What was the logic behind drafting Bennie Joppru last year?

After watching Bennie Joppru in the Senior Bowl last year (which the Texans' staff coached) I assume the Texans came away impressed with him.

Joppru can block the defender trying to rush, which Miller cannot do. Not to mention he is a big target (although he needs to work on his catching skills). Plus at that point the Texans were/are still trying to biuld depth.

Alot of analysts thought Joppru could have been had in the third or fourth round, but I assume Casserly and his scouts saw something in Joppru that stood out and made them take him that high.

 

76 sacks allowed, that was the point.

 

Well, I guess Miller wasn't the problem because Joppru didn't improve that stat and it did improve.

 

I'm not going to judge the Joppru pick until after he plays a season....as long as he plays a season.

 

Because the Texans' tight ends telegraphed their plays. Miller couldn't block and Holloway couldn't catch. You could tell whether the Texans would run or pass based on which tight end was on the field. The Texans felt that Joppru could do both very well. Hopefully he'll still be able to do both if/when he comes back from his injury.

 

What about Michael Boulware in the second round? He would be a major upgrade at the outside linebacker spot.

 

The thought was to have a TE they could develop, and a backup to Billy Miller. They also wanted to have the option of switching TE's out, and for running to TE formations.

Kind of an odd question though -- the Texans have more than one player at several positions. At QB, they even had as many as three.

 

I've watched Joppru quite a bit in college and I think he's starting TE material. He is a very underrated reciever.

 

As much as I hated TN....I really liked Whitten, and was upset we passed on him to go with Jopru...that being said, I still want to see what he can do before I pass judgement. It's like having an extra draft pick this year getting Jopru back, and he's had a year to learn the system. He should step right in.

 

I'm with you(the receiver part). I can't say I watched a lot of Michigan games 2 years ago, but I did check out the Senior Bowl with great interest, and Jopru REALLY stood out to me with his pass-catching ability. I saw him make several effortless-looking catches where he had to twist, or turn to make the catch. But the thing that really stood out was how he made the catch. When the ball came into his hands, there was no bobble at all, even when he had to reach back for it. It was like he had flypaper stuck to his hands. And this was well before he was a Texan, so this is/was not a biased(homer) scouting report. I don't know if he was just having a career day, or what, but to me, his hands looked like the best thing about him.

That said, I don't think he's an extremely fast te, like Miller. But if he's a good blocker, and can catch whatever he can get his hands on, that'll be fine by me.

I think a good comparison for him will be Jason Witten, who was the top-rated te on most draft boards that year. He went to Dallas in the early 3rd round, while we took Jopru in the middle of the 2nd, after trading down with the Pats(as Nashvegas has already stated). Which means we could have had him instead of Jopru. And I think he's been playing pretty well for the "girls".

But we did need a te that could both catch, and block. Hope his groin's healing all right.