A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

http://www.stateofthetexans.com/?p=9964

Here is a little breakdown on Rick Smith's drafting tendencies by conference & state as well as how his drafts have panned out over the years.

Personally I'm not too impressed considering there is only 1 player left on the team out of 14 drafted in 2007 & 2008. Guess we can chalk that up to growing pains, but there are a few other areas of concern, IMO, such as there have only been 9 starters produced from the last 4 drafts & 2(possibly 3) could be lost after this offseason. That a spotty track record IMO. Thoughts...

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Here's an added bonus on what players the Texans reportedly spoke to today at the Senior Bowl practice.

http://www.stateofthetexans.com/?p=9976

I watched this practice. Kinda impressed w/ Pugh at T. He's catching flack for having short arms, so he's expected to be a RT, but he looked decent doing pass rush drills against the likes of Okafor.

Poyer, CB, looked good & impressive. Especially in man to man. Very physical & made plays on the ball.

The NC State QB...ummmm...not too impressed w/ him. He looked rough at times, including badly overthrowing a wide open wr for an int. We already have that issue here.

Didnt think this needed it's own thread, but it's decent info IMO.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

My thoughts are that Smith gets either too much credit or too much blame for the draft. Yes he is in charge of the process. But it is well known that Duane Brown was Alex Gibbs' pick. JJ Watt was Wade Phillips' pick. Smith takes a lot of input from the scouts and the coaches. It's more of a consensus than Smith dictating.

Having said that, the Texans draft record has been spotty since Smith's arrival. Good and bad. The good is magnified by Arian Foster's UDFA signing in 2009. With 11 picks in the upcoming draft, this would be a good time for Smith and Co. to be more good than bad.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I think the spotty drafts & the salary cap nightmare is why Smith is always a hot topic. If you aren't drafting players worthy of being starters & you aren't known for building the team thru free agency...then how do you create such a mess w/ the salary cap? Some of the poor decisions made on free agents have haunted the Texans for quite a while. If I recall correctly, the Texans were still dealing w/ dead money against the salary cap in 2012 for Jacque Reeves of all people. When you consider the fact that on the defense alone that 6 of the 11 starters where still under their rookie contracts it makes you wonder where all the money is going & how badly was it handled.

Hopefully you are right & they hit a few jackpots in this upcoming draft to get the trend turned around.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I think Smith has done a good job. The 07 draft was terrible but our talent level is one of the tops in the league.:hurrah:

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Hmmmmm...did you read the link?? Just wondering....:foottap: lol!

To each there own.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I have never been a fan of the NC state quarterback (Glennon?)

From the games I have watched, I'm not even sure why he should be draft material.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Duane was the last of 6 first round graded LT available at our #26. There were 8 OTs taken in the first and none in the second.

Pretty sure we liked Clady, Williams, & Albert too. So I think lady luck was on our side.

(And speaking of Alex Gibbs, I'd sure like to pull him out of retirement for any type of consultant role he's willing to do.)

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Just compare draft history in the AFC South.

It feels like the Jags/Titans haven't had a single significant draft choice in forever, hence why they are struggling.

Colts tanked for Luck so I guess they were smart for that.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

On that note...dont you think that is why the Titans & jags have recently replaced their GM's. Drafting a punter in the 3rd round kinda speaks for itself. Colts may have tanked, but they seem to have not only got a starting QB, but also a playmaking wr & returner all in 1, & a starting RB a well. Seems that change was a smart one IMO & not necessarily the start over dooms day that many predict happens when you replace a GM or HC.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

With the movement of players nowadays, it's not at all surprising.

We've talked about this before.

A better measure might be what happened to them?

Of those 14 picks, 1 remained and 9 found employments elsewhere.
That needs to be compared with other teams to see how well a team draft.

But that's really not all there's to it.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Next you have to consider their draft spots.
Then you have to take into account trades, for example, the Texans traded two second rounders (one in each of those two years) for Schaub.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Hmmmmm...that's an interesting thought. Here's the list of players from 2007 & 2008. Please tell me what players outside of Brown & Jacoby Jones, yeah the guy we ran out of town, have turned into quality NFL players contributing on another team. I don't see anything but busts, journeymen, or players who are unemployed but still hanging on to the dream w/ an occasional tryout. I think you might be giving credit where credit isn't do.

2007 NFL Draft
Round/Pick Player Position College
1/10 (from Atlanta) Amobi Okoye Defensive tackle Louisville
3/73 Jacoby Jones Wide receiver Lane
4/123 (from New Orleans) Fred Bennett Cornerback South Carolina
5/144 Brandon Harrison Safety Stanford
5/163 (from New Orleans) Brandon Frye Offensive tackle Virginia Tech
6/183 Kasey Studdard Offensive guard Texas
7/218 Zac Diles Linebacker Kansas State

2008 NFL Draft
Round/Pick Player Position College
1/26 (from Baltimore) Duane Brown Offensive tackle Virginia Tech
3/79 Antwaun Molden Cornerback Eastern Kentucky
3/89 (from Baltimore) Steve Slaton Running back West Virginia
4/118 Xavier Adibi Linebacker Virginia Tech
5/151 Frank Okam Defensive tackle Texas
6/173 (from Baltimore) Dominique Barber Safety Minnesota
7/223 Alex Brink Quarterback Washington State

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Okoye turned out to be quite a disappointment, didn't he....We passed up some prime talent.

Pick number 11: Patrick Willis :kubepalm:

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Thats a HUGE understatement. Sometimes I wish the Texans would just make the obvious pick as opposed to the sneaky surprising pick that takes a few years to develop...if they develop at all. Molden & Fred Bennett where also head scratchers that didn't quite pan out. IMO rounds 1-3 should be players that develop into quality players. Missing in those rounds is normally not a good thing.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I'd be OK if they don't draft any more Brandon Harris* guys.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

To add to this, when you start off your article with the hand waving the selection of two All-Pro's, you can tell it will be heavily biased. I also don't really agree with the notion that the Texans are in a dire situation salary cap wise. Some cuts will have to be made but I doubt they bring nothing in free agency.

I'm of the opinion Smith is doing a good job bringing in talent, and retaining talent on the roster. I can't imagine being upset at any recent big name signing in free agency, but I could be overlooking something.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

Normally, the rule of thumb is that you expect a second rounder to become a starter (keeping in mind that there's no guarantee; even a high first round draft pick had become a bust many times before); a guy like Okoye, was also a starter for another team. He doesn't qualify as a bust.

The rate of going for a third rounder goes down to a maybe starter, but likely a solid rotational player or contributor.

A fourth rounder is a contributor if you draft decently and so on.

Jacoby, Slaton, and Adibi qualified to be a little better than average, at least enough to compensate for Molden.

In the meantime, before we go on, we also need to take into account the signing of UDFA, Brisiel and Butler. These guys may very well replace some of your own draft picks, and they did.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I think you are being a bit generous in your assessment of Slaton & Adibi. Better then average...they are both unemployed last I checked & it seems Slaton was just a 1 hit wonder fluke. Adibi never started & carried the " injury prone" label like no other. That hardly says "better than average" IMO.

Okoye qualifies as a bust, IMO, because he was a Top 10 pick who has been cut by 2 teams(1 team cut him twice) if I recall correctly & never really produced like a top 10 pick. If I recall correctly, he too is unemployed. Once again, I believe you are being a bit generous in your assessments of some players.

Re: A Little Breakdown on Rick Smith
 

I am afraid that if the Texans did change the Coach and GM we could go straight to the bottom again. I mean really how many guys out there are 100% locks to be good at their job. Plain and simple an Elite QB takes you a long way in this league, but If you do not have an Elite QB then the team has to be very good at every other position.