I'd put money that we will not take a WR first. I think the team has o-line and pass rush as much higher priority. Kubiak almost never makes the "sexy" pick (ex: passing on Jonathan Stewart for D.Brown, Fairley for Watt). That said, these reports of "guarantees" are silly. That reeks of teams trying to manipulate the draft order/get teams to reach.
I'm with you -- don't want a WR in round 1. Too risky when I look at the guys who will be available. Floyd is the only one who I feel is safe where he is projected. Also, it often takes WR's 3 years to contribute at a meaningful level (although that rule is slowly fading) and we need help now. I'm upset we didn't pickup Eddie Royal. Royal & Dressen -- all we had to do was sign those guys and I feel like we'd have a lot more flexibility heading into the draft.
Unfortunately, there's no need for a fly route specialist if Schaub is just going to underthrow the deep ball regardless. I think they go OL or OLB with the pick today. WR just seems like something they can find later in the draft. I've always wanted to do the exercise of taking Smith's pre-draft presser and correlating it to that year's draft. I guess I'm just too busy or lazy to do that. There were some pretty big "hints" in the Chronicle (by Dale Robertson) the past couple of days:
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What's been made alarmingly clear in the past two seasons is that the passing game is fully dependant on Johnson stretching the field and opening up soft spots in the zone coverage for Walter and OD to sniff out. When he's been hampered or out, not only do you lose his production, but the rest of the corps becomes worthless. Jacoby's been a complete failure as a Johnson backup. Time for a new insurance policy, and another all-block type with either slow feet or brick hands won't do. My big worry is that Kubiak thinks things are fine as they stand.
The internet, twitter, etc. have ruined the draft for me. Complete (mis)information overload. I prefer to ignore all the speculation and just wait until the picks are actually made.
Incorrect. The correct post was... Why do we need to draft a WR? We have JJ... Spoiler WATT! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YPMPr7bAMFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
whitney the merciless also known as whitney the awesome. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoy_en_la_revolucion/6970434550/" title="the merciless by *The last son of krypton*, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/6970434550_30fb3d8718_z.jpg" width="400" height="640" alt="the merciless"></a> or bruce irvin would be nice too in round dos.
For what it's worth, Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout - a really good source - just posted his final mock draft (based on things he's hearing "today") and still has Texans taking Fleener. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfldraftscout-RobRang Not that he's necessarily a better source than the others, but it's worth noting, given the avalanche of "OLB or OT" reports this morning.
It basically confirms my gut feeling that they're gonna draft an OLB in the 1st round and OL in the 2nd. A couple of good receivers available after that is Greg Childs and Nick Toon. But if Kendall Wright falls to 26, it's f*** up their draft board to say the least. lulz
Matt Schaub's numbers in 6 full AJ-less games last year: 118/200 (59%), 1,656 yards, 8.28 YPA, 9/3, 94.5 QBR Total points scored: 166 (27.6/game) Record: 4-2 Projected out to a full 16-game schedule: 314/533 (59%), 4,416, 8.29 YPA, 24/8, 94.45 QBR Total points scored: 442 (more than 2010) Record: 11-5 They're obviously better with Andre Johnson. But people need to start accepting that this system is bigger and better than any one player (save for Arian Foster, IMO). Smart, strong, fast WRs are what they need; they don't necessarily have to be blue-chip, first round All-American WRs.
Probably doesn't hurt that those 6 AJ-less games came against: Oakland Baltimore Tennessee Jacksonville Cleveland Tampa 1 good defensive team, 2 mediocre ones, and 3 that my grandma could run the ball on. Arguably the softest part of our schedule. We missed AJ against the Raiders something fierce, even as bad as they are against the run, they managed to sell out to stop Arian. I'm not going to say AJ is the most vital piece of the offense, but he is absolutely missed when we're having a tough time on the ground.
I think TE is more important than WR in the new nfl. Basically you have TE who run like receivers now days.
Drafting a o-lineman in the first would be a waste. How many of our o-lineman have been drafted in the first round or even second round? Im pretty sure we could replace Eric Winston on day 2.
In the 1st and 2nd Round from the past 7 drafts, 12 of the 14 drafted have been on the defensive side of the ball.
Granted - and I said as much: they're obviously better with AJ than without. But any notion that they'll crumble without him is very obviously an outdated idea. In 2007? They don't go 4-2 and score 27.6/game without Andre Johnson, even against six inferior opponents. Also, FYI: 11 teams (not including the Texans) finished with a winning record in 2011; that means 20 won 8 or fewer games. The vast majority of *any* NFL schedule - when you're good - is going to be against inferior opponents. It's not like 2011 was an outlier and, "Whew! We dodged that bullet! We better hope AJ is healthy for all 16 games against the '85 Bears in 2012!" They have more games this year against teams picking in the top 10 tonight (7) than they do against 2011 playoff teams (5).
I never saw them going WR, its just not in their personality to go first round WR. Maybe if they had a top 5, and the dude was sick...
Yep the average pick for an all-pro OL is 52, but thats about the same as every other position (trade down!) Here is the average draft selection for All-Pros over the last 10 years by position: Position All-Pros Percent in Top 10 Average overall draft position Wide receiver 20 25% 35.0 Tight end 7 0% 41.1 Defensive back 39 26% 50.2 Offensive lineman 44 23% 51.7 Linebacker 38 16% 53.0 Defensive lineman 49 16% 53.3 Quarterback 7 29% 55.7 Running back 28 21% 67.2 http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/04/all-pro_receivers_are_chosen_h.html
