-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a chance to spend some time with Owen Daniels our 4th round pick a couple of weeks ago and came away impressed. The young man seems to have it pretty well together considering he's in a new city without friends or family. For now that's what his new team will have to provide, and for a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the NFL, hanging around with his new teammates should provide a good sense of family. You see going into the draft the Texans weren't even in his top 5 in terms of teams he thought would draft him. The Texans never brought him in for a workout or showed any real interest in him until the day of the combine. There he talked to the Texans scouts for about 20 minutes and came away with a new perspective on the team. He said the conversation he had with the Texans went great, and at that point knew the team had their eye on him. Growing up in Illinois Owen Daniels was a huge Bears fan and if he had a choice that would have been where he wanted to end up. As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for ankle and knee issues to go along with a sub par senior season he just might have gotten his wish. The first thing I asked him was how he liked Houston, and like most people not familiar with the south his answer was the typical “it’s hot” answer. I understand because I’ve lived here for 25 years and I’m still not used to it. Thank goodness for the practice bubble. I then asked him what he thought of the Texans practice facilities, he immediately answered, “I love them”. He said that he visited several teams before the draft and nothing compared to what the Texans have to as far amenities. Make no mistake about the Texans have a top notch set up. I them asked him what the general feeling was with the team during OTA’s and he said that a lot of players can see a big difference compared to last year. He said as far as he can tell the players on the team have really responded to what the new coaches are trying to implement. I asked if he planed on getting significant playing time at the tight-end position considering how many this team is carrying right now. He said besides tight-end, the coaches have been lining him up at receiver and h-back, but really plans on making a name for himself on special teams. Of course I couldn’t let our conversation end without bringing up Mario Williams the Texans #1 pick. I asked him what he thought of him, and without hesitation Owen’s replied, “He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen, a freak of nature, the guy is a beast.” He said the guy was extremely fast with very long arms, and should pose as a serious threat for the opposition. At that point you could tell he was very excited to be a Texan. Welcome to Houston Owen,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know my information is bunched together a bit, but I'm trying my best. After going over my notes I was able to extrapolate some more Texans news for everybody. I talked to Owen a little more about the defense. In praticular the d-line. I asked who he thought had the inside track between Babin and Peek. Just like we've all been hearing about this summer Babin has been getting the majority of the reps with the starters. He thinks it's Babin's speed that gives him the upper hand over Peek. That's really not a knock on Peek because when we were talking about the two he really seemed torn between them. He let me know the competition has been ferocious, and it will only add to the depth that this team is going to have. He also metioned Weaver and how he is exclusively playing the tackle position during OTA's and really looking forward to the challenge. Overall we both agreed that the defensive line is going to be very strong this year, and very intimidating. I can't wait to get this thing started. Go Texans!!________________
Good stuff, Roc Paint. This is your own account, right? Does that mean you talked to him at...ahem...your place of business? He must have asked someone what to do in Houston, and they told him. Interesting stuff about Babin. By all accounts, he should have a good year now that he's back at his natural postion and the horrible OLB experiment is over.
I saw a McNair interview yesterday and he said Mario and Weaver would be the starting ends and Robair and Payne would be starting inside. On passing downs MW and RS would move inside and peek and babin would be on the outside. I could be mistaken but thats what I thought he said.
