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My Tweener for your Tweener
Written by Vinny - NFL Observer
Saturday, 01 September 2007
Well, the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Jason Babin era is over and if I’m counting correctly, we have one less Texan 1.0 Charley Casserly holdover hanging around. The Texans traded one of their situational pass rushers for Michael Boulware, the converted linebacker who never really lived up to his physical potential in Seattle. Both players are considered “tweeners” and they were both taken in the same draft as projects with high upside. Boulware was the 53rd overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft and Babin was the 27th overall pick that same year even though both players were not projected to play at the position they did in College. I think it is safe to say that both players never quite lived up to their billing, but this is what often happens when you draft a developmental player early in the draft. Perhaps both players flourish given a new start in a new environment.
The Texans had quite a bit of redundancy at the situational pass rusher position since it has taken about 2 years for the team to clear out all the 3-4 style players and plug in some conventional 4-3 body types. Charlie Anderson and Shantee Orr are both converted DE’s from College and Babin had the most trade value, so this trade makes a bit of sense since the Texans really didn’t do much this off-season to shore up the FS or the SS in the off-season.
Watching CC Brown take a poor angle on Terrell Owens giving up an easy touchdown during the Cowboy game probably cemented his fate as a low grade alternative starter at SS. Brown can now concentrate on FS this season and hold the position down until the Texans can find a legitimate starting caliber FS to play by next season.
Rick Smith is an ex-player and a Strong Safety from Purdue himself so I’m sure he has a good feel for the SS position. So far he has shown a good eye for talent and while Boulware has a big body and elite speed for his position he hasn’t always shown great instinct. Perhaps this will be a good move for both of these tweener players at critical years in their careers. Both players have had good camps and each have something to prove.
Well, the 
