Fair enough. People giving the Texans less-than-stellar grades shouldn't be marginalized. However, FWIW, I think the Texans were able to (somewhat) address ILB and CB, although later in the draft/process: Dre Hal seems to have been a major steal at CB at the top of the 7th round. TheSidelineView.com (TSV) had an early 4th round grade on him (higher than Tom Savage, who was graded by TSV right around where he was taken). Max Bullough (signed by the Texans as an undrafted free agent) had a 5th/6th round grade from TSV and was rated by ESPN.com as a top-10 ILB in this draft. If you notice, very few ILBs were even drafted this year. The Texans may have counted on this and planned all along to immediately grab the top undrafted ILB. Bullough easily could've been a 5th rounder by the Texans, and no one would've batted an eyelash. My point is, even though there was no way for the Texans to address ALL their needs in the draft, I think they may have actually helped themselves in more areas than you realize.
Maybe you just came to the realization that the Texans had a ton of holes. When you consider that the Texans picked up the best defensive player, Top NT, highest rated interior offensive lineman, top blocking TE(athletic ability similar to Gronk/great red zone target), run stuffing DE(considered a possible second rounder before poor combine/King Jeoffery), didn't waste an early pick on the poor draft class....... Should I keep going? Draft was better than you give it credit for.
Oh, for certain a lot of holes. Which was why I thought they should trade down after the first. Lots of holes. The biggest of which I listed. They could make trades, or sign another player. But while they did make an improvement at the OG and TE positions... they are incremental improvements. Hence the B+ grade. They have significant needs at positions I listed (QB, ILB, CB, OT, S). That's why I can't give them an A or A-.
Love this draft. They didn't reach for anyone, the didn't give up Clowney for less than fair value, they didn't waste a top 2 pick on an overrated qb. I think Rick Smith deserves some credit and may actually be decent GM now that Kubiak isn't around to call the shots.
You have to consider that Clowney's effectiveness will mask holes in your secondary/LB core. When the crowd noise is up at home and lineman have to stare at the ball for the snap, Clowney's get off will become a huge factor. Nix will push the pocket more, helping Clowney/Mercy/Reed/Cuahing clean plays up.
I can see not marginalizing grades based on player evaluations. I have no problem marginalizing a draft grade because the grade takes into account "need" (i.e. Texans given a poor draft grade because they had a poor team last year). The Texans had less draft picks than needs. All the players the Texans drafted in the first two days should make the team and help (i.e. Not Sam Montgomery, who did make the team, but didn't really help). I tend to marginalize draft grades that are down on a pick based on need, but on the flip side I also tend to marginalize positive draft grades that are based solely on the team filling needs (unless it involves trading up or down). Outside of CJ and maybe the late picks, there has not been much criticism that the guy the Texans drafted is a worse player than guys drafted around him.
My quarterback didn't get passed up. I wanted Sammy or a trade down. But I would have been fine with Robinson or Blake (if that's who O'Brien wanted). But I gave them a C+. It's not like I gave them an "F." It's still a passing grade.
I think I already mentioned the pass rush improvement benefit to our defense: And you can never completely plan for a significant injury. But Cush has had two, and if he goes down, Reed and whatever other ILB plug-in are now your starters. Sure would have been good to add one higher up in the draft. Heck, maybe Smith can do something and intercept Shane Skov before he signs with the Niners. And while I do think a better rush helps the defensive backfield, or last year's version was really a weakness of the team. And this draft was pretty deep with CBs (less so with safeties). Especially bigger CBs.
San Francisco has both Willis and Bowman. Bowman got hurt in the NFC championship game... They drafted an ILB in the 3rd round of the draft this year. But the Texans put all of their eggs in one basket with faith that Cushing can go back to what he was a few years ago, undrafted free agent rookies, and the hopes Reed can play inside. I get your point.
If we would have drafted Tom Brady,Calvin Johnson,JJ Watt, and Luke Keekly in the same draft, im almost certain Remii would have still given out a B.
The only reason the board likes this draft is because we traded up once and drafted a QB. Otherwise you would all be b****ing like you were when Minnesota leapfrogged to get Bridgewater.
Moving this response to the right thread: Remii, the Texans were never going to draft Watkins and shouldn't have. Edited for pettiness.
Bridgewater is like every other QB in this draft mediocre or useless. Bortles has a chance to be solid and Manziel has some serious learning to do but other wise terrible QB class just pathetic.
I think after the Rams the Texans had the best draft. I'm not being a homer, I genuinely liked all the picks except the TE but i'm warming up to it
If that's who you wanted then you were determined to leave the draft dissatisfied because none of those options were realistic heading into the last week or even month before the finish. It's sometimes an unenviable task to have the #1 pick because you cannot realistically take any but a couple people. You don't have the benefit of hindsight; you need to pick the best prospects NOW because if you pass on that guy and he turns out to fulfill his potential, then that's your job that you have instantly lost with one transaction period. On the other hand if you choose the consensus best prospect on the board and he disappoints a bit, no one will fault you for it. Look at the Mario Williams draft. In the end the best players in the first round were probably either D'brickashaw or Haloti Ngata. But none of them were realistic options at 1. So you leave those chances to people who have the ability to take the gamble with less money in the pot. The odds remain against Clowney having the best career out of everyone drafted in the first round. I mean, he's competing against 31 other people, some of whom might be entering into more perfect situations. Nevertheless, it remains consensus opinion that no one has more talent than him. Let's hope it pans out.
