I'm not saying they are a great franchise but I give them more credit than what a bunch of Aggie fanboys and media knobslobbers are hyping up to the the next NFL star.
Yea but Johnny, Blake, and Teddy will probably all be better than Schaub. Who was more important to the Texans organization as far as winning games _ Schaub or Mario...??? And Clowney isn't a better prospect than what Mario was when he came out but these 3 quarterbacks are better prospects than what Schaub was when he came out. This stuff isn't rocket science. Defense may win championships but offense wins games and a team can't make it to the chip unless they win games.
He'd join a team with Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, Duane Brown, JJ Watt, Brian Cushing... They're not the 2013 Seahawks; but they're not the 2011-2013 Jacksonville Jags, either. If they can find competent QB play, I don't see why they can't win at least 7+ games this year.
Or create an implosion so large, a black hole is formed, swallowing the city whole. I honestly don't know what to think about him and whether he's the right pick for the Texans. There's clearly talent. There's clearly things to be concerned with. Making the arguments that it would sell more jerseys is stupid. This is one of the most profitable and valuable franchises in all of sports. Selling a few more jerseys is not going into the decision of whether to take a player or not. But, being in the spotlight more would be nice. The problem is you have is, if it doesn't work...if he's terrible and they just blew the #1 pick...you just set the franchise back more than this last season did. If you take him #1, he has to start week 1. What if he doesn't? If you think the screaming in Denver and New Jersey was loud to play Tebow, it's nothing compared to the sheep calls that will be coming from the Aggie faithful. The way the talent in this draft appears to be shaking out, the Texans are damned if they do and damned if they don't. This is not a good draft to have the #1 and really needing a qb. I'm not sold at all on Bridgewater or Bortles. The issues with Clowney worry me. Maybe they should just go with Matthews and see what's there, qb-wise, for pick #33.
This is not hype. He's got better tools and more upside than anyone in the this QB class. BTW, I hate the aggies.
You would have to be idiots not to take Johnny. We have 11 picks this year. We need to either trade down to a close to top position and nab him while getting an extra pick. If we cannot pick a solid QB or two with these 11 picks, we should just leave the NFL. What other player has the resume like he does? Your going to take Bortles because he is 6'5 or Teddy Bridgewater who has a miserable proday and still thought he did good.
Bill O'Brien already said the rookie QB will not start. He's going to mentor behind a vet. Fitzpatrick is the starting QB. When your looking for a homerun QB you need to swing for the fences not go for a single. Manziel is a wildcard but that's what separated teams from mediocre to great. What's the worst that can happen? You end up with the first pick AGAIN in a better draft.
Agree with your first 2 sentences. But the thing is....if we draft Manziel #1 overall, we aren't going to give up on him after 1 year and draft another QB in 2015. So if you're hoping to get a QB next year, you should be hoping we draft Clowney this year.
A good piece on why pro-days don't really mean much - http://grantland.com/features/teddy-bridgewater-blake-bortles-nfl-draft-pro-day-meaningless/
You draft a great player. Look I'm not opposed to drafting Clowney and tanking. I've said that already but I AM opposed to drafting safe at QB and being mediocre this season. I'd be opposed at drafting Mack instead of Clowney too.
And you've hit upon what I believe is the central question that must be asked: Has Manziel really grown up or has he been well coached and is following a very good script. In my mind, it's the latter. Just take a look that show they put on yesterday: Political VIPs in attendence; JF dressed as the man in black; the smooth interview with ESPN afterward. I just find it a wee bit too much packaging. Now I happen to believe that JF - the rock star - IS the true JM who loves the celebrity and the spotlight. But it's all moot IF he can handle the circus and win you football games.
The other way to look at this is that, if the Texans pick a QB at #1, and he becomes a great player, he's going to be a celebrity. With Manziel, you already know exactly how he'll handle it. With most players, you have no idea how they will handle the money and fame and limelight - take Matt Leinart, for example, and how he lost all interest in working hard. Or Jarmarcus Russell who just got rich and out of shape. So the flipside on Manziel is that it's one less question mark about him, whatever you think of his antics. I think he's a bit nuts, but he's managed to balance the celebrity side of things with still loving the game and working hard, from what I can tell. He's a lot like VY in the sense that you're taking a risk if you take him - you're either going to get a star or a bust. It's unlikely that he'll be an average/decent type QB. Either his style works or it's a disaster. If your goal is to make the playoffs, you go conservative. If your goal is to win a Superbowl, sometimes you have to take big risks. If nothing else, picking JM would make the team fascinatingly interesting - it may be a trainwreck, but it'll be trainwreck you want to watch.
And coaches (especially ones from the Belichick School of PR) never change their stances. If he's a homerun, how do you leave him on the bench? When was the last #1 pick at any position taken that sat the bench?
I think we can get a guy in the second or third as a potential starter after some development. We could also draft another QB in the first next season. Cut the other guys like Keenum/Yates. Competition is always good.
This is the way I'm ever-so slightly starting to lean... someone else made a reference to singles and home runs and I think that's accurate. Manziel is an absolute home run (potentially). If you take Manziel and he translates, you've hit the sports lottery: a great player who's also a superstar. Bridgewater doesn't provide that vitally important/unimportant element - even if he succeeds, he'll be a milquetoast nobody on the NFL landscape; an after-thought while ESPN/NFLN embeds reporters in Jacksonville to follow Manziel’s every move.
Manziel still has learning to do. He want to learn and O'Brien wants to mold. So they fit. I'll admit that he may not know pro style football like Bridgewater but that's not Manziel's fault. He didn't run the offense in College Station. What he has it the Superstar tools to do it and the work ethic to make it happen. It's O'Brien's job to develop.
Yup. I think you take the best QB on the field, but if the two are a tossup, JM has the higher upside and also seems to be more proven in the ability to handle the off-the-field transition to the NFL. I think those are big pluses working in his favor. But I have no idea how the rest of the evaluation between all the QBs will play out. If the Texans don't take him, Jacksonville absolutely should. They absolutely *need* a player like him to bring life to their franchise.
I think brains are the single most important component of a successful NFL QB. You have to be football-smart. But you also have to take chances; you cannot win if your game is built around underneath, safe passes - I think that's ultimately what derailed Schaub: he was smart, he was accurate; he could move between the 20s. But when the field shrunk and the window closed, he simply too often didn't have the arm/guts to make throws that separate TDs from FGs. His coach suffered from it, too, unfortunately. But you can't be irresponsible. You can’t chuck it in the air and hope someone else makes a play. A FG is still better than an INT; that's why you have to be smart. Manning and Brady have the greatest combination of smarts/guts I've ever seen. They're fearless - but also calculated. JM very obviously has guts; I can't imagine a scenario in which he's ever afraid. Is he smart*? Boy... that's the tough one. (* A better term might be responsible. Smart opens up a fuselage of other chatter.)
