Whenever they trade up its also because they get word another team is trading up as well... Not simply the team that they immediately pass.
We gave up a sixth to move up and potentially get a guy that could start for us for a long time. Hopefully he turns out like or better than his brother
It's common knowledge that when you trade up, you're also trying to beat other teams trading up to take the same player.
I love that all the core OL are still under contract for multiple years. Brown 3 yrs XSF 2 yrs Martin 4 yrs Allen 4 yrs Newton 4 yrs Clark 2 yrs Bergstrom 2 yrs A great way to develop continuity.
I feel like we have this discussion every time we draft an OL in the top 3 rounds. People expect them to start right away, and they typically don't. And if they do, they struggle quite a bit. I'm not going to be disappointed if Martin doesn't start at C right away. That is the 2nd hardest learning curve behind LT. I assume we signed Bergstrom because we felt he was capable of starting, so we should have a serviceable person in the position regardless.
Took Duane like 3 years to become an above average LT. Very few make the transition like his brother did and become Pro Bowlers right away (if Martin was not a Cowboy he wouldn't have been a Pro Bowler at all). XSF should be a cemented starter next year. Martin will take till mid next year to see progress out of him. Anything before that is gravy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bill O'Brien on Nick Martin: Starting off we'll put behind a couple guys at center. He'll have to earn it like everyone else. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNFL/status/727259018247454730">May 2, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Texans sign C Nick Martin.</p>— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/McClain_on_NFL/status/731191815144099840">May 13, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Very true. I do think interior linemen typically have less of a learning curve than the guys on the edges, so that should work in Martin's favor.