The organization isn't anywhere near as bad as it was then. Carr is looking a whole lot like the best QB from that class and he was ours for the taking at 33. I had been calling for the Texans to draft Carr for over a year before that draft.....just not in the first round and all it would have taken was a moment's courage to make it happen.
Hell who knows if the Texans picked him he may have pulled an Eli after what David went through here.
It's not about being an unpopular pick. It's about if the player (and the family supporting the player) can handle the added pressure. It doesn't mean you don't draft the guy but it is something you gotta consider. After every loss or bad game, he will have to deal with questions about his brother. That definitely can affect his play. I personally would have drafted him if I felt he could handle it physically and emotionally.
It's a fascinating topic, IMO - but I think this is something that needs to be put front and center: QBs do not succeed on raw, god-given talent alone; they have to fall into the right system, at the right time - and even then, there needs to be varying degrees of luck. Does anyone think dropping Tom Brady into any franchise wold have yielded the exact same results? In that regard, the environment for Derek here would have been wholly unique and if - IF - the Texans genuinely considered that as a potential obstacle, I think it demonstrates legitimately progressive thinking and overall awareness on the team's part. The LAST thing you'd ever want is for your team to assume everyone/thing is equal. They seldom are.
What's said in public can be different than what's said behind the scenes. Lance Zierlein has said on his show that Derek made it known to the Texans that he would prefer not to be drafted by them, but Lance said they should have done it anyway. Of course this is in hindsight now that he's playing well so easy to say.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't you been saying (rightly) that they should burn the whole thing down, fire everybody, and start over? It cannot get worse than that. They may have a bit more talent on the field, but if you are talking franchise-wise, they are every bit the traveling horsesh!t show they were back in the day.
Yeah, this current staff needs to be thrown out, but it's nowhere near as incompetent as that very first FO and staff.
While fans might have absolutely crucified them on draft night, this type of bold move might have been something that could have taken the organization to another level. But then again, I'm not so sure that OB is good enough at tuning out the public to not let the public discourse affect him when Carr would have inevitably struggled during his rookie year (as all rookies do). Kubiak was very good at tuning it all out, to the point that it almost seemed like he had no idea what the media was saying about the team. Hell, the Eagles fans boo'd Donovan McNabb on draft night and he's the best QB to ever put on their uniform. For the record, I wasn't on the Carr bandwagon coming into that draft. But at the time I also didn't know that the only QB we were going to take was Savage, and that we wouldn't draft one the following year.
