BFD’s take on the Texans’ 2008 Draft - the first time, at least…
Apr 27, 2008 2008 Draft, 2008 Season, Alex Gibbs, BFD's Real Doll, Broken Record, Chaun, DRC, Duane Brown as Eliza Doolittle, I really dig my readers, Jacoby Jones is unheralded, Morlon Greenwood, Posts that list too many players
Well, it’s all done but the crying. I gotta admit that I’m still disappointed that we lost out on DRC (note to self: do a better job discrediting who we want next year), and I will forever hate the Cards because of it. Or something. That said, I’m gonna throw up (sic) some grades for our draft this year, and I would love to hear your feedback. I’m not going to do any purposeful agitating a la Little Dickie Justice, age 12. I’m going to try and be as honest as possible with my subjectivity and objectivity.
1st Round (#26 overall): Duane Brown, LT, Virginia Tech. I originally wasn’t too excited, and then I slipped quickly into acceptance. Considering he was taken with the 26th pick of the 1st Round, it’s definitely an over-draft. That we traded back eight places and still got the guy we allegedly wanted the entire time earns some points, though. For now, it’s a bit of a wash on the good and bad, and I am still worried about his ability to have a short-term impact on the team, so I will go with a Grade B. No, not great. I think it’s average right now, and it’s a full grade higher because of the trade down and acquisition of additional picks. Mr. Brown and Smithiak are certainly welcome to make me eat that grade, however.
3rd Round #1 (#79 overall): Antwaun Molden, CB, Eastern Kentucky. curtisdisco had some good things to say about Molden at BRB, and if you check out the entire thread, the guy is definitely a work-out fiend. Seriously, the guy seems to be a slightly lesser version of DRC: small school and huge combine numbers. Considering what the guy has had to deal with as a human, and how *pissed* he was at his badass workouts, I am prepared to go JJ on him. Grade B+.
3rd Round #2 (#89 overall): Steve Slaton, RB, West Virginia. I do worry he’ll be a Chris Perry at the highest level due to his size and seeming inability to run between the tackles, but he definitely has game-changing ability. Used in the proper role, I can see him excelling. Grade B+. I do think we need to set realistic expectations that he is not a true #1 RB, but I have no problem with that, either.
4th Round (#118 overall): Xavier Adibi, OLB, Virginia Tech. Here’s my take…so, we didn’t take a DE in this draft, yet I believe it to be a serious area of need. We signed Chaun Thompson, who could line-up at DE as a serious speed rusher. Yes, that’s where I am going with this. Chaun will see a lot of time opposite Mario at DE, and I have absolutely no problem with this. Chaun *is* 6′2″, 250lbs, so he’s not terribly undersized. But if he can become a demon off the outside, yeah, I’m liking this.
As for Adibi, as I said previously, I see a lot of Morlon Greenwood. Others in the Draft Thread said DeMeco, but that’s a little too far for me. And again with the b0ng hit of Adibi. He’ll definitely challenge Zach Diles and Kevin Bentley at SAM. An interesting pick with some seriously high upside. Grade A-. As stupid as this may sound, if any of our picks have a big impact in 2008, I think it’s most likely to be Adibi.
5th round (#151 overall): Frank Okam, DT, The University of Texas at Austin…bitchez. Yes, an alum from my beloved alma mater. And, yes, I am super-excited about this pick (though not as excited as Tim). He has a first-class body, a top-of-the-class mind, but he has the motor of a moped. He also needs some serious work on his technique. The worst thing about him is his ability to disappear for stretches, but when he’s on, he’s Shaun Rogers good (when his engine is running, of course).
Going into the 2007 season, I thought Okam would be a legit 1st round pick. That he slid is more of an indictment of the motor, technique, and (oh yeah!) conditioning than it is anything else. A motivated Okam would be an absolute steal and the acquisition of a 1st rounder in the 5th. Grade A-.
6th round (#173 overall): Dominique Barber, S, Minnesota. I just don’t understand this pick. We took Molden, we have enough DBs to hold up against Andre Ware, and we took the slowest S on the board? I mean, I think even I could hang with this guy in the 40 (20 years ago). Look, he may be Marion’s brother, but I hate that SOB. Grade D.
7th round (#223 overall): Alex Brink, QB, Washington State. I watched only about half of one WSU game this year, and I don’t have much of an image of Brink. He’s mobile but smallish, and he definitely has a “West Coast Offense” kinda arm, which means it ain’t the strongest. I will reiterate that I believe that Kubiak carries three QBs on the active roster, and Brink will be practice squad fodder. Grade who cares.
Overall Grade:
I think we are seeing a trend of sorts with Smithiak, which is taking safer picks in the earlier rounds and going for the homerun in later rounds. I’m OK with this. Brown, for all the smack, was a fairly safe pick. Mario and DeMeco were a fairly safe picks. In 2007, ManChild was an easy call and not a gamble, but they went Jacoby Jones in the 3rd, Fred Bennett in the 4th, and Brandon Frye in the 5th (looking forward to seeing him in the summer).
This draft just seems similar to me. A safer pick at the line early (Brown vs. Okoye), l33t skill position in the 3rd (Slaton vs. JJ [nod to JJ here, though]), a DB with upside (Bennett vs. Molden) in there, and another lineman with talent in the 5th (Okam vs. Frye).
Overall, I give this draft a very sold B+ with a greater possibility of upside than not. Molden and/or Okam could make this grade an “A” by themselves, much less Brown or Slaton. I’m excited.
Waiting for the punchline
Apr 24, 2008 DRC, Dancing With the 'Tards, Demarcus Faggins sucks, Dunta Robinson, Faggination, Huh?
For your Thursday morning enjoyment, I present a Chron article from 2005 singing the praises of one DeMarcus “Petey” Faggins.
Faggins is exactly what defense needs
[...]
By starting Faggins in place of Phillip Buchanon at cornerback and Shantee Orr in place of Jason Babin at outside linebacker, the Texans are making it clear that no longer do reputations and draft position have priority.
It’s about who can make plays. And who’s hungrier.
Faggins is all that. He’s the guy you keep wanting to ignore but can’t. He plays every snap as if he must do his job or start packing. Same thing with Orr.
[...]
“When I first got here last season, and I heard all this talk about the Texans need another corner, I came into camp and I saw this guy, No. 38,” Robinson said. “He’s all over and I’m like, `Dang, is he a new guy or something?’ The same thing this spring. … (Faggins) is a playmaker.”
He’s the one always volunteering for repetitions, no matter if they’re with the scout team. He’s the one always asking for a chance until he finally gets one.
That was Faggins two Sundays ago as Buchanon seemingly tripped over his press clippings while attempting to tackle Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker near the goal line.
Ready to go with his helmet on, Faggins watched as things went from bad to worse to putrid.
“They made the decision right there on the sideline,” Faggins said. “I guess they felt like some guys weren’t playing up to their potential. I just heard Dom say, `Put Petey in.’ ”
Petey, as Faggins is called, did not astound anyone the rest of the way in that loss. But he made a couple of plays. He made no mistakes. He stayed in position, and it was enough to earn him the start today against the Cincinnati Bengals.
[...]
“The more you’re around him the more comfortable you get because he gives you great effort, he competes every down (and) he doesn’t want anybody to catch a pass on him,” Capers said. “When you talk to these guys, you tell them this is a game of opportunity. Whether you’re running the service team, or running the other team’s offense or defense. He earned this the old-fashioned way.”
Wow. If you read the article with visions of the Atlanta game in your head, you start to giggle and assume that the whole thing is just a big sarcastic joke.
Making an ass out of all of us
Apr 23, 2008 2008 Combine, 2008 Season, DRC, Posts that list too many players, Predictions Guaranteed To Go Wrong, The Future
About two weeks ago, grungedave emailed me, asking:
Is this the most “low-key” build-up the NFL Draft in more than a decade?
After I thought about it for a minute, I had to admit he was right. I honestly can’t remember so little hype and talk surrounding the Texans’ upcoming picks. But, you know what? I think this is a good sign.
Here’s what I mean: The reason that we are not hanging on every mock draft and obsessing over this year like past drafts is because we are low enough in the draft that we can only speculate as to who might be there–we have no guarantees of anyone’s availability. Even more importantly, though, we don’t have any one hole that is so glaring that we HAVE to draft to fill it. Hell, if last year’s “8-8 despite having more injuries than the 4077th” showed anything, it’s that this team has a good bit of talent all over the place, meaning that this draft (and future drafts) will be used to tweak and improve rather than to overhaul.
In that vein, I agree with what BFD said–acting like this first pick is make-or-break for this team is ridiculous. If history has shown us anything, it is that NO first round pick is really make-or-break; some have a bigger impact than others, but all are just 1/53rd of the team. Hell, we survived Zoolander, didn’t we?
Speaking of BFD’s last post, in the comments thereto, Stephanie opines the following:
Actually, I don’t put happy faces on picks. However, I do think that most draft addict fans are total morons about the draft. Everybody thinks that if Their Guy doesn’t get picked, and the team drafts The Guy They Really Didn’t Want, then the world will come to the end and they have to drop a bunch of F bombs and the like.
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And the truth is even teams with all the information in the world, with coach’s tape and interviewing these guys, etc., teams often get it wrong. So I just figure if the teams can’t get it right with the best information out there, then how are draft addict fans any more likely to get it right when they are mostly depending on combine stats and reading second or third hand or totally madeup information about the players on the interwebs.
On some level, I agree with this. After all, I can’t say for sure whether Phillip Merling or Calais Campbell will be the better pro. I can’t tell you whether Leodis McKelvin is really going to be the best corner in this draft or whether Aqib Talib is a great fit for our system. And I sure as shit can’t say with 100% certainty that Jonathan Stewart is not a better fit for our new ZB system than Felix Jones. All I can do in any of these cases is guess.
THAT SAID, there is a guess and there is an informed guess. The former, I think we all agree, is useless. The latter, however, has some merit and provides a somewhat rational basis for arguing about who we should or shouldn’t take.
As to Steph’s larger point, that teams often whiff on the pick, so who are we to argue with them in the first place if they can’t get it right with all the available info, I think there is one glaring problem with that theory. Namely, it assumes that teams are always making rational decisions based on independent evaluations of their team and the players in the draft.
That would be great if it were true, but I have my doubts. Case in point: Last year, Miami, despite needing a QB as well as help in any number of other spots, inexplicably took Ted Ginn, Jr., at 9, with Brady Quinn, Amobi Okoye, Patrick Willis, and Michael Griffin (among others) still available. Even at the moment they made the pick, the collective response from everyone else was “What the fuck?” The only explanation I can come up with is the Dolphins management bought into the hype surrounding Ginn’s speed and thought they needed him. Had they taken an honest look at their team, however, he would not even have been on their radar at 9.
This is not really an isolated incidence, either. Every year, some team buys into a 40-time or a ESPN fluff piece and takes a guy that doesn’t fit their system or that plays a position they don’t really need to fill when there are other players universally-accepted as “better” still available. Note, I am not saying that fans aren’t just as likely to buy into something and get a semi for players that aren’t really that good. We are all fallible when it comes to this process. Still, I don’t think it is “dumb” to boo your team and bitch about a pick if, for example, the Texans took Brian Brohm at 18.
So, as I said above, I can’t tell you whether Merling or Campbell will be the better pro, but I can point out that–if they are both on the board at 18–all of the Combine numbers point to Merling as being a better player, but that his sports hernia surgery in the offseason should at least make you consider Campbell’s freakish build and possibly overlook his poor combine before you roll the dice. On the other hand, I can mention that Merling has the ability to slide inside and play under tackle if you want him, which Campbell cannot. Likewise, I can’t tell you whether McKelvin is the best corner in the draft, but I can tell you that I would prefer not to take a 5-10/190 CB if Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is available because we play against some big, physical receivers when we play Jacksonville and I think he’d be abused. (And I can point out that Talib has some drug issues (multiple marijuana test failures) and that his hip work is sub-par at best.)
But even these comparison in a vacuum don’t present the whole story, obviously. Determining whether a draft pick was “right” or “wrong” or “absolutely shitty” requires forming a set of assumptions and working rules about your team and your draft. Differences in opinions here are what cause me to want Balmer/R-Cromartie/Merlin, Lee to want Stewart, Dave and BFD to want a corner, Mark to want an OT, Stephanie to want the player most likely to rescue homeless animals, Chris to want…I actually have no idea who Chris wants, and Tim to want the best available at a number of positions. So, without further ado, here are the assumptions I am working under (primarily with respect to the first round). Feel free to correct me and/or realize my brilliance and change your own opinions accordingly.
- 1. Barring the shocking drop of DRC to 18, I do not want a corner in the first round. We just blew our wad throwing cash after Jacques Reeves. I realize that the rookie money comes from a different pool than the money used to pay Frenchy, but I am of the opinion that drafting someone to fill the exact same hole you just spent your biggest free agent dollars on is the equivalent of pawning your car to play blackjack and then taking out a second mortgage to try and win back the car money. I assume Ray Rhodes saw something he liked in Reeves and, thus, persuaded the powers that be to sign him. If that’s the case and if we are going to blitz more often like we did in the second half of the season last year, it could very well be that Reeves is a good corner for us. I’m willing to take that chance for a year and use our first-rounder elsewhere.
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- 2. My only exception to the assumption in #1 is DRC. That is because I don’t think you get too many chances as a franchise to draft that kind of physical freak to play defensive back. His cousin is an absolute game changer (see, e.g., the game we played against them) and I am willing to overlook the “good money after bad” theory if you can get someone who can single-handedly change games in the secondary.
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- 3. Going along with #1, part of what could make Reeves a viable (or better) corner for us is putting him in a position where he’s not trying to cover Reggie Wayne for 5 seconds. The easiest way to do this is to improve the defensive line so that the front four can get better pressure and not have to rely on the SLB as a fifth rusher all the time. Knowing that, the question becomes whether you’d prefer a new DE opposite Mario knowing that Travis Johnson will likely be your nose tackle or whether you’d take a Kentwan Balmer and see if Anthony Weaver bounces back and/or if Earl Cochran continues to show the nose for the ball that he had near the end of last year.
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- 4. Building off of #3, do you take a Philip Merling at 18 because of his versatility, knowing that you could then run a number of different d-line formations out there based on whether he was at DE or UT? I think you have to consider this approach if you are not planning on getting both a DE and a DT in this draft.
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- 5. On the offensive side of the ball, many pundits (and a number of blogger/blog commenters) have us taking a LT first. What those people don’t seem to be giving any weight to is the fact that we just brought in the GURU of Zone Blocking–a man who has decades of turning cast-off linemen into integral cogs in the system–as well as a number of guys who would seem to fit his system. And we have a LT (Barbaro) who has never really gotten a chance to play that is due to return (though he is probably not a good fit for the new system). So why not give Gibbs and the current pieces (both returning and free agent) a year so we see just what we do have and what we need to address? It is entirely conceivable that we have all the pieces we need currently on the roster.
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- 6. Ditto that with running back. We have our albatross from last year (Batman) returning along with Kubiak’s mancrush (Darius Walker) and our newest addition (Chris Brown). Why not wait a year to see if (a) Green has a decent year left in him or (b) one of the other two guys can thrive in a ZBS? If you MUST draft a RB, at least wait until the third or fourth–why draft one when you don’t know exactly how our system is going to shake out?
So, yeah. Those are the assumption I am working under. What say the rest of you?
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Totally unrelated, but I need some advice. Can someone recommend a good bourbon/whisky/whiskey for someone who generally avoids brown liquors like a toothy blowjob?
Hyphen
Apr 23, 2008 2008 Draft, Awesomeness, BFD's Real Doll, Bloggerating, DRC, Super Bowl 2011
After much hype and a lull that would make the Big 10 jealous, I present to you:
The NBC Sports Blogger Mock Draft.
I’d also like to welcome the newest Texan, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
