort of the physical skill set you would think to be good in that role at the next level. Obviously, he has to go out there and do it. I don't know if he's quite as an acclaimed returner, per se, as some other guys that we have evaluated over the years, but when you watch him when he does return, you would think he definitely has the skill set to potentially come in and compete for that position on our team."
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