The worst part is that Mercilus is suffering from Mario Williams syndrome. Piling up 2-3 sacks in couple of games, and completely disappearing the rest of the year.
Thus far, he's more of an Okoye/Travis Johnson bust pick, vs. a Cushing/Watt all-pro pick. Kareem Jackson is somewhere in the middle... probably getting another pass interference and getting away with another helmet-to-helmet hit.
Both him and Brooks Reed get one-on-one match ups, and are doing nothing with them. If you can't routinely get tp the QB on one-on-one match ups, and you don't do anything else well (which neither of these two do), your defense is going to be inconsistent.
After this years disastrous draft, we're gonna be in really bad shape IMO. The perfect storm is about to hit.
Way too early to call this draft a disaster. Only Montgomery is a bust so far, and Hopkins appears legit. If Jonathan Joseph continues to decline and Cushing can't return to form, we are legit screwed, though.
Stupid to say Cushing will never be the same. This injury is less severe and you saw how he came back fromit. The hit that caused the injury was a fluke hit that shouldn't happen again. He is possibly injury prone but he also could play out the rest of his career without another injury. The thing is we are not that far from being a different team. Start Case from the beginning of the year and we are easily 5-3 and that's being conservative. We need to draft Antonio Smith's replacement with our first pick (this is his contract year and that's the best he could do). We save money letting Schaub walk and A Smith so we have money to sign a free agent to help the D. We need another corner. Since we won't sign Tate we need to draft Foster's replacement. more to come...
Disastrous is a strong word perhaps, if Brennan Williams can play then that will help. If he cant, then I think it was a weak draft. The way things are emerging, we're not going to have any depth next year.
The general consensus here seems to be some form of OL, LB and/or DB... here's the problem, since 2010, they've spent 12 of their 20 "day 1" picks (ie first four rounds) on OL, LBs and/or DBs. And other than Kareem Jackson, their ROI has been pitiful (with a healthy, hopeful asterisk for Brooks, who seems on pace for a solid, 10-year career, and Swearinger, who flashes a ton of potential. Also, I'm not as down on Merciless as others here - but I'm also not terribly overwhelmed by him. He seems to be around the QB a lot, IMO. Anyhoo...) So do we really want this regime throwing more s*** up against the wall when it comes to OL, LB and DB? And bear in mind, other than Newton and Keo (neither of whom are particularly good), they haven't unearthed a solid "day 2 pick (round 5+) of *any* kind since '09 (Casey and McCain and, again... not a huge "wow" factor with either...). I think Kubiak will be back (assuming health). If so, I'll jump on board if they fire Smith, and I'll drive the bus if they fire Smith, hire a non-pipeline replacement, and bring in a new, non-pipeline OC (or QB coach - whatever you want to call him). If Keenum is the real deal, I have to tip my cap to Kubiak (will be interesting to see how he does without him this week).
Draft anyone who can get Brice McCain off field....FOREVER.. Mercilus is okay, Reed is garbage, needs to be let go. JJo = Needs to either be moved inside on slot, or let go...Ed Reed = let go A. Smith might give us a hometown discount, thats only way I keep him Newton needs to be replaced by Harris and let go Pick6 needs to be cut..Yates, traded for draft picks
Some of these mock drafts are insane, two of them predict the Texans will draft a WR in the first round. Bizarre.
If we want an OLB I like the guy from UCLA. Run stuffer I think maybe the Nix guy from ND, he's a biiiiig dude. Corner, i'm not sure, maybe the dude from Oregon or haha dix from Bama. Also one guy that's stuck out to me that could be a late pickup was a d lineman from Virginia, can't remember his name but he was a really big white guy like 6'6". Similar to watt. I think we can find another solid te in this draft as well.
Honestly, probably the same. Last 3 games would still be Ls obviously. & we probably still go 2-3 in the first 5 although maybe not in the same order.
I'm would trade into the 1st with next years 1st and this year's 3rd. Take Matthews with your 1st pick around 5 and then a fast, rangy safety with the 2nd pick in the 1st round. On the 2nd go with a corner. Take 2 OLBs in the 4th. Keep antonio smith at a discount if possible. Get rid of Ed Reed, Matt schaub, wade smith, owen Daniels (unless he will restructure for a TON less), Ben Tate, fat randy, and anyone else I'm not thinking of.
I'm pretty sure Brennan Williams' career is done. The micro fracture surgery he had is going to permanently take power away from that leg. He'll never come back the same. It'll be like McGrady post microfracture. Or even Amare post microfracture. Except Williams unlike those two is a 320lb man. A man who was never good to begin with. His peak has already hit. This draft was a stinker. Ultimately it should cost Smith his job.
Only major holes we have might be the following after next offseason... Linebacker: Primarily ILB, people were drinking the "Wade Philips doesn't need 2 good ILB" Kool-aide, that the Texans publicity and others were saying, now we should know better. As good as Brian Cushing is, having another guy to help pick up the slack is key, especially if he is going to potentially become injury prone with that same leg. We might need another OLB, we can hope Travado Williams pans out or Justin Tuggle is a diamond that we can forge into a rotation player but as good as Brooks Reed has been for us, he ain't making the plays he needs to. But that being said, I don't think we NEED to draft another OLB too early especially with other issues. Offensive line: But not the way most think. I am personally willing to give Brennan Williams a shot at competiting hopefully with Ryan Harris for the starting RT job. Maybe even pick up another later round pick, 4th through 5th, for depth purposes or to be in the mix. However, I don't see the need for us to use a pick higher then 4th at this spot for RT. Right Guard, I think people seem to not really pay attention because Brandon Brooks has been doing really well at the position. So if we use a pick in rounds 1-3 it would only be for the LG position, due to losing Wade Smith. Part of me is worried about even doing that if we retain Kubiak or not how a young first round guard would mesh with this team, but along the offensive line that is the key position of need. Defensive Back: I like Swearinger and Keo, I don't think Reed is as bad as people say and Jonathan Joseph and Kareem Jackson are great players and one of the finer pairs of starting corners. All that being said, McCain... I no like. Harris I had hopes for but the fact that he can't beat out McCain for slot corner either says something about the coaches or him, probably both since even if the coaches played favorites on the defensive side, I would think playing/practicing better would force the issue. So yeah, we could use another corner back, especially if worst case scenario, Joseph gets let go for cap issues. Running Back: Dennis Johnson looked good on Sunday, but with Tate but gone, we are going to need another RB to back up and potentially replace Arian Foster if he doesn't return to the healthy superstar that he once was. Defensive line: I like Mitchell but I want a space eating NT or at least a dynamic enough guy that can requires the double team. Especially if we make the mistake of not retaining Antonio Smith, Crick is a solid guy but not starting caliber and we can't just leave Watt on a island with guys that can't take advantage of the double teams Watt will draw. Yeah, Smith isn't that great but he can cause havoc in the backfield more then anyone not named Watt or Cushing at this point in both the defensive line and linebacker groups. I'd say sign him to a decent deal short term deal, draft a legit student that can take his place early on. Quarterback: Love what I've seen from Keenum but this draft is too loaded with potential NFL caliber playmakers to not grab one in the first three rounds. Also yeah Schaub has got to go, regardless of if Kubiak stays or not. Only thing else, might be Tight End but really I haven't seen enough of Ryan Griffin and something about him reminds me of Dressen which means they really should try harder to throw the ball his way to see if they didn't land a legit steal.
Let's simplify, assuming no QB taken, should the Texans first pick be on offense or defense? Remember, we want to keep our new QB healthy.
