2007 NFL Draft: - Amobi Okoye - Jacoby Jones - Fred Bennett - Brandon Harrison - Brandon Frye - Kasey Studdard - Zach Diles Only real players were Jacoby Jones and Zach Diles. Whiffed very very very badly on Amobi Okoye. No notable undrafted players 2008 NFL Draft: 1. Duane Brown 3. Antwuan Molden 3. Steve Slaton 4. Xavier Adibi 5. Frank Okam 6. Dominique Barber 7. Alex Brink Duane Brown was a homerun pick, Steve Slaton looked like he could've been a great player in his rookie year. Nothing special after that 2009 NFL Draft 1. Brian Cushing 2. Connor Barwin 3. Antoine Caldwell 4. Glover Quinn 4. Anthony Hill 5. James Casey 6. Brice McCain 7. Troy Nolan Arian Foster He got 4 pro-bowl caliber players this year in Cushing, Barwin, Quinn, and Foster. Casey was a solid player for us. 6th and 7th picks were meh but those later picks are usually crapshoots. 2010 NFL Draft 1. Kareem Jackson 2. Ben Tate 3. Earl Mitchell 4. Darryl Sharpton 4. Garrett Graham 5. Sherrick McManus 6. Shelley Smith 6. Trindon Holliday 7. Dorin Dickerson Kareem Jackson, Ben Tate, Sharpton, and Graham were all solid players. Holliday has made an impact on other teams. Solid Draft 2011 NFL Draft 1. JJ Watt 2. Brooks Reed 2. Brandon Harris 4. Rashad Carmichael 5. Shiloh Keo 5. TJ Yates 7. Derek Newton Undrafted notables: Brett Hartman and Mister Alexander Watt was more of Wade Phillips, but Reed, Keo (mostly special teams), Newton have all been solid players for us. Brett Hartman was a pretty good punter for us before he got injured. Mister Alexander had some nice moments. 2012 NFL Draft 1. Whitney Meciulus 3. Devier Posey 3. Brandon Brooks 4. Ben Jones 4. Keshawn Martin 4. Jared Crick 5. Randy Bullock 6. Nick Mondrek Undrafted: Case Keenum, Eddie Pleasant and Jonathan Grimes. Good draft by the Smith. Mercy didn't look good his first 2 seasons, but stepped up big time this year. The verdict is still out on Posey, he looked solid early on, but lost PT for whatever reason. Brooks, Jones and Crick have been solid-great players for us. Crick was very good this season, and Brooks was rated as a top 10 guard by PFF last year. Bullock has been good this year after being dreadful last year and missing his rookie season. 2013 NFL Draft 1. DeAndre Hopkins 2. D.J. Swearinger 3. Brennan Williams 3. Sam Montgomery 4. Trevardo Williams 6. David Quessenberry 6. Chris Jones 6. Ryan Griffin Undrafted: Justin Tuggle and A.J Bouye Hopkins was a fantastic pick, Swearinger is a mixed bag, Brennan Williams, Sam Montgomery, and Trevardo Williams were bad. Quessenberry from what I've read had looked really good in practice and was going to be a rotational player before his bout with cancer. Chris Jones has been a good player for the Patriots, Ryan Griffin looked good when we had a quarterback that actually utilized tight ends. Tuggle and Bouye are both solid players. 2014 NFL Draft 1. Jadeveon Clowney 2. XSF 3. C.J Fiedorowitz 3. Louis Nix 4. Tom Savage 6. Jeoffrey Pagan 6. Alfred Blue 6. Jay Prosch 7. Andre Hal 7. Lonnie Ballentine Undrafted: Jason Ankrah, Max Bullough, Travis Labhart Can't fault him for taking Clowney or Nix, just bad luck they were injured. XSF looked terrible early on in the season, but they were playing him in 4-5 different positions on the line. He looked much much better as the season went on, and played phenomenal vs the Titans (Especially when he dealt with Jurell Casey). Savage is developmental, CJ had some great moments blocking especially in that Cowboys game. I have high hopes for him. Blue played well and was great in ST. Hal had some solid games in coverage, and some bad games in coverage (Especially vs AJ Green) but played well in ST. Prosch is a starter and Pagan looked impactful when he did get snaps. Ankrah was a good role player for the Chargers. Thoughts: For all the flack that Smith gets for drafting, the talent he gets through the draft have been solid. When players don't work out here, they usually play well on other teams. That is more of a coaching problem IMO rather than drafting. But I will say that Smith needs to do a much better job managing the caps. His free agent hiring has been good except for Ed Reed (I read this was more the owner pushing for Reed)
Thanks for putting this together. We really need to do a league-wide hit rate to see how he compares. Not sure you can say Nix was bad luck though. He was dropping due to injury problems.
You could do this for every team and end up with the same results. Some hits some misses. Rick Smith is neither phenomenol nor terrible. For all the crap he gets he deserves HUGE kudos for JJ Watt, Duane Brown, and Foster
JR has a post around here somewhere showing the comparison between the Texans draft and other teams drafts. I think it showed Smith isn't as horrible as we make him out to be. And why does Wade get credit for J.J. Watt but not Sam Montgomery... Can't pick and choose.
People act like Smith is horrible but the rest of the league clearly doesn't agree... alot of teams think we have a ton of talent and consistently draft well
Out last draft couldn't have gone much worse. The Cushing and Schaub extensions were bad. Especially since they just had major injuries.
How much of that has to do with injuries? Clowney's knee blowing up isnt anyones fault and he was the right choice... Cushing extension was only bad because he got hurt (so again you cant blame anyone) now the Schaub signing was premature but they didn't want to risk his asking price getting any higher.
Clowney I can understand. The Cushing extension came after he tore his ACL and Schaub's after he broke his foot.
Signing Cushing was a gamble. There was a chance he came back totally recovered and play at the same high level. If the team let him walk, you lose. If the team waited and he continued to play at a high level, his price tag goes even higher. They went the other way and didn't re-sign Mario, Glover, and Conner. You can argue the Panthers did the same with Steve Smith last year. They sure could have used him opposite Benjamin.
This is 100% true to me. People always bring up the teams that drafted well recently when comparing Smith's track record, "but, but, but... LOOK AT THE SEAHAWKS." The truth is every team struggles and the Texans have been right there in the middle of the pack. The area I think Smith has a real problem in is cap management.
A lot of this is coaching, too. We saw KJ's career saved by better coaching a few years ago, and this year, we witnessed Derek Newton take a step in the right direction with new coaching. That's just off the top of my head. So some of these guys *were* good picks, they were just undercoached. I also think it's silly to really judge any talent evaluator after round 4. The whole thing is a crapshoot but by then, you're literally throwing darts. As a franchise, the Texans have remarkably always struggled in rounds 2-3. It's amazing how consistent they've been - even with different regimes.
how was he clearly not the right choice? if J.J Watts knee blew up his rookie season would that have made him a bad draft choice?
If the JJ blew his knee out and the Texans got virtually nothing out of him the only year they had him, while other players they passed on did make solid contributions to their teams... yes, he would have been a bad draft choice. If Clowney recovers and plays like JJ? Then no... it would not have been a bad choice.
