------- "When we got to the pick, Dunta Robinson was the highest rated player on our board and he was there, so it was an easy pick," Casserly said. "We felt Robinson was a natural fit for the franchise." Robinson, who watched the draft from his family's home in Athens, Ga., said he wasn't discouraged that his home-state Atlanta Falcons chose another cornerback, DeAngelo Hall from Virginia Tech. "The same thing happened coming out of high school, I didn't get recruited hard by the Georgia Bulldogs," Robinson said. "That's fine with me. Everybody who passed, they will pay for it." ------- I love the kid already! http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/8511865.htm?1c
YA, my boy Sloan gets drafted by the home team. Now they just need to sign AJ Ricker for depth on the o-line.
Well, I hated Casserly giving up those picks, but overall, it didn't turn out too bad: Rd 1 - Pick 10 - DUNTA ROBINSON (CB) SOUTH CAROLINA Rd 1 - Pick 27 (from Tennessee) - JASON BABIN (DE) WESTERN MICHIGAN Rd 4 - Pick 122 (from Indianapolis) - GLENN EARL (S) NOTRE DAME Rd 6 - Pick 170 - VONTEZ DUFF (CB) NOTRE DAME Rd 6 - Pick 175 (from Jacksonville) - JAMMAL LORD (RB) NEBRASKA Rd 6 - Pick 200 (Compensatory) - CHARLIE ANDERSON (LB) MISSISSIPPI Rd 7 - Pick 210 (from Jacksonville) - RAHEEM ORR (DE) RUTGERS Rd 7 - Pick 211 - SLOAN THOMAS (WR) TEXAS Rd 7 - Pick 248 (Compensatory) - BRIAN (B.J) SYMONS (QB) TEXAS TECH
I've had a chance to play back the film ESPN showed on Babin on my Tivo and listened th their analysis a couple of times and one angle has become very appealing about him to me: 1st - He was a wrestler in high school which really teaches you about leverage and how to use people's own strength and momentum against them in Judo-like fashion. 2nd - he has really strong forearms and upper arms which should help with the aforementioned leverage issues as he seems to he really good using his hands to shed blockers. 3 - He's not the fastest guy in the world, but when I compare him to super-athlete Antwan Peak I see a guy who I think is going to be much better rushing the passer in the 3-4, particularly with all the 3-4 stunting and the like that they do. He really seems to move well and be at his best rushing the passer when he gets to standup (as in a 3-4) and curve around from an angle. Anyway, I didn't really know much more than the basics on the guy entering the draft, and granted, I still haven't seen a whole lot, but the bits that I have seen make him seem very appealing to me as rush linebacker. Granted he doesn't have some of the top-line physical characteristics like pure pursuit speed, but I think should be able to get to the QB. I also like that most of the late-round guys have the potential to be good special-teams tacklers, as on kickoffs & punts at the very least. I'm still worried that they need one other decent DL that they can lock into the rotation in case Seth Payne is unable to go. In they situation that they are in, if Payne can't go, and someone else gets injured Ioane & Deloach get significant minutes again, which causes me to shudder.
I thought Babin was pretty fast at something like a 4.6 when he weighed 260. He played at 280 though.
Draft recap from HoustonTexans.com: Draft analysis: De-fense! By Carter Toole HoustonTexans.com The draft grades are flying in, fast and furious, an annual April rite for football scribes across the NFL landscape. And it all seems rather silly, frankly. Do Fortune 500 companies rate their fresh-faced college recruits before they’ve even filled out their W-2 forms? Of course not. But as the draft has grown in visibility so has the need to determine how teams fared. Like now. But ask most coaches or scouts and they’ll tell you that you really can’t determine the success of a draft class until three or four years down the road. There are physical, mental and emotional adjustments that each draft pick faces when he arrives on the NFL doorstep. You can predict some of those results on film, but certainly not all of them. Yet as a third-year club, the Texans expect more from their draft picks than most. Quarterback David Carr, left tackle Chester Pitts and wide receiver Andre Johnson started all 16 games as rookies. Running back Domanick Davis rushed for 1,031 yards in his first season. And although Houston’s depth issue is slowly being resolved with each passing season, the Texans will still expect a lot from their rookie class in 2004. The Texans entered the draft determined to make their defense better and steadfastly adhered to that strategy as their first seven picks were on that side of the ball. But Houston also took a few gambles, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who follow the team closely. General manager Charley Casserly isn’t one to lay up from the fairway on a par-five come draft weekend. The overall result? A happy head coach. Dom Capers has plenty of young bodies to upgrade his defense. Plus, topping his pre-draft wish list was a shutdown cornerback and an edge rusher. The Texans were able to maneuver to snag both in one bountiful first round, potentially snagging two starters. “This is an exciting day for the Texans,” Capers said Sunday. “As we moved into year three, we felt our greatest need was to try to improve our defense. As the draft started, our goal was to improve our pass coverage and pass rush. I made the statement that if there was some way to get Dunta Robinson and Jason Babin that would give us the best chance to move forward. “Not only are we getting two talented players, but players that we feel are the type of players we look for from a workout standpoint. When you combine that with talent, you get a winning combination.” Every team claims that a player they drafted was the “highest-rated” on their board. What do you expect them to say? Well, trust us, when the Texans were on the clock at No. 10 overall, only player’s card looked awfully lonely sitting by itself near the top of the board. Cornerback Dunta Robinson fills a need, potentially two with Marcus Coleman’s move to free safety, but he’s also a great talent. “He's got rare speed,” Capers said. “The combination of his speed, his quickness and his change of direction, and what stood out in our minds when we watched him play during his college career was, for a 186-pounder he had very good explosiveness in terms of hitting.” The Texans need their corners to be aggressive and fearless in the 3-4 because in many instances the outside linebackers are crashing the pocket. Robinson is more than ready to embrace that role. “If you’re not confident, you’re not going to last long in this league,” he said. “This is the NFL. There is going to be many great players and I know that. That means I have to go out there and do my job and depend on my teammates to do theirs.” As he attempts to adjust to the right cornerback slot, Robinson will be fortunate to have one of the nest possible tutors on the opposite side. “I could not have come into a better situation,” Robinson said. “Aaron Glenn is a great cornerback and I’m looking forward to learning a lot from him. I’m just happy that he’s able to extend an invitation to hang out.” It was invitation that went out within minutes of the pick. “I’m looking forward to him coming down and letting the mentoring process begin,” Glenn said. “I really enjoy teaching players. It’s almost like coaching. I love working with kids who want to get better. He’s of a similar stature, so he can relate to what I had to go through.” Capers likened Babin to former defensive end Kevin Greene, whom Capers coached at both Pittsburgh and Carolina. The Texans managed just 19 sacks a season ago and only eight from their outside linebackers. Babin racked up 30 sacks in his last two seasons in college. Much will be made of the picks that Houston surrendered to get Babin, and the fact those picks went to division rival Tennessee. And the questions are fair. But when it was all said and done, the Texans’ second-round pick turned into a first and, since they already had a fourth-round selection in hand, the only round Houston essentially missed out on was the third round. And Babin doesn’t feel any additional pressure with the Texans giving up those picks to draft him. “I would not say the words ‘give up,’” Babin said. “I think it’s more along the lines of commitment. They look at me to get the job done and I will get it done for them. “I would work just as hard for them if I were a seventh-round pick.” Babin will battle with second-year pro Antwan Peek and veteran Charlie Clemons for the right outside linebacker slot opposite Kailee Wong. As the draft’s second day rolled around, the Texans also took somewhat of a gamble on Notre Dame safety Glenn Earl, who missed the second half of his senior season with an ACL injury. The Texans liked his aggressiveness and Capers likened Earl’s knee rehab schedule to that of running back Tony Hollings a season ago. “It’s been a grind,” Earl said. “I’ve been hitting it hard the last five months just to get my knee back to where it needs to be. It’s all about getting all my strength back. I’m very optimistic. I definitely see myself full go come the season.” If Earl does bounce back, that pick could be a steal. He was one of the hardest hitters at the college level and can play both safety slots. The Texans selected another Fighting Irish defensive back in the sixth round in cornerback Vontez Duff, but they did so with an eye towards special teams as well as defense. Duff was a two-year starter at corner but also returned kicks, averaging 26.2 yards on kickoff returns and 10 yards on punt returns. “I'm not a fair catcher,” Duff said. “I don't want to fair catch the ball. I'm ready to take that ball to the end zone. Being a corner you don't get the ball in your hands too much so once you do get it kicked right to you, you want to take it and score.” The Texans pulled another surprise with their second sixth-round selection, snagging Nebraska option quarterback Jammal Lord, whom they will try at safety. “Obviously he was a quarterback in Nebraska, but he'll work out as a safety this spring,” Casserly said. “We really like him athletically, it is a projection going into the sixth round and these are the things you take a shot at. He's a really good athlete and seemed like a natural in the workouts.” Why so many defensive backs? It wasn’t necessarily by design. “I've said from day one that if players were rated equally, we would take the defensive player,” Casserly said. “It just fell that way. In the sixth and seventh round, you're just looking for the best players up there. I did not anticipate necessarily doing this.” Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio got two more defensive ends-turned-outside linebackers to play with in the last two rounds. Mississippi’s Charlie Anderson posted 5 ½ sacks last season as a defensive end, while Raheem Orr of Rutgers led all Big East defensive linemen in 2003 with 82 tackles. Many thought the Texans would take a defensive lineman – not so much to compete for a starting position but to provide a little depth. Both nose tackle Seth Payne and defensive end Gary Walker are coming off injuries. But Casserly feels good about their progress. “We feel good about the health of Seth Payne and we feel good about Gary, too,” he said. “We felt like there were other things like the trade for Babin that we wanted to get done.” The Texans finally called an offensive player’s name with their second seventh-round pick. Wide receiver Sloan Thomas won’t have to wander far. Thomas was overshadowed by fellow wideout Roy Williams in Austin but still managed to catch 88 career passes for 1,362 yards and 12 touchdowns. Houston then wrapped up its draft by selecting Texas Tech’s record-setting quarterback B.J. Symons, who held his workout across the street on Apr. 14. Symons’ last game was a 38-14 win over Navy in the Houston Bowl at Reliant Stadium, one in which he passed for 497 yards. It was a draft that started with a bang (two first-round picks) and ended with a flurry (six picks in the last two rounds). There were plenty of trademark Casserly trades in between. In a division with the reigning league co-MVPs in Peyton Manning and Steve McNair, not to mention an array of outstanding wideouts, the Texans know that their defense has to improve. And most of these rookies, especially Robinson and Babin, will get the chance to prove they belong soon. Like now. After all, this isn’t the boardroom, right? And while Robinson, Babin and their pledge classmates will definitely face a learning curve, they’ll be facing it on the fly. Welcome to the NFL, guys. And welcome to Houston.
I'm going to take it as a good sign that the Texans didn't really draft anyone that might could replace Seth Payne should he not make it back. Perhaps his rehab is going quite well, then.
I think the Jamal Lord pick is very intriguing. The dude is an athelete....he's 6'2 220 and runs a 4.5 40. In a couple years he could be a hell of a safety. Not bad with a late pick on a project.
wow , BJ Symons is a Texan! Would be nice if he could turn into our long-term answer at Back up QB, a Houston native from a Texas school, instead of BUCKY BUCKY, it will be BJ BJ BJ!
I had a feeling the Texans would take one of the UT recievers if they were still around in one of the late rounds. I hope Sloan does well even if he is from Klein. lol. Did B.J. Johnson get drafted? Also Jamaal Lord is an interesting pic. I wish he'd play receiver like Antwan Randle-El or Hines Ward.
I still wake up in cold sweats some nights after having nightmares of the last Texas Tech QB who played for a Houston NFL team.
ESPN's Pasquarelli already calling Babin a "boom-or-bust"... http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft04/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1789731 Boom-or-bust pick: Some of these categories you agonize over. This one? Well, it took about five seconds. Long before Saturday afternoon, when the Philadelphia Eagles took Shawn Andrews with the 16th selection in the first round, the Arkansas right offensive tackle already defined the term "boom or bust." But when the Eagles jumped 12 spots up the first-round rung -- faking out all the pundits who surmised they were leap-froggin' clubs to get a shot at a cornerback or Oregon State tailback Steven Jackson -- and took Andrews, it dramatically raised the boom-or-bust ante. Andrews could perhaps move inside and vie for the starting job at left guard, the void created by Sunday's trade of veteran John Wellbourn to Kansas City. The chances are better he will be groomed to eventually supplant Jon Runyan, 30, at right tackle. But no matter where he plays, Andrews is a guy who remains a suspect prospect until he proves he can control his weight. If that's the case, he could be a monster blocker, a player who goes to multiple Pro Bowl games. Or, on the flip side, he could eat himself out of a job. Other boom-or-bust prospects in the first round: defensive end Kenechi Udeze (Vikings), because of shoulder problems; tailback Chris Perry (Bengals); defensive end Justin Babin (Texans); and aptly-named cornerback Chris Gamble (Panthers).
We didn't get Sean Taylor but I think the Texans did a great job in this draft. Lord,Thomas, and Duff were great second day picks. Thomas reminds me a lot of Darell Jackson from Seattle.
We didn't get such a great grade from CBS Sportsline: http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/7283353 Houston Texans Best pick: Staying at No. 10 and getting corner Dunta Robinson will allow them to move Marcus Coleman to free safety. Questionable move: Trading away all those picks to move back into the first round to take outside linebacker Jason Babin is big-time questionable. Steal: Sixth-round corner Vontez Duff has been a productive player for Notre Dame and could fill a role in the nickel. Overall grade: C. Trading those picks to get Babin means he has to be a 14-sack player for that to be worth it.
why?? who would we have drafted in his place, particularly to play in a 3-4? these "experts" make their criticisms in a bubble...without any regard for the real needs of the team and the opportunity costs actually involved.
Yep, Casserly was explaining it on Channel 13 yesterday, and he said he felt they had enough depth to go without the middle round draft picks. He said they would have basically gotten an extra Guard, which they really didn't need. And he added that there wasn't much difference in talent between the middle rounds and the later rounds. Whether Casserly is right, we will see, but he is not stupid. He knows what he is doing. The fact that the coaching staff wanted Babin and rated him highly was also a big reason they did it. Another interesting point- Not many colleges play the 3-4, and now 5 NFL teams play it. That makes it harder to find potential guys who can play outside linebacker like Babin.
I totally agree. Why is it that he has to be a 14 sack guy to not be labeled as a bust?? If he gets 13 next year does that mean he sucks? That is a stupid comment.
Well, I think the Texans might be playoff bound or really close, but I love this article: Draft shows future is now for Texans HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans' approach to the draft was another indication the third-year franchise has shifted into win-now mode, meaning moral victories are nothing but an expansion-era memory. The Texans, rife with holes across the board in their first two drafts, took who they considered the best players available with an eye to the offense. Last weekend, they had the luxury of focusing on positions of need. The Texans took cornerback Dunta Robinson and linebacker Jason Babin in the first round, then added three more defensive backs and two more linebackers. "One of the things I think we've done with this draft is, we've gotten some very good football players and addressed some of our team's needs," coach Dom Capers said Monday. "We knew an awful lot more about our football team than we did in Year One and Year Two." Namely, he knew the defense had a terrible time stopping the pass and needed help in coverage and getting to the quarterback. Three new starters are already penciled in: free agent pickup Robaire Smith at defensive end, No. 10 pick Robinson at cornerback and Marcus Coleman, who shifts from cornerback to free safety. Babin is expected to compete with second-year player Antwan Peek at outside linebacker in Houston's 3-4 scheme. Trading a second-, third- and fourth-round pick to Tennessee to get Babin late in the first round was another indication the Texans were determined to help themselves now. For strong safety Eric Brown, winning four games (as in 2002) or five (2003) is "not acceptable anymore." "Nothing less than the playoffs this year," Brown said. "It's time." He felt that way before the draft, noting a rash of injuries across the defense held Houston back last year. The incoming reinforcements merely embolden the Texans more. "There are some talented guys coming in, young but very talented," Brown said after scanning the biographies of the defensive backfield candidates headed for Houston: Robinson, safety Glenn Earl and cornerback Vontez Duff (both from Notre Dame) and Jammal Lord, a Nebraska quarterback who will be converted to safety.
