DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Amobi Okoye is 19

May 3, 2007 2007 Draft, Amobi Okoye is 19, Athletes who don't stab people, Chocodiles, Demarcus Faggins sucks, Dunta Robinson, Mel Kiper's Hair, Suckfactor, Super Mario, The Fred, Tremendous Busts

Yeah, yeah. I’m a few days behind the curve on the draft recap. I know this. You know this. Let’s just leave it at that.

Anyway, bouncing around the internets, it seems people are not overly thrilled with the Texans’ draft. See, e.g., here, here, and here. [Author's note: Screw you, Paul Zimmerman.] Then again, other than the Browns (and, I suppose, the Pats, if you want to count Randy Moss as part of their draft), no one really wowed me. That said, I liked Houston’s draft for one simple reason: They addressed needs with every pick. While this is not a novel concept, it is certainly one that is lost on many, many NFL heads.

On to the picks.

• Round 1, pick 10. Amobi Okoye. I admit it–I love this pick. I went into this draft wanting Okoye only slightly less than Joe Thomas. And, we weren’t ever in a position to get Thomas. (Hey, did you hear that Amobi is 19? I wonder why the networks didn’t mention that a little more.) Okoye (in addition to being 19), is 6′2″/285 (or 300, depending on who is reporting) and, more importantly, should immediately be our best interior lineman. Given that Mario Williams faced double-teams pretty much every down, Okoye should be a welcome sight along the front four. He will also free up DeMeco Ryans even more, which, you know, is good. Plus, he’s 19. Not sure if that got mentioned.
• Round 2, no picks (due to the Matt Schaub trade). I still like the trade. Of course, when next year rolls around, Schaub better have played well enough to make me not unhappy about the lack of ANOTHER second round pick.
• Round 3, pick 73. Jacoby Jones. My first thought was “who?” My second thought was “where the hell is Lane College?” (Jackson, TN.) Jones is the “reason” some people are knocking the Texans’ draft, saying that the team reached to take him this high. Hell, maybe they did. Then again, this is a team that needed a #2 receiver, since the Slug Formerly Known As Eric Moulds has been released. In Jones, they got a 6′4″, 210 lb wideout, with good speed (4.5 at pro day, on grass). The kid is athletic as hell (ran track and played basketball in college) and is apparently a workout warrior. Said Jones about his workout habits following an impressive pro day showing: “I will train twice a day, every day. I will train from 9AM to 11AM, break for lunch, then get back at it for another two hours.” I’ll take that.
• Round 4, pick 123. Fred Bennett. Two things were apparently brought to Gary Kubiak’s attention before the draft. First, due to his continuing inability to bend the space-time continuum, Dunta Robinson can only cover one receiver at a time. Second, Demarcus Faggins and Dexter McCleon and Von Hutchins combine for a Suckfactor* score of roughly 9–a number that Jamar Fletcher is unlikely to bring down. While the big knock on Bennett is that he doesn’t play the run particularly well (and, perhaps, that his tackling form is not great), Fred is big, physical, and has good closing speed.
• Round 5, pick 144. Brandon Harrison. This is the one pick that I am not overly optimistic about. This team really needs a good safety (no offense to CC Brown or Glenn Earl). Harrison, however, is likely to go the way of Cato June and become a linebacker at the next level; he’s 6′1″, 227, and has room to add another 10 pounds or so to his frame. Also, from what I’ve read, he seems to be afraid of making a big hit, which is never good. He might wind up being the best nickel linebacker in the league, but that still doesn’t address the team’s needs the way a true ball-hawking safety would have.
• Round 5, pick 163. Brandon Frye. The other Round 5 Brandon is, apparently, a mutant. 6′4″, 302, with a 690 lb squat and a 445 lb bench press to go along with a 4.79 40. He may be raw (actually, that’s not true… he IS raw), but he seems to have the tools to become a good offensive lineman. He finished the season at VT playing some left tackle, but I am guessing he will move to the interior of the line, perhaps displacing Fred Weary in a year or so.
• Round 6, pick 183. Kasey Studdard. Meh. Kasey has some solid NFL lineage (his dad and uncle both played O-line in the pros) and, by most accounts, he’s strong and has a bit of a mean streak. Other than that, most of the things I’ve read about him (granted, that’s not a huge volume of stuff) say that he’s slow and has poor balance. That pretty much limits him to spelling the other two guards for a few plays per game. Still, it’s the sixth round. We’ll take what we can get on the offensive line at this point.
• Round 7, pick 218. Zach Diles. Let me be really clear about something: If my last name were “Diles,” you can bet your sweet ass that I would name my sons “Croco” and “Sun.” Also, why can I never find Hostess Chocodiles at the store? Those things are awesome. (As for Zach, he plays DeMeco’s position. Hopefully he’s adept at punt and kickoff coverage.)

Speaking of “grading” the drafts, let me just say that I find the whole process asinine. The two most important things in a draft should be (a) filling needs and (b) taking the best available player to fill those needs (with an eye on not drafting a player too early). Unfortunately, most people seem to grade the draft by guessing what the drafted players will do in the NFL. Teams that get the Can’t Miss players automatically “score” higher. But, for every Reggie Bush, there are multiple Can’t Miss guys like Robert Gallery, Charles Rogers, and Joey Harrington. Even more to the point, there are plenty of guys in this and every draft taken after the first round or two who will become stars. So, when Kiper says that the Raiders did well because they got a “franchise QB” in JaMarcus Russell, he’s talking out of his ass. Which probably also has fantastically groomed hair.

*Suckfator explained: (The number of times I scream “you SUCK!” at the player while watching him * pi)/total losses. It’s science.