The Texans #1 Draft Pick Thread (2.0)

You could make the same argument but flip pass rushers and quarterbacks. O'Brien is considered a QB guy. If he sees one that is worth swinging for the fences in the first round, I don't see why we won't pick him. If he really means it when he says there's not much separation between the group of QBs, there's no reason to use 1.1 on a QB.

 

B'OB told you this personally? Assuming anything, especially insight into what a head coach might want, is foolish.

 

Then why did they sign Michael Vick?

The Packers were 10-6 when they used a first round pick on Aaron Rodgers.

I would be very surprised if every team in football has a 2nd round, or lower, grade on Teddy Bridgewater. Don't get sucked into media evaluations - they have no insight on where teams have players slotted. When a prospect of his ilk falls into the 20s, that represents tremendous value (again, look at the Pack/Rodgers).

Anything's possible. But I count at least 9 QB-needy teams in this draft. And a guy long considered an upper-tier prospect being passed on by every one of them seems unlikely to me. Again - anything's possible.

 

It's funny you say that because the only people who ever had Bridgewater rated highly is the media.

 

That goes for every other prospect, bobbythegreat. Unless NFL teams started releasing their draft boards and I was unaware...? No? Yeah. The entire event is media-driven.

But we do know Bridgewater's pro day attracted 30 NFL teams; we know teams that have met with him individually; teams with high draft picks... the NFL, collectively, obviously has interest in him as a prospect.

 

The difference is that everything you hear is "While he was highly ranked on my board, I'm not hearing much interest around the league" or "I still have him as the top QB, but scouts and front office personnel I've talked to think he'll fall to the second round". The media's evaluation of Bridgewater were glowingly positive which is what molded most of the Bridgewater bandwagon to begin with, it has been NFL types who question him the most.

 

Also, don't confuse interest with approval.

 

There's not much separation between these OLB's either so why spend a high pick on Clowney or Mack (strong possibility that they are not even the best ones in this draft and arguments can be made that they are not). Especially when Romeo is known for developing late round picks (I think Willie McGinnis and Houston were 3rd or 4th round picks). Plus we still have Mercilus who's only been in the league for 2 years and hardly got to play in his rookie season.

I believe O'Brien is just blowing smoke when he says there's not much separation between the quarterbacks in this draft... I don't think he even believes that.

And if O'Brien is truly a quarterback guru and offensive genius _ then take the best quarterback in this draft and develop him. Or take an offensive lineman or Sammy Watkins and try to build a dominant offense since he's an offensive minded head coach.

If they wanted to build a dominant defense and try to be like Seattle _ McNair should have threw his bank account at Lovie.

 

Wow Todd Mcshay on SC called all the QBs in this class overrated

 

I don't think this is the case at all. Even if all 3 are "equally good", it doesn't mean they are similar - they all have very different strengths and weaknesses and different playing styles. It's unlikely that each will be an equally good fit for whatever BOB envisions his ideal offense to be. If he values football IQ and pro-set experience, you probably lean towards Bridgewater. If he values creativity and unpredictability, you probably lean towards Manziel. If he values size and measurables, you probably lean towards Bortles.

He might be *able* to reshape his offense differently based on the different QBs, but it doesn't mean he should. It's likely that there's either one specific QB that fits what he wants well, or that none do. If one does, they should take him rather than gambling that he'll drop enough to take him later or they can just pick one of the others and come up with a different offense to fit him.

 

I'm not usually a fan, but that seems to be a fairly accurate statement.

 

He said the same about Cam and said Gabbert would be the better pro quarterback... Carolina paid no attention to McShay and rightfully so.

 

Nobody knows shat until the players take the freaking field.

 

You're selectively favoring a narrative that aligns with your own point of view. I could remove "Bridgewater" from your response, insert *any other* prospect, and it'd be just a true.

I work with the Texans. Closely. I know people up and down the organization. They don't know anything. Nothing. Any and all pre- draft talk is media-driven conjecture. That you fall for it with Bridgewater, and dismiss it elsewhere, speaks only to your bias. It's ALL b.s. Every last bit of it.

 

this. to think you can accurately predict how a player will perform is asinine. College QBs who played in a pro-style offense fail in the NFL many times. Hundreds of SEC players never live up to their billing. 4th round draft picks become annual pro-bowlers while top 5 picks are out of the league in 4 years. you just hope your team makes the right selection. half the time prepare to be disappointed.

 

But...but....what about all the mock drafts?!?!?

 

Mel Kiper had a conference call with the media yesterday. I wrote down what he said on the three questions on Texans/Clowney.

Q. Seems like Jadeveon Clowney goes 2 weeks with great press and then 2 weeks bad press. I was curious if you still see Houston taking him if they don't trade out of the pick.

A. In terms of the up and down Clowney publicity, that's just the way it is, everybody is going to have their opinions. The opinions can come in positive or negative on Clowney just because of the circumstances he was in with South Carolina this year. I didn't see the lack of hustle. I didn't see the lack of effort. I saw a guy that played hard 90% of the time, the 10% he didn't nobody would because you won't chase a play on the other side of the field when you gotta play four quarters when teams throw the ball as much as they throw the ball in college football these days. To me he's the #1 pick, whether he's a Houston Texan or somebody else, I don't know how you take somebody over Clowney.

Q. [Question about other South Carolina players, blah, blah, blah]. On Clowney, how much stock should journalists put in an anonymous quote by an NFL executive this time of year?

A. I don't think anybody is going #1 but Clowney, whether it's Houston or a trade. He's a once in every 20 year guy, so I wouldn't worry about too much about the comment.

[blah, blah, blah]

In terms of Clowney and where he is right now, I don't see what others are seeing, but I don't see any defensive end out there in the last 20 years been blocked by 3 guys on a regular basis and that's because he's a great player. Stats don't make a difference, it's how you perform, whether you were impactful. He was impactful in all the games I watched. I like Clowney an awful lot.

Q. This is about Bill O'Brien. Being a first year head coach with the #1 pick, does that change his dynamic? Does that create more pressure for him to not only necessarily get the pick right but not get it wrong by taking a chance on somebody other than Clowney?

A. It's pressure no matter when you're in. If you're in the third year and you're struggling as a head coach, you're either gonna get a guy to help you or you're gonna be gone. As a first year coach, you get the first pick, it's hard to screw that up, some have in the past but it's hard to do that when you have a player like Clowney sitting there staring you in the face. It's about scheme fit. If they think they can get the most out of Clowney and that's not by dropping him into coverage, that's by going after the quarterback exclusively, then draft him. If you're gonna try and make him a multidimensional outside linebacker / defensive end I don't think that's not utilizing him properly. It just depends on how they're going to scheme fit him. That's why in the 3rd mock I had Khalil Mack going there. I thought he was more of a scheme fit. But Clowney is the better player and Clowney deserves to be the #1 pick. That's why you go back to him. They gotta figure it out. That's their job.

If they want to pass on that and trade down and get a quarterback, take Bortles, take Manziel, they could do that. I think what you're gonna find in this draft is that Bill O'Brien, like all coaches and GMs, they're gonna draft players they're familiar with. He coached with a lot of guys at Penn State that are in the mix. We talked about DaQuan Jones, the defensive tackle. Allen Robinson, the wide receiver. There's a couple guys, Glenn Carson the linebacker and then there's the guys he played against, which would be Bortles who went into Happy Valley and beat him. So anybody he played against he was in the recruiting process [inaudible] going back in terms of what he had at Penn State, in terms of seniors and juniors like Robinson coming out early. They usually go back to the players they're familiar with. That would be players he played against and the guys he coached at Penn State.

 

I fail to see why Clowney's rookie deal would be a problem, also, if they are basing their picks on how much they cost then we are screwed.