Call me crazy, but if I took an Ohio State player in th first round, it'd be Braxton Miller, and not Ezekiel Elliott. Miller is rising up draft boards quickly,and will most likely go at the end of the first, or early second. He's torching people at the Senior Bowl,and apparently looks like he's been a WR his whole life. He's like Cecil Shorts on steroids, minis the injuries. Basically, he's Bill O'Brien's wet dream of an offensive Swiss Army Knife. It's my sleeper pick for the Texans in the first round. With Elliott, I worry a bit. He's got everything you look for in a back, except he mostly took handoffs out of the shotgun. Otherwise, he's great. But then there's that point of not taking running backs in the first round, which I agree with. If I'm Rick Smith/ Bill O'Brien, here's what I do: 1 - Braxton Miller Trade: our second and fourth round pick to move up to the middle of the second 2 - Christian Hackenberg 3 - Devontae Booker Booker is a sleeper, and has some Ray Rice in him (although I don't know how he treats his women). He's going to be a player in the league, but may drop because of a torn meniscus.
Wait till Miller comes to the combine with a 4.4 40 and becomes a top 3 rated receiver in the draft. A second, really good receiver to pair with Hopkins would do wonders for a young QB. It would also make our tight ends better by default.
I think you're underestimating him. I think he could go as low as sub 4.3 which would definitely make him 1st round material.
And for what it's worth, I'm just not impressed with Zeke Elliot. He strikes me as a guy who just runs forward, and will get what the offense gets him. He's not the slasher, with vision that we're used to seeing.
I was being conservative on that estimate, so as not to look like a fool. Some probably think I already am by reading my posts.:grin:
I'm sure some team will reach for him. I just hope it's not the Rockets. I'd rather they take a tight end who has sure hands like Hunter Henry or a proven receiver like Coleman or a speedster like Shepherd or a RB that can catch out of the backfield like Elliot.
He's used to having the ball in his hands all the time. No way he'll work next to Harden. If Morey drafts this guy, I'm done with the Rockets.
Miller will likely be gone in the first 40 picks. However the Texans have plenty of bigger and more pressing needs.
Pull up any youtube highlight reel of him and you'll see him go east and west when he needs to. He hasn't needed to as much because he's usually just out-running them. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veb3ZdrGGVU Plus he's a good enough blocker and can catch out of the backfield. He'll help the offense in more than one way.
I agree! Look this team next year will still most likely have QB issues. Elliot will automatically be our best rb. We need offense in any way possible. He is my first choice.
The offense needs a QB and 2 playmakers on offense within the first 3 picks. Im not sure who and when, but that needs to happen. Guys that are fast, guys that create mismatch problems for the defense…guys that OB can work with to **** with the opposing defensive coordinators. Just like last year, where our top 3 picks seem to be quality picks (KJ, McKinney, Strong)…we need to do a repeat of that, even if it means trading 4-7 round picks to move up in the first 3 rounds and get players that will make a difference. If Miller is that dude, then Im all for it.
He won't go in the first but will go in the 2nd most likely. It matters when we get our QB; if we get one in the first, do we go RB in the second? If we wait on a QB to drop into the second, who do we pick in the first? Most likely a RB
Hard to say "most likely". The modern wisdom is not to draft RB's in the first. There are exceptions, but only one or two guys at most are worthy of going that high. Ezekiel Elliott is the only one I think is worthy of a first round pick this year. If he goes before our pick, we could look at Henry but I doubt we take him in the first.
David Johnson was a third round pick last year. Thomas Rawls was freaking undrafted. We can find soneone without using a first round pick. It just takes good scouting. Helps if you have a decent QB too.
You CAN find somebody later in the draft, it's just really hard. Like every other position, you're more likely to find a good player higher in the draft. 8 of the top 12 RBs this year were 1st or 2nd round picks. There are of course exceptions, but if you're strategy is to look for one late, the odds still aren't good you're going to find somebody. We spent a 6th on Alfred Blue two years ago and a 7th on Kenny Hilliard last year so that strategy hasn't really paid off for us recently. Finding a good RB late is as much (if not more) luck than it is talent evaluation.