Duane Brown: BFD’s First Take
Apr 26, 2008 2008 Draft, Alex Gibbs, Anger, You'd like to think I was joking
First take: Seriously?
Second take: No, you can’t be fucking serious.
Third take: Seriously?
4th-Nth takes: See third take above.
Yes, it’s like that.
Look, I recognize that he “fills a need.” But as somebody who could’ve been drafted 20 picks later, who cares. Ya see, Brown is what we call “a reach.” A “reach-around” is almost good. Hell, depending on the pitcher and the money involved, I’d be down with that. A “reach” is ***not*** good. Not in the least.
The draft is about maximizing talent and maximizing what your team needs. Yes, we need a LT - and the problem, after reading his fucking scouting report, is that we still do - but we could’ve traded this pick, gotten more schwag (a la our 18th), and still been happy.
Duane Brown as a Texan? Not a bad idea. Duane Brown as the 26th pick of the 2008 NFL draft? Fuck.
Get the point?
Truly, I am not trying to be angry with the pick. If the Cards hadn’t dicked us by taking our beloved DRC, then all would’ve been good (props to whomever reminded us of this misjustice). But that didn’t happen.
Reaching is simply a different way to say that we did not maximize our pick @ 26. The last time Alex Gibbs “drafted” an OL was when he took George Foster out of Georgia…the same dude who got traded to Detroit for buffet costs. I don’t understand why we didn’t give Gibbs a chance to work with what we already had, especially if we were trying to sell Barbaro has healthy.
Let me end this rambling, drunken post with one, single word:
Reach.
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April 26th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I respectfully disagree. He would not have been there 20 picks later. I know John McLain is a douche but he had brown going 23rd overall in his mock. I have seen other mocks with him in the 20’s and 30’s. The texans wanted him at 18 (according to them) but traded down and still got their guy. I assume they tried to trade down again but when push came to shove they went with their guy. I have no problems with that.
We will get our CB in the 3rd with our extra pick and then we will still be in position to get either a quality rb or a d-end. We got a starter on the left side for a decade (if Smithiak is to be believed and so far they have done nothing to merit my not believing them) and another starter (the 3rd round pick) for the 18 pick. That seems good to me.
Basically what it seems me is Gibbs wasn’t sold on the tackles we have so we went out and got him one to train.
Long story short, Smithiak has done enough to earn the benefit of the doubt, of this I am sure.
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April 26th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
casey: feel free to call me a dumabss. You might be right. Hell, I just don’t even care.
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Obviously, we’ll never get the real, war room logic behind this pick. It could easily be the best pick of Smithiak’s careers. BUT, I am just not sold, either.
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Your best point is that they have earned the benefit of the doubt. I just hope they are right.
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April 26th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Yea, at the rate OTs were going, I doubt Brown makes it past the early 2nd round.
And aside from RB (which we apparently refuse to draft in round 1), LT was the only need on our team. That’s right, I said that. I don’t think our coaches feel that we’re shorthanded at CB with Bennett, Reeves, and the possibility of Dunta returning midway through the season. You could argue that we need a DT or DE, but we have capable players there with a little potential.
LT was the pick, and if we ended up reaching a little bit for the guy who’s going to keep Schaub’s bones intact for the next 7-8 years, I won’t complain. And believe me, I’m saying that as somebody who wanted Mendenhall more than anybody else in the draft, so it crushed me to pass on him.
In the end though, I don’t think we can wait any longer. We need a LT, and we can’t assume Barbaro is coming back.
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April 26th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
[...] DGDB&D: a Texans blog. wrote an interesting post today on Duane Brown: BFD’s First TakeHere’s a quick excerpt Duane Brown as the 26th pick of the 2008 NFL draft? Fuck. Get the point?… [...]
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April 26th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I was at the draft party so I missed out on the live blog and much of the internet vitriol over the pick, but apparently when the Texans interviewed Chris Long they asked about Brown and got a pretty good recommendation. Take it for what you will, but he is extremely athletic. I would have preferred to trade back again, but I’m sure that Smithiak have a better feel of when he would still be available than we do. Also, before you start complaining about not picking up player X or how much of a reach player Y is, remember the 06 draft and how conventional wisdom is pretty useless when you’re dealing with a crapshoot like the NFL draft.
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April 26th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
still pissed. Don’t care if Brown would not have been there 30 picks later. We reached. Admitting it is the first part of the process of healing.
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April 26th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
They had another opportunity to trade down, but declined. Somewhere they are on record as saying that they felt like 18 was a reach for Brown, but 26 was fair value. Plus they say Gibbs loves the guy. All this uproar seems a lot like 2006.
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April 27th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Dallas has had a phenomenal draft. God that hurts to say. Maybe Petey has four brothers that went to school in Arkansas that Jerry can draft. Then I’d feel better about this.
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April 27th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Well here it goes:
I know this is considered a reach by lots of people, and I can imagine the local sports assholes (Some radio talk show personalities, possibly dicky justice, or jerome solomon I could all see trying to rip the texans) will try to make this look like a big huge mistake but I like the bigger picture this presents.
Duane Brown played against both Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves (Both of Jacksonville’s picks today). Also, he’s got Alex Gibbs written all over him, and according to Smith and Kubiak, he was going to be the 18th pick but Smith wanted to gamble and see if he would be there at the 26th. He picked up an extra 3rd, which now has more value because we have a night to redo the draft board and a night to think about it.
We also replace our 6th round pick, which is lower than our previous 6 that we gave away for Chris Meyers.
And we did this by moving backwards a few spots and still picking the guy they were going to pick at 18 anyway.
Now, I think they should’ve gone a different way, because I don’t know if Brown is going to be able to pickup complex blitz packages, but I do think he has the speed and athleticism to be a great asset. I also thought that he “might” be available in the 3rd but the Texans didn’t seem to think so.
Yes you are right, it is a reach, but they didn’t trade up to get him, and they acquired more picks while getting him. So in Kubiak and Smith I trust.
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April 27th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I agree with your original assessment, BFD. After a night to ponder, here’s my take: First, I don’t think Smithiak would reveal their *actual* thought process to the press, so I discount what they’ve said about the pick. I do that possibly unfairly. Sue me. I believe that when DRC went to Arizona, they felt they could drop back and still pick up Jenkins, so they made the trade with Baltimore. At that time, they unwittingly left their asses hanging out. It was easy for another team (and unfortunately, that team was the fucking Cowgirls)to guess who we were targeting. Dallas knew Jenkins wouldn’t be there for them at 28 because we telegraphed our pick at 26. So they jumped ahead of us to get the guy they wanted. With the last of our 1st round caliber CB’s off the board, no second round pick to utilize, and OL’s going fast, we REACHED. Desperately, we REACHED to make sure we got *someone* that was high on our list. Possibly Smithiak tried to trade back into the 2nd and had no takers? We’ll never know. I’m not saying that Brown won’t ever be any good, and I do doubt he would’ve been there when we came up in the the third, but he’s a REACH in the 1st. Jebus, I hope this works out….
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April 27th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Shiner 97 + sleep = OK w/ the pick
I’ve been reading some of the Smithiak quotes regarding Round 1 yesterday, and here is my (paraphrased) summary:
Kubes: “You guys think you’re pissed now? Hell, we were gonna take Brown over Mendenhall with the 18th pick. Now THAT would have been entertaining to watch over at DGDB&D. But then we got the offer of another 3rd Rounder & #26. And I think it’s safe to say that we rock tits in the 3rd Round. Jacoby, Winston, Barbaro. Without that damn horse injuring his leg, we would have locked down 3 positions in our last 2 years of 3rd round picks. So pull up a chair boys & girls. We’re going to start a whole new day of fuckin with you at 10AM.”
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April 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
@thatguy & Shake
Thanks, you saved me a whole lot of typing. Ditto.
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April 27th, 2008 at 8:48 am
At first, I was not at all excited about this pick. After reading about the guy a little more, and reading the Interviews with Kubiak, I’m coming around to this. I do agree that the Texans will never publicly say that they were targeting another player like Jenkins for example, because they wouldn’t want to screw over D. Brown like that. But He was clearly the best OT left for the ZBS when our Pick finally came around. I don’t believe he will be the starter on day one, but you never know. He’s 6′ 4” 300 lb’s , extremely athletic and Gibbs supposedly loves the guy. Whats not to like? And if it is true they would have taken him at 18 anyways, at least we got another third and a sixth out of it. I know a ‘best value’ pick would have been Mendenhal and I know a bunch of my friends wanted him. We have four healthy running backs heading into camp with Taylor, Walker, Brown, and Green but only one LT you can count on in Salami. All in all, I say pass me the Kook Aid, I’m still sipping.
As I type this we’re on the clock with our first pick of the third round……and we take….Antwaun Molden CB Eastern Kentucky! ..I have no idea who that guy is..well there’s Petey’s little cousin for ya Matt!
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April 27th, 2008 at 8:56 am
More on Antwaun Molden, It sounds like he “looks the part” but doesn’t play very well. He didn’t even start a game until his Senior Year. This worries me.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/profiles/antwaun-molden?id=2011
“Compares To: WILL ALLEN-Miami…Like Allen, there is no questioning Molden’s athletic ability and impressive looking frame. The concern is his inability to read and react to the play quickly. He is a good downhill tackler and solid man coverage defender in the short area, but struggles to close on plays when the receiver gets behind him on deep routes. He lacks natural hands for the interception and did not even start a game until his senior year. At his level of competition, he should have dominated, considering the mediocre receivers he faced in every game except the Kentucky clash. Yet, teams were successful on 48.1% of the passes thrown into his area, as he allowed 14.73 yards per pass completion (37 for 545 yards and three touchdowns). Based on athletic talent and his play with the kickoff coverage unit, he could make a nice later second day pick-up, but I feel that his downhill tackling ability would be a much better fit at free safety than playing cornerback at the next level.”
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April 27th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Based on his Combine scores, Molden certainly is certainly physically capable of playing in the NFL. Tons of upside with this pick. As Shake said, Smithiak usually rocks the later rounds, so I’ll breathe easy with this pick. Even though I think we got sniped again. I believe we were hoping for one of the two Charles’ - Jamaal or Godfrey - to be there for us…