[Chronicle] John McClain: Ben Tate Likely Done For Season With Broken Ankle

Westbrook to the 49ers today
Fargas already signed by Broncos earlier this offseason
Betts signed with Saints today
Jordan still out there.

 

You could always bring back Adimchinobi Echemandu


(sorry, I just love that name)

 

My point is if they really have had THE BEST drafts for the past 4 years, why is this team not the best in the NFL? or even an elite team. Your logic doesn't make sense. Like I said, you are the opposite end of Reektown, you make up for him giving the team no credit at all by giving them far too much

 

Im not making sense? You're saying that having the best drafts should make you the best team in the NFL...thats hilarious! Lets forget about all the thousand other factors...like the ones I mentioned...players not doing their part (Brown missing FGs, Slaton fumbling, etc...) or Kubiak making boneheaded calls. If you actually think that having THE BEST draft equates to being the best, then you're off your rocker.

I present to you the best team in the NFL...and their draft selections since 2007.

Here are the NFL champion New Orleans Saints:

2009:
Malcom Jenkins
Chip Vaughn
Stanley Arnoux
Thomas Morstead

Jenkins is the 2nd string safety behind Sharper. Vaughn is the 3rd string SS. Arnoux doesnt play. And Morstead is their punter. So, out of the entire draft class, they come away with a punter and a back up free safety.

2008:
Sedrick Ellis
Tracy Porter
DeMario Pressley
Carl Nicks
Taylor Mehlhaff
Adrian Arrington

Ellis starts at DT. Porter starts at CB. Pressley barely finds the field at DT. Nicks starts at OG. The last 2 players are completely insignificant. They come away with 3 starters and a 3rd string DT.

2007:
Robert Meachem
Usama Young
Andy Alleman
Antonio Pittman
Jermon Bushrod
David Jones
Marvin Mitchell

They used a first round pick on a 3rd string receiver. Young is insignificant. Alleman is no longer on the team. Pittman is no longer on the team. Bushrod was a back up that became a starter after Jammal Brown got injured. Jones is no longer with the team. Mitchell is a back up middle linebacker. Basically, no significant starters from this draft. Meachem gets good playing time, but he is no where near a first round calibur player.

So basically, since the 2007 draft, the Saints have chosen 3 players that start and a punter. They also chose 3 players that contribute. And a couple more that play maybe a few plays a game.

In other words, their drafts have been very poor. How do you go through 3 nfl drafts and come away with 3 starters, maybe 4? Over half the players they selected either dont find the field or were released.

So yeah, my point stands...the Texans have had incredible success when it comes to drafting. There are more factors to a winning club than draft selections. We could have done a better job with free agents...we could have done a better job with coaching...we could have done a better job with play calling...and some of the players could have done a better job of not choking (Chris Brown's interception at the goal line...and multiple missed FG attempts).

The fact of the matter is that the Texans are a playoff quality team...a team that was easily amongst the worst in the NFL when Rick Smith took over as GM.

Again, I ask you, show me the teams that have had more successful drafts. I will say again that our drafts are among the best in the NFL since Smith took over. There really is no debate.

If you want to knock Smith for his actions during free agency, thats fine...I'll be right there with you...but this discussion has always been about the draft. And Im correct.

 

May as well cover the Saints super bowl opponents, the Indianapolis Colts.

2007:
Anthony Gonzalez - Starting WR
Tony Ugoh - Lost starting job at LT last season
Dante Hughes - Back up DE
Quin Pitcock - Played 1 year for the Colts
Brannon Condren - Working on his 5th team in 4 years...practice squad player.
Clint Session - Starting OLB
Roy Hall - Waived after catching 1 pass over 2 years
Michael Coe - Played 1 year with the Colts...now on his 3rd team
Keyunta Dawson - Back up DE

The Colts had 9 selections in the draft...came away with 2 starters and 3 back ups. Ugoh is trying to play Guard now.

2008:
Mike Pollak - Lost starting job at RG last season.
Philip Wheeler - Mostly a back up...started 7 games out of 32 career played.
Jacob Tamme - 3rd or 4th string TE. 6 catches in 2 years.
Marcus Howard - Waived after 1 season.
Tom Santi - Waived after 2 seasons.
Steve Justice - Waived, playing for the Panthers.
Mike Hart - 3rd string RB last season.
Pierre Garcon - 4th receiver
Jamey Richard - 3rd string guard

The Colts had 9 selections...as of last season, none of them were starters. The only player with a significant role is Garcon...Pollak is competing for the starting job at RG. All others are almost insignificant.


2009:
Donald Brown - Back up RB...but slowly making his way to starter.
Fili Moala - Back up DT...recorded 5 solo tackles last season.
Jerraud Powers - Back up CB that got playing time as a result of 3 Colt DBs being injured.
Austin Collie - 3rd receiver
Terrance Taylor - Never made the team.
Curtis Painter - One of the worst back up QBs in the league.
Pat McAfee - Punter
Jaimie Thomas - Spent last season on the practice squad.

Colts had 8 selections...Donald Brown will be a starter...Austin Collie plays a significant role on the offense. Powers is a decent back up. McAfee is their punter.

Out of 26 selections, the Colts came away with 3 starters, 7 decent back ups, and a punter. The rest were either waived or will not see more than a handful of plays over the course of the season.

Pretty crappy for an organization that has been among the very elite for years now.

 

repped.

 

Two injuries for Tate

 

You can type as much as you want rez, until the Texans players drafted prove they can accomplish something on the field, I will not consider them the best draft class, if those other teams drafted so poorly and have worse run front offices, why are they so much more successful?

I'll go ahead and throw in the players you skipped as well and add analysis to the players you listed.

Outside of 2009, I would not call any of those drafts particularly exceptional

In your analysis of those other two teams, particularly the Colts, you fail to account for how much better of a team they were during those drafts. FOr the most part, the only roles available were those of backups, while the Texans have been building form the bottom of the barrel, thus more starting/contributing positions are available to drafted players. That being said, they found about as many contributors as those other team with the exception of the 2009 season

 

yeeeeeeeees, fight amongst yourselves.

my seed of doubt is beginning to grow....

 

Oh, come on. Any draft where you get 2-3 long-term starters/contributors is a good one. I won't claim that they had the BEST draft any of these years, but they've been solid to great (especially considering we didn't have a 2nd rounder until last year). Much more-so than the countless teams that blow 1st and 2nd round picks on complete busts more years than not. You can't call any of Smith/Kubiak's top picks busts at this point -- Amobi is the closest thing to it but he hasn't been completely ineffective and he's still got a chance to prove himself.

And we did draft the defensive rookie of the year without having a top ten pick last year. I hesitate to throw that out there because we don't know how strong he'll come back, but I'm confident he'll be the same player.

By the way, "correcting" rezdawg by pointing out 5th-7th round picks that didn't pan out is rather silly. The percentage of those players that contribute for long periods of time is pretty low. Fred Bennett and Molden are the only guys you have a case with, but even then they were only 3rd/4th round picks. Talk to me when we start blowing first and second round picks routinely.

I don't buy this logic. If you draft well, the good players you draft end up pushing the older guys out of their job over time ... or they are simply traded for more picks. There are some cases of good players that get stuck behind great players in backup roles, but not many -- and guys like Robert Meachem and Donald Brown are not examples of this.

 

Nice post.

 

Haha, definitely didnt say that, but I'll take the rep. lol.

Btw, Rhino, Studdard is our starting LG.

 

What do you mean? I listed the draft selections of the best two teams...did you see any players on there that stand out? Are you suggesting that they are good because of those players I listed? You dont think that coaching or free agency or being clutch (Peyton Manning) has just as big of an impact?

Also, still waiting for you to tell me the teams that have had better drafts...looking for a good number of teams to prove that the Texan's drafts havent been among the best.

 

I'm a little late to the thread, but have to voice my displeasure AND CONCERNS about Tate's injury.

While this is really tough as I saw him having a big season and believe him destined for a nice career, we can take some solace it happened right off the bat.

It gives us time to fill the hole of RED ZONE guy which Tate at a minimum would have handled convincingly.....an area where we've been deficient.

I worry about the staff's reliance on Slaton and their understanding of how weak we really are in the backfield. Yes, Foster looks good and I hope he keeps it up, but beyond him are big question marks that a contender can't have at the moment.

The Texans messed with Steve's bodytype trying to get him more carries and he ended up with fumbilitis and injuries. He also was very slow to the hole but seems to have much of his quickness back ..

Henry was a combine/workout warrior, but when it comes to picking up blitzes and such, he's clueless.
I will say that Jeremiah Johnson has the potential to really be something.

But ... We need a back that can punch it in now.

 

That's a damn shame. He actually has a cool sounding running back name that makes for an elite player. Like, Edgerrin James, Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, Matt Forte, etc. Ben Tate...just saying it brings chills down my spine.

 

I thought all the best teams only built though the draft

 

So who starts now? Inquiring fantasy minds want to know...

Just wondering what you guys think. I'm not a Texans fan and don't live anywhere near Texas, so I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Thoughts?

 

Arian Foster

 

Going into the camp, the depth chart looked like this:

Arian Foster
Steve Slaton
Ben Tate
Chris Henry/Jeremiah Johnson

So Tate's injury doesn't really affect who the starter is. If he had a great pre-season, I guess he could have taken the job but he wasn't expected to be the starter so all it does is open up the 3rd string RB position for Henry or Johnson.

 

Whats your point?

The draft is a very critical part of football and you do build your team through the draft...thats exactly what the Texans are doing...they are building their team.

The Colts have had previous great drafts...but havent been as successful the last few years. For them, thats not crucial because they have already been built, but are being maintained by a couple draft choices, free agents, and great coaching.

The Saints have been built through free agency, which is more rare...but if they dont have success drafting, then they wont have longevity in success like the Colts.

Thats a nice way to side step the question thats been posed...if you think we havent had among the top drafts over the last few years, name the teams that have had better drafts over the time period. I figure you are the one that called me out on this, so why dont you go ahead and back up your claim that the Texans arent one of the top 5 or so teams in drafting over the last few years.