1/2 season Shadow Draft update (mk starting to see separation)
Original shadow draft.
1/4 season update.
1: Brian Cushing versus Michael Oher
As much as I desperately want to call this a push and continue living the lie that the Texans could’ve done better here, I can’t. Even Duane Brown’s poor performance against Indy hasn’t convinced me otherwise. Oher has fought through growing pains, and will probably be a great tackle down the line, but it’s time to just say: I was wrong. Brian Cushing is everything the Texans have needed him to be and more. He’s a key part of the best run defense in Texans history, he’s got superb football instincts, and while Oher is tantalizing, he just hasn’t played as well as Cushing has. Just please don’t ask him to single-cover Dallas Clark anymore.
Advantage: Texans
2: Connor Barwin vs. Connor Barwin
Barwin hasn’t exactly been stellar this year. In fact, he was downright awful in the Indy game, jumping offsides numerous times and committing some mental errors. I think part of this is the Texans being a little too enamored with his skillset and putting him in impossible positions…one play in particular against the Cardinals, they had him rush from outside, except he was also the only man who could cover the running back, so he had to jog all the way back from his rush to get him 20 yards downfield.
Part of the problem is that you really don’t want to lose either Antonio Smith or Mario Williams rushing, Smith for his stellar play and Williams more for his reputation this year, although of course he hasn’t been BAD. Barwin has played a lot of pass rush downs but hasn’t really come in to play yet…I think the Texans should keep patience here, because if there is anything the Gaines Adams trade has taught us, it’s that pass rushers take a few years to develop.
3) Antoine Caldwell vs. Rashad Johnson
Johnson has been mostly inactive, with the caveat that the Cardinals have two pretty good safeties in front of him in Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle. Caldwell has been mostly inactive, but with the injuries to Mike Briesel and Chester Pitts he has now assumed a bigger role in the offense. I’ve only gotten two game-tapes on him so far…I’m willing to pretty much give a bye to a player seeing his first real NFL game action. He played well against the Bills. The tape will be telling against the Colts.
Edge: Push (Lean Texans)
4a) Chip Vaughn vs. Glover Quin
Glover might be playing the best football of anyone in our secondary. And for once, that isn’t just empty praise. I think he profiles in better at free safety down the line. To steal from my last post’s comments:
When he keeps his man in front of him, he’s generally very good. He looks a little lost on short zones. The tackle that he blew in this game was the first time I’d really seen him get faked out.
Long term I think he grades out as an average/above-average starter at FS and maybe a fair/mediocre CB. He’s got decent instincts, but he probably won’t be a turnover machine or anything…his tackles are technical, not jawbreakers. On tape you can notice that he sometimes takes a few steps back before the ball is snapped, which jives with the conventional wisdom that his straightline speed isn’t terrific. If I was designing a game plan I’d quick curl him to death and make him try and get jams, because I don’t think he can do that well enough to stick at CB.
Chip Vaughn hasn’t played a single down of football this year, and is on the IR. Yikes.
Edge: Texans.
4b) Andre Brown versus Anthony Hill
Brown became another victim of my fabled Mock Draft IR class, while Hill hasn’t contributed much either yet. However, Hill is going to see extensive time now with Daniels and Casey sidelined for a bit and I am very interested to see the game tape. The early results, i.e. the one catch he made against the Colts where he took about three hits before going down, say this might end up falling to the Texans as well.
That said, the people begging for the Texans to address RB in the draft are being vindicated so far this year. Ryan Moats is no long-term solution and Slaton definitely needs an inside runner. James Davis might’ve been a better fit for that, granted. I still really like Brown’s long-term potential.
Edge: Push.
5) James Casey versus James Casey.
I still haven’t really gotten a chance to chart him. He did get a little action in the Bills second half, but we know he’s around more for catching than blocking, and the second half of Bills-Texans was 90% runs. He also got hurt and gutted it out through the game, so I’m loathe to use the little tape I have seen of him to draw a meaningful conclusion. This pick is looking a lot better now that Daniels is out for the year.
6) Brice McCain vs. AQ Shipley
I would’ve liked to see more Brice in the Indy game, that is my first reaction. Mainly because I think the Texans probably needed to go Dime so that a CB could defend Dallas Clark. He got burned in the Jets game, because he wasn’t really ready to be a starting cornerback, but I’m certainly not going to call him a BAD player…I’d definitely like some more tape on him though.
Shipley is stuck on the Steelers practice squad. Shipley also plays center. Chris Myers is our center. I’m not entirely sure Shipley is worse. Worst case, he could get us all donuts.
Advantage: Push. As in “Chris Myers doesn’t get one”
7) Troy Nolan versus Chris Baker
Nolan is out for the year. Baker is on the Broncos 53 man roster. Our NT is Shaun Cody. I dunno if Baker would be better or worse than him, but it’s not like we’d be giving up the snaps of someone important to find out.
Advantage: Shadow draft! Sweet sweet victory!
I still think the Shadow Draft class is a pretty good class, considering 1/4 of it got IR’ed. But you can’t argue with what the Texans have done so far. They nailed the Cushing pick and they nailed the Quin pick, then they got the “fortune” to see the extra tight ends everyone was complaining about both come into play this year. Texans scouts had better get a big Christmas bonus this year.
I was big on Andre Brown. It’s odd that so many of your picks ended up on IR, though!
Do you think Caldwell will eventually move into the center role, or is it too hard to tell right now? If, during next year’s draft, the front office has to choose between a guard and a guy who can play guard and center, they’ll probably take the latter. But I’m wondering if they’ll HAVE to take a center next year.
I’ll get back to this after I’ve further looked at the game tape this week but there is no reason, that I know of, that Caldwell couldn’t play center instead of guard. So I think we keep that flexibility.
Watched the tape. Long story short: I think Caldwell should just start at center now.