Thanks for the props. I ended up seeing a bunch of Wisconsin games for some reason that year, and I really liked what I saw in him. The media managed to talk me out of thinking we were going to pick him, but I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be a rouse orchestrated by Smith/Phillips. As for people's reactions... I think it's half "why didn't we take a CB" and half "this guy sucks". Nobody would be THAT upset as all those guys in the draft thread were if they felt Watt was capable of being an all-pro. Edit: LOL, I went back and read the actual thread. Wow. That's some funny stuff. The love affair with Nick Fairley especially. What a worthless turd. To the BBS's credit though, the silent majority of people did like the pick.
I, like most people, was slamming my head against the wall because a team with the worst secondary on the planet and weak at DT in the midst of a transition to 3-4 went with what was at the time going to be a high first round pick coming off the bench. It made zero sense, especially with a top DT/NT freefalling into our laps and two high rated CBs right there as well. They had ~8 holes to fill, and used their first selection on a guy that wouldn't be able start. Further recall that, up to that point in time, the franchise had never paid for a top flight outside FA and had only publicly pursued one (Pace). The J-Joesph/D-Manning signings were inconceivable. It was akin to the Rockets selecting nothing but 6-9 PFs when they were losing both PGs and had no centers. I was very happy by the end of the weekend when Wade reversed course and said he was going to move Mario to OLB.
Part of the frustration with the Watt pick was also that, at that point, free agency hadn't started yet, and cornerback was an obvious need for the team. If most people had known we were going to get Joseph and Manning in the defensive backfield, I think people would have felt better about the pick. With that being said, I was always in the camp of "Wade Knows Best". I frankly didn't know enough about Watt to have an opinion one way or another, but I knew that Son of Bum knows his defensive players, and I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So many things to like about Watt: 1. the non-stop motor 2. the quickness for the size 3. his attitude/desire to WANT to be one of the best and to make it known so vocally 4. his interaction with the young fans/community involvement 5. being part of the workout warrior group (Reed, Cushing, Barwin) to get stronger 6. The fact Wade Phillips sees future HOF in him - he doesn't throw that around too often!
how is that? DE, and the DL in general was a huge need as well as the secondary and given those positions, i'm not sure the texans wanted to go young again in the secondary...especially with the quality secondary guys on the free agent list. Bottom line, if you were that upset about the Watt pick then it probably meant you didn't think he would be an impactful/good player...and again, i'm focusing on the extreme reations
Because we had one of the worst secondaries in the history of the NFL and there were seemingly good prospects still available at that pick. Plus, they had not yet announced that Mario was moving positions. And bottom line is most people here have shown or admitted they didn't like the pick based on our need at the time coming off a historically terrible secondary. You can call us all liars if you want, but you'd be wrong.
I think the announcements about Mario and all that was definitely so they could hide their intentions, the Texans played that very well. And yes, some people's anger was undoubtedly about not drafting for need, but you have to remember, VERY few people had Watt rated ahead of guys like Fairley, Quinn, Kerrigan, etc. The Texans got a LOT of heat for taking a supposed "inferior" DL.
this is comical. He gave me no examples of people not liking the pick because they didn't think he was going to be a good player, which would constitute a "bust" at the #11 pick.
Kerrigan, Fairley and Quinn were all guys at a different position. They weren't just DLinemen. The first and third were projected to be able to play OLB which was a need position and Fairley obviously was a DT. I readily admit to not thinking Watt would be an All-Pro. I did think he would be a solid pro. I was unhappy with the pick though because based on the team's stated position (and my own belief that Mario couldn't play OLB) we drafted a backup as a team that was desperately in need of impact starters.
Moral of the story, maybe next draft we should give the Texans the benefit of the doubt. I did this time (it was easier since it matched up with my own preferences, heh heh), and it made for a very pleasant experience. It feels good to have some confirmation that the Texans know what they're doing.
If you look back to page 1 of that thread, there were plenty of folks upset over reasons other than position. P.S. I'm quite amused that post badlee ended up with one of the most epic fails of the thread. Shocker! :grin:
I guess that's the problem. A lot of us don't really know the eventual "master plan" when these type of moves are made. For all we know maybe Watt was projected as falling to them and they were already planning on moving Mario to OLB. We just don't know. Pretty much the same reference you use with the Rox, we can use with the Texans. Everyone was irrate that we took White and Jones, instead of guys like Zeller and Melo. Which in hindsight were the right picks, that could also help us in the pursuit of Howard or Bynum. All I'm saying is obviously Watt was the right choice, since JPP wasn't in his draft class. :grin:
I'll be honest, I didnt' know much about Watt at that time and saw guys that were supposed to be good at that point in round one that filled needs. It really had nothing to do with Watt, that is the funny thing. I wanted Fairley and at this point, looks like it would have been a horrible decision, much like I wanted Bush. I don't have the resources or time to scout all these people, just go by what other projections are. I love Watt now and he might be my favorite on the team, I'll admit when I was wrong and I was way off on this one.
Apparently so. It's in that thread, it's in this one. I'm sure there was the random "Watt sucks" tossed around, but largely, everyone was focused on NT and DB going into that pick, and the selection of a DE was a blindside hit. You would have seen the same reaction if they took an offensive player. Wade wasn't talking about Mario standing at all - he was talking him up as Bruce Smith. Even 610 reported that day that Watt would rotate in and help inside on passing downs. For a team that desperately needed no less than 5 strong new starters on D, there was some serious shock to them shoring up depth with the first pick. And at the time, no, they had not earned any benefit of the doubt. They earned it in spades by the end of the offseason, however. It's certainly a great testament to the fact that as fans, we don't know crap about the prospects on draft day no matter how many mock drafts and combine reports we had been reading the month prior. I knew Watt was solid....but I had no idea that he was going to be one of the best players on the team out of the box.
One of the reasons I watch the draft at arm's length and rarely, if ever, get involved in any discussions about it, is the overflowing # of know-nothing "know-it-all" armchair "analysts" that have poured out of every crack and creavice these past 5-10 years. It amuses me *any*one in a messgae forum would pretend they know 1/1,000,000,000,000,000th as much as any NFL personnel person, good, bad or otherwise, *especially* when it comes to the draft. It's one thing to have an opinion (I've seen this player, he's good), quite another to profess any degree of expertise (Him? *I* wouldn't have drafted him!!!). *Of course* no one liked the pick (except for DM- very nice, btw) - they don't know anything.
