A Texan Draft Opus: Part II
The Texans draft has been pretty scrutinized around the blogosphere so far, and while I can’t necessarily say that I am happy with Brian Cushing, I did like the Connor Barwin pick and I do think the FO deserves some leeway on my personal subjective opinions due to past instances of good drafting. Also, the fact that I do not watch college football at all.
Anyway, my initial reaction with Cushing is that the Texans probably should’ve gone with Matthews over him, particularly due to his injury-proneness and his mediocre pass rush in comparison to Matthews. However, I don’t buy that the two-down player tag sticks to him, particularly since he played for a team that essentially had an NFL-calibre defense last year and will have four linebackers drafted. Add in the fact that our run defense was abysmal last year, and I can’t be too down on this pick. I think he might have a little more upside then the stats indicate.
Barwin, on the other hand, is the pure pass rusher that this team has needed next to Mario Williams for the last three years. Not that I necessarily buy the authority of this study based on the short amount of data, but according to this analysis, he may be the best pass rusher in the draft.
Now, I’m not 180′ing my stance on us needing a safety. We still need a safety really bad, and thankfully the one I wanted most is still on the board into round three. However, the most important part of a pass defense is still a good pass rush. This pick grew on me really fast, and I could see us all in Barwin jerseys by this time next year. Things definitely could’ve been done better, particularly missing out on trading down in the first round like Cleveland and New England did, with all these teams wanting to come up. But I’m happy with Barwin and I can accept Cushing given our organizations draft record and the fact that OLB was a need position. Overall, I’d give the first two rounds a B-.
Anyway, here comes the part of the draft the Texans have exploited pretty well the last few years. This is what my board looks like at our positions of need:
DT:
The top two guys in mock draft land who are still around are Jarron Gilbert and Alex Magee, Gilbert has youtube hype with the jump out of the pool stunt, but both of these guys are more like DE/DT tweeners while the Texans need more of a run stuffer to stick next to Amobi Okoye. I don’t think the talent is there at this point, just drafting one of the top few guys left on the board is going to cost one of the fours, which might be a reach. The other problem is that Chris Baker, the Hampton NT that probably has the most upside left of the DT’s, has character issues, and the Texans have always been very reluctant to draft guys that fit that bill. Probably the best option left is Terrance Taylor out of Michigan, if you think he can play the nose, you’ve got to make a move for him in the fourth. A late round sleeper I like is Vaughn Martin out of Western Ontario, who is inexperienced but has the tools to be a good nose.
S:
The guy I wanted in Round 2, Rashad Johnson, is still on the board. I would trade one of the fours to get up and grab him if need be, if not, I think the Texans would be foolish to not draft him in the third round. Chip Vaughn is the only other safety near Johnson, but he doesn’t have the same kind of coverage skills, he’d be more of a SS. I’m very interested to see where the Texans go here, but my main concern is something along the lines of hope that we’ll use a high pick on a safety so the organization finally can say they’re trying hard to find a safety. A lot of the “best available” DB’s are corners, as guys like Macho Harris and DJ Moore are still out there.
LT:
Jamon Meredith is still around, he was right around the 2nd-3rd borderline and he has the agility to fit in well in our zone blocking scheme. That said, I think the Texans are set with three active tackles and my projection of this as a need is based more on how much I worry about Duane Brown than it is what the Texans will actually do.
C:
No Unger or Mack, but there are a few mid-round SEC centers that the Texans could look into in Jonathan Luigis of Arkansas and Antoine Caldwell of Alabama. Both of these guys should become serviceable NFL centers and if they make it to the fourth or fifth rounds the Texans would be well-served replacing Chris Myers.
OLB/DE:
Both already represented. I would say that you’d have to be intrigued if Michael Johnson lasted into the fourth, and perhaps Jason Williams of Northern Illinois could be a decent sleeper prospect. The rest of the remaining OLB/DE don’t offer enough of a pass rush to really be worth more than 6th/7th rounder in my opinion. Especially since Lawrence Sidbury is sort of a one-year wonder.
RB2:
I rate Andre Brown and Rashad Jennings about equally, dig them both but I wouldn’t take them over Rashad Johnson in the third. I also think James Davis of Clemson is a solid enough sleeper to not get totally caught up in those two guys. I don’t think as highly of Shonn Greene (one good year).
The Texans will probably be in a good position if they address two of these areas with their first three picks. What kinda hurts is that the remaining depth in this draft that has “second round value” is focused mostly in WR and TE’s, although I think the pass-catching TE is a little overrated in general by the mock drafters/fans in comparison to the blocker. These are our two strongest positions, so it’d be sort of a reach to go there. That said, I would not be heartbroken at all to see Juaquin Iglesias in a Texans uni, I think he’d be an excellent scheme fit.
