I was a little disappointed initially by the the Duane Brown pick at #26, mostly because I hadn't heard much or seen much about him in 1st round mock drafts, which is where most of us casual fans get draft info. I was hoping for Williams or Albert, but obviously they were gone by #18, so I think it was a good idea to trade back and pick up a #3 and #6. That being said, I'm glad they took a LT in the 1st round as opposed to a RB or CB. If we would have taken Mendenhall, then we would have neglected the OL early in the draft for the umpteenth year. In our offense, the blocking by the line seems to have much more importance than the standout skills of the RB. Brown seems like a better run-blocker than pass-blocker, so if he can get the OL to improve as a unit, then we should be fine with the guys we do have (Green, Taylor, Brown). Plus, I like to hear about his athleticism and how he used to be a TE. On the highlight, he looked good out in the open. It sounds a lot like Eric Winston, who's turned out to be pretty solid on the right side in just 2 years. Although I was hoping for Kevin Smith (he went early 3rd), I think the pick-up of Slaton was a good one. He's proven and explosive and they seem to have role already picked for hima s a 3rd-down specialist. Remember,we drafted DD with the same idea in mind and he went on to become a 1,000 yard rusher. Molden seems like he could be a hidden gem, also. He's a small-school guy who has ideal size and seems to have skills you look for in a CB. He can learn as a nickel corner this year and soon compete for a starting job. They did a nice job finding Bennett last year, so I'm pretty confident in their ability to draft mid-round CBs. I've never seen Adibi play, but he sounds like he's a playmaker. We still have room to upgrade at the other LB spots outside of DeMeco. I like picking up Okam, too. He's a big body that has great talent but was inconsistent at UT. We've got enough depth now at DT that he can be a back-up and get coached up, and maybe he'll replace TJ if he doesn't pan out after this year. I don't know anything about the last 2 picks. We obviously could use a safety, and we seem to bring in a low-round QB every year just as a longshot, although I have yet to see one work out yet. I kinda wish they would have taken a flyer on Tommy Blake in the 6th or 7th. Overall, as usual, we didn't get any flashy picks that we could jump up and down about, but this regime has shown a knack for being pretty savvy in the draft so far. The progress is slow, but there is progress, so I hope we can breakthrough this year.
I'm a Longhorn so I could be a little biased but I'm really excited about picking up Okam, especially in the fact that we got him in the 5th. He has all the tools to be a great football player and hopefully the coaches can push him over that hump. While he didn't exactly live up to his hype at UT, he wasn't a slouch either. He was one of the big (literally) reasons why the Longhorns were consistently a Top 10 rush defense.
Not that it really matters anymore but for those that say we reached for Brown, the Chargers would have take had we not... "“We came up one pick short,” said Turner, who along with the rest of the Chargers brass watched Houston trade into the 26th spot and take tackle Duane Brown of Virginia Tech." http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20080428-9999-1s28chargers.html It should also be noted that no OT was taken in the 2nd round so it seems like Brown was the last of the higher ranked OTs.
