Even with trading away Posey, this seems like an odd choice. BOB's offenses never feature WR2.. So the final verdict will depend on whether we give him the ball or not. If we plan to feature him as a top 3 option in the offense, then I understand. If he languishes under 50 catches for 3 years waiting to be WR1, then I'd say it was a mistake.
Guys I love the pick. I wanted him in the first but this is 10x better. I watched him in college and I THINK he'll be awesome with Hopkins.
1st round talent? This is from the bleacherreport, so take it for what it's worth. They believe Strong is perfect for the Texans system. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-perfect-situation-as-texans-third-round-pick
I think it's too early to be saying "BOB's offenses". We really don't know what type of offense he likes. How much decision-making did he have at NE; I doubt he had a major say in personnel matters. He had one year to recruit at Penn State. I don't think we know what he wants out of his offense yet except for what he tells the media.
Not counting this year, we have 3 years of him running an offense. In all 3 of those years, the hierarchy in the pass game has been WR1>TE1>TE2>WR2>RB1. Just going by the tale of the tape.
There's no way of knowing, but he did call the plays for them, so I'd bet his opinion was respected while there......but you're right, it's hard to know his exact leanings already.
I watched every asu game last year, I never saw any weaknesses, he looked like Andre out there. Honestly in my 8 years of watching ASU football he was the first player I thought was a game changer. Only concern is his ability to recover from his recent injury. I wanted him at 16, I think he's a star.
So far in BOB's career, having two prominent WRs has been the exception, not the rule. If he's featured (and produces...) great, if not, you have to wonder what the reasoning was here. Is this TE class so watered down that we're just not bothering, perhaps? Maybe Graham and Griffin aren't on the outs as much as most thought?
The Texans weren't exactly equipped to make many changes to that hierarchy, either. We gave the ball to our most talented guys, no doubt. I just wonder what their long-term plan is here.
It wasn't quite so simple. They traded Devier Posey, and the 82nd, 152nd, and 229th overall picks to get Strong. Not earth shattering, but not inconsequential, either.
I think the long term plan is to have as many options as possible, you already have Nuk Hopkins as a WR1, now you have a legit WR2 option, you have CJ Fiedorowicz coming on to take the TE1 spot, and there will be a battle for the slot job. You also have one of the better receiving RB's in the game. So far the main trend I've seen with BOB is that he values having options and versatile players, adding another WR that can do a lot of different things for you be it running in the slot, outside, bubble screens, or being an end zone threat sounds exactly like something he'd want.
Another thought-- During the Andre divorce, BOB was said to have asked AJ to take a reduced role and expect, at most, 50 catches. This falls in line with BOB's prior offensive distributions. If BOB is willing to put Andre in that position, there should be little doubt he'd be willing to put Strong in that role. To that end, I should probably step back my reaction. 50 catches a year isn't anything to scoff at for a 3rd rounder (even if we did give up a little extra to get him). If he starts dipping into the low 40s/high 30s, then it's cause for concern. I do think anyone expecting this to be the next Fitzgerald/Boldin combo need to walk those expectations back a little bit, though.
Agreed. Plus, from DeAndre's perspective, he sees a guy coming in here that is getting some hype and lofty comparisons to take over for Dre one day by the media, and it's only going to motivate DeAndre to elevate his own game even further and prove he is the true #1. Friendly competition is always welcomed.
Strong is a poor man's Kelvin Benjamin. He's going to go up and get the ball, but his piss-poor route running shows a lackadaisical approach to his craft. Still, its never a bad thing to have a guy who go up and snag the ball even while covered.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TuUfKmriBxw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I don't think we ever heard anyone say "50 at most", I think part of the 50 catches talk was based on a reduced number of targets, reduced to somewhere around 80 to 100 which could lead to Dre only getting 50 catches given his ever diminishing catch rate. 80 or 90 targets would be in line with what I'd expect Strong to see this season.
