Is Brandon Brooks any good?

The scouts can chime in with more detail, but I'm pretty sure he was doing really well by the end of last season.

 

I think Lance has said something like he'll be among the best run blocking Gs in football.

 

he is. the problem is the other guy on his right.

 

I think it was Football Outsiders that had him graded as one of the best Guards (top 10) in the league last year or at least towards the end of it.

 

Yes. Newton was terrible.

 

Starting LG Wade Smith is no longer with the team (and was underwhelming last season).

OBie might need/want different OL than did Kubiak.

 

We have who Ben Jones and a couple of other bodies for LG competition really need a RT

 

Depends on what O'Brien wants. The line we have is built for Kubiak's zone blocking scheme which requires smaller more athletic offensive lineman (usually). Jay Gruden has been bringing in bigger offensive lineman up in Washington this off season because he doesn't run that type of scheme.

Have you heard what type of scheme he intends to run....?

I believe Brooks is a beast and will be good in any system though. No need to worry about him.

 

Not after this draft...We will end up with Robinson, Matthews, or Lewan...among others.

 

Brandon Brooks is the 2nd best blocker on the Texans.

 

Ben Jones has been kind of a disappointment. I don't think he's a real starting guard in the league. They tried to give him the RG job but he just wasn't strong enough. He's a Center, but with Myers here he's just a backup/rotational guy.

My bet would be Quessenberry being our LG this year. They tried both Q and Jones at LG when Smith was out in the preseason and Q definitely looked better. It was looking like he might have won the job outright last year had he not broken his foot.

I think we're going to add some power running elements, but we're not completely abandoning the ZBS.

 

He's pretty good, and has a definite chance to leap into the elite level this year, with current trajectory.

What happened to the line last year:

Duane Brown had an "off" year (just not as dominant):
LG, whoever it was, was poor the whole season.
Chris Myers was good.
Brandon Brooks had a trajectory: he started off "meh" but really turned it on at the end of the year.
RT was arguably the worst in the league.

2013 Texans O-Line ladies and gentleman.

 

I think Lance said he had some technique issues which need to be cleaned up, but hopefully he can continue to make strides this season.

Here's a clip from Week 2 of LZ breaking down some OL play (specifically Brooks):
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bmYSunaBWQg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

If you really want a nice summation of positions, this chart is pretty accurate:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/05/05/draft-needs-afc-south-2/

RG is the least of the Texans' concerns.

 

Earlier, when I said I thought Football Outsiders has him graded as a top 10 guard, it was PFF.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/12/19/secret-superstars-week-15-2/

From Week 15.

And note, that that's #10 amongst all guards, not just RG. #10 out of 64 starting spots in the league.

 

This might just be me, but when it comes to basketball, I trust my own analysis. For football, I am heavily dependent on PFF: there is just too much happening on each play.