Rick Smith Quotes from Combine

[steelbtexan]

Originally Posted by bckey

That is awesome. I really hope they let him do the same thing this year.

And let Gary do the offense.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Lucky

It sounds nothing like you said. Or what Kubiak said. You said:



Kubiak said:


How could that be more clear? Wade Phillips told Rick Smith whom to draft. Smith orchestrated the draft trades, yes. But it was Wade Phillips call on whom to take.

Look, this is what I was refering to

Originally Posted by steelbtexan

Just let Wade/Gary do his job and be done with it. But dont sit there and tell me you're taking the BPA. When you're actually taking whoever Wade/Gary are telling you to take. (It's offensive) Look, Rick you've got a good place in life, dont over play your hand.

To you, what does it sound like steelbtexan thinks Wade's role is in the draft? Or what he thinks Rick Smith's role is?

To me, it sounds like he believes Wade dictates Rick's actions. That Rick just sits there & follows orders.

Kubiak's quote to me says The Scouts do their job, Wade has his input & Rick Smith goes about doing the draft the way he had when Richard Smith was the DC, when Frank Bush was the DC & how he'll do it after Wade Phillips was gone.

Wade whittled the list down more than the other DCs did, but it was Rick Smith who told Wade Phillips who Jj Watt was, not the other way around.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Lucky

From Profootballtalk, 5/23/11:

Still doubting?

Wade had no more influence than any of our other DCs..... Rick Smith & the Scouts found a bunch of players that fit what the Texans are going after. Wade whittled it down..... Rick had the final say.

[pirbroke]

I remember when they traded back for Duane Brown, it was Ricks call to trade back and he was wanting to trade back some more but Kubes said enough, lets not take a chance and go ahead and draft him. That might not be exact words but I remember the video. Coaches have final say of draft board order, and Rick works the draft to a point but can be over ruled at times on stragedy.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by steelbtexan

And let Gary do the offense.

And after Wade Phillips made the first 5 picks of the Texans 2011 draft, Gary Kubiak selected TJ Yates. A great pick, even if he never does anything else in the NFL.

It works out when you have guys on both sides of the ball that know what they want.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by pirbroke

I remember when they traded back for Duane Brown, it was Ricks call to trade back and he was wanting to trade back some more but Kubes said enough, lets not take a chance and go ahead and draft him.

Gary was right, as the Chargers were poised to select Brown with the next pick.

[DX-TEX]

Originally Posted by texan_bill

this team sucks!! Kubiak sucks!! Rick smith sucks!! Wade sucks!!!!

That is all,



i have nothing else to add... :d

6-10

[bckey]

Originally Posted by Lucky

It sounds nothing like you said. Or what Kubiak said. You said:



Kubiak said:


How could that be more clear? Wade Phillips told Rick Smith whom to draft. Smith orchestrated the draft trades, yes. But it was Wade Phillips call on whom to take.

I agree. And by getting his list down to 15 to 20 instead of the 50 to 60 like his predecessors it takes all the guess work out for Rick Smith. I also bet that list was broken down by position and order of preference. Wade clearly knows defense and how to evaluate what players will best fit his defense.

[steelbtexan]

Originally Posted by Lucky

And after Wade Phillips made the first 5 picks of the Texans 2011 draft, Gary Kubiak selected TJ Yates. A great pick, even if he never does anything else in the NFL.

It works out when you have guys on both sides of the ball that know what they want.

This is what I'm saying. It probably was that way with Richard Smith and Bush too. But they didn't whittle the list down like Wade did/hopefully does.

When it came time to pick Wade picked the guy off his list and told Rick to select him. The Harris trade was done because he was high on Wades list but fell. Wade probably (Speculation) said lets try to trade up and get Harris and provide KJ/Allen some competition. So Rick made the trade.

Yes, if Rick provides lists to both Gary and Wade and they pick off those lists the Texans will be in great shape. It's a great time to be a Texan fan. With both Wade/Gary knowing what they are looking for on both sides of the ball respectively.

Hopefully Rick will just sit back and let Gary/Wade make their picks. If there's a disagreement on who gets the pick Wade or Gary then Rick should be the tiebreaker.

I believe last yr BoB told Wade if there's a pick on the board that you like then that's who Rick will be taking. This yr I've got a feeling the offense/Gary will get carte blanc.

[Mr teX]

Originally Posted by steelbtexan

This is what I'm saying. It probably was that way with Richard Smith and Bush too. But they didn't whittle the list down like Wade did/hopefully does.

When it came time to pick Wade picked the guy off his list and told Rick to select him. The Harris trade was done because he was high on Wades list but fell. Wade probably (Speculation) said lets try to trade up and get Harris and provide KJ/Allen some competition. So Rick made the trade.

Yes, if Rick provides lists to both Gary and Wade and they pick off those lists the Texans will be in great shape. It's a great time to be a Texan fan. With both Wade/Gary knowing what they are looking for on both sides of the ball respectively.

Hopefully Rick will just sit back and let Gary/Wade make their picks. If there's a disagreement on who gets the pick Wade or Gary then Rick should be the tiebreaker.

I believe last yr BoB told Wade if there's a pick on the board that you like then that's who Rick will be taking. This yr I've got a feeling the offense/Gary will get carte blanc.

smith & bush probably did whittle their lists down as well....they just didn't know what the hell they were doing considering neither had been a dc before.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Lucky

It sounds nothing like you said. Or what Kubiak said. You said:

Kubiak said:

How could that be more clear? Wade Phillips told Rick Smith whom to draft. Smith orchestrated the draft trades, yes. But it was Wade Phillips call on whom to take.

From the Rick Smith presser prior to the 2011 draft....

(On the team's mock draft and overall preparation processes leading up to draft day) “We met, gosh, I guess the first week of this month with the offensive staff and tweaked the board. We set our board in February with our scouts before the Combine, and then it’s just a matter of fine-tuning and we add the coaches’ input later in the process after the Combine. So the first time we get together as a group that way is in the beginning of the month. We did that at the beginning of this month and spent a week with the offense, spent a week with the defense, and last week spent another week with the coordinators and the individual position coaches coming back down and really drilling into the position groups and making sure that we had them ranked in order the way that we liked them, both from a scouting perspective and a coaching perspective. Then we spend this week just kind of mocking and trying to anticipate what people are doing and what teams are doing and trying to get a feel. That’s what I do this week. This week, for me, is just all anticipation and trying to get prepared for the various different scenarios that might present themselves to us, whether you’re talking about a move back and acquiring more picks or moving up, or you’re talking about which guy you really like. So all of those discussions are happening and mocks are happening now for us. We’re about ready now. It’s getting close.”

(On what it's been like working with defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in preparing for the draft and Phillips’ level of input) “It’s been good to have him in there. Obviously, he knows better than anybody what he wants. It’s like the guy who is scratching the back of his head and his buddy says, ‘Why are you scratching the back of your head for so long?’ And he says, ‘I’m scratching my head because I’m the only one who knows where it itches.’ That’s just what it is. He has been good about it and explaining to us what he’s looking for. He knows what he’s looking for. And like you said, everybody does have a voice. What we do is, there is an enormous amount of information that we get on all of these players, and my way of looking at this thing is you have to have a system, a process in place that takes all of this information and guides you to a decision. So his voice has been big in this whole process in terms of trying to help guide us to what types of players we’re looking for from a defensive perspective, and it will continue to be as we narrow this thing down and grab those cards off the boards and try to make those final decisions just like everybody else in the room. Everybody has a weighted opinion, they get weighted, and by the nature of his position, his has a bit more weight. The fact that he knows what he’s doing, that’s a little more weight. He’s going to have an influence. He’s been a welcomed addition and a big part of the process in terms of what we’re doing and how we value these guys.”

Now this doesn't say Wade named names but when he described the type of player he's looking for at the position he wanted to address, the scouts came up with a list of guys who fit the bill. They ranked them and then built mock drafts to assess what the likelihood of those guys being available when we got to pick.

Sounds like a shopping list to me.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Wade had no more influence than any of our other DCs..... Rick Smith & the Scouts found a bunch of players that fit what the Texans are going after. Wade whittled it down..... Rick had the final say.

I can't believe the GM has final say over who gets picked instead of the coordinator who has to fit that guy into his system. Rick Smith sets no defenses (or offenses for that matter). He calls no plays. Why would his say-so carry more weight than the guy responsible for generating the defense or offense scheme??

Not only did Wade take Rick's list and whittle it down. My money says he - with his assistants - also ranked the guys on Rick's list. The only scenario I can see Rick having the final say is if Wade/Gary and the assistants have two guys ranked evenly. Then - maybe - Rick makes the call.

[Rey]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

From the Rick Smith presser prior to the 2011 draft....


Now this doesn't say Wade named names but when he described the type of player he's looking for at the position he wanted to address, the scouts came up with a list of guys who fit the bill. They ranked them and then built mock drafts to assess what the likelihood of those guys being available when we got to pick.

Sounds like a shopping list to me.

I don't understand this either or proposition...(just quoting you, not saying you are guilty of this)

I seriously doubt that Wade is watching all the tape and giving Rick a list of guys and Rick is just picking the top guy available from the list.

My thoughts are that it is a fluid process. They all bounce ideas off of eachother.

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

I can't believe the GM has final say over who gets picked instead of the coordinator who has to fit that guy into his system. Rick Smith sets no defenses (or offenses for that matter). He calls no plays. Why would his say-so carry more weight than the guy responsible for generating the defense or offense scheme??

Not only did Wade take Rick's list and whittle it down. My money says he - with his assistants - also ranked the guys on Rick's list. The only scenario I can see Rick having the final say is if Wade/Gary and the assistants have two guys ranked evenly. Then - maybe - Rick makes the call.

I think that Rick Smith probably does have final say, and from what I've seen of the way we've operated over the Smithiak era, I can only imagine that it works because there is a level of professionalism at play on the part of those in the room.

No matter what I've thought of Smithiak down the years, I've never had any doubt that they work together extremely well.

I can't imagine it would work very well if you carte blanche gave the co-ordinators the job of picking the draft and only stepped in if they disagreed. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, and also I'd imagine that on a couple of picks I can think of that has probably been the case.

Rick Smith has a really tough couple of years coming up, not only does he need to transition from a building mode to a maintaining mode, he needs to re-up a lot of star players from rookie deals, play free agency at a point where you can no longer expect JAG's to come in and be an improvement, offload some guys who's contracts are no longer justified.

If he gets through that period with a playoff caliber team intact, he's going to have moved from a bit of a laughing stock amongst the fans who was forever 'on the right track' to an extremely respected and celebrated member of the Texans' organisation.

Lets hope the guy can make a legend of himself eh?

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by welsh texan

I think that Rick Smith probably does have final say, and from what I've seen of the way we've operated over the Smithiak era, I can only imagine that it works because there is a level of professionalism at play on the part of those in the room.

No matter what I've thought of Smithiak down the years, I've never had any doubt that they work together extremely well.

I can't imagine it would work very well if you carte blanche gave the co-ordinators the job of picking the draft and only stepped in if they disagreed. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, and also I'd imagine that on a couple of picks I can think of that has probably been the case.

Rick Smith has a really tough couple of years coming up, not only does he need to transition from a building mode to a maintaining mode, he needs to re-up a lot of star players from rookie deals, play free agency at a point where you can no longer expect JAG's to come in and be an improvement, offload some guys who's contracts are no longer justified.

If he gets through that period with a playoff caliber team intact, he's going to have moved from a bit of a laughing stock amongst the fans who was forever 'on the right track' to an extremely respected and celebrated member of the Texans' organisation.

Lets hope the guy can make a legend of himself eh?

Like most of the things we cuss and dicuss on these forums, the decision of who decided on what pick is probably not nearly as cut and dried as we sometimes think. I would think the coordinators have a huge say, but the GM has the final say. He's the one that gets canned for bad drafts, afterall. He will also be the one who makes the call whether it's an offensive or defensive pick, based on valuation of available players and team needs.
That's why having the HC and GM on the same page is so important. If they have very different views on needs and a players value, you end up with a bad team full of players a coach doesn't want. If it were just up to the coordinators to pick who they want, all you would need is a HC to say offense or defense and a good attorney to work out the contracts and cap hits.
IMO, Smith's hardest decisions are going to be which stars to keep and which to let walk. There's no way we can keep them all.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

This team sucks!! Kubiak sucks!! Rick Smith sucks!! Wade sucks!!!!

That is all,



I have nothing else to add...

Uh, hmmm, TB, you left out the well known fact that BoB is CHEEP.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Look, this is what I was refering to


To you, what does it sound like steelbtexan thinks Wade's role is in the draft? Or what he thinks Rick Smith's role is?

To me, it sounds like he believes Wade dictates Rick's actions. That Rick just sits there & follows orders.

Kubiak's quote to me says The Scouts do their job, Wade has his input & Rick Smith goes about doing the draft the way he had when Richard Smith was the DC, when Frank Bush was the DC & how he'll do it after Wade Phillips was gone.

Wade whittled the list down more than the other DCs did, but it was Rick Smith who told Wade Phillips who Jj Watt was, not the other way around.

TK, I can't bite on that at all. Do you in all honesty believe Wade didn't know who JJ Watt was? I don't believe that for a minute. Wade was also quoted/overheard saying or something along those lines that Aldon Smith was actually his first choice but SF snagged him at the 7th spot. Not a bad consolation prize in my book but I don't believe for a split second that Wade didn't know the players he wanted on his grocery list from the time he stepped aboard with the Texans.

It's not even really speculation at this point as Gary and Rick have said as much. Not JMO. Fact.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Rey

I don't understand this either or proposition...(just quoting you, not saying you are guilty of this)

I seriously doubt that Wade is watching all the tape and giving Rick a list of guys and Rick is just picking the top guy available from the list.

My thoughts are that it is a fluid process. They all bounce ideas off of each other.

This is probably the only absolutely correct statement in this whole thread. In fact, Smith almost says as much...

Everybody has a weighted opinion, they get weighted, and by the nature of his position, his has a bit more weight. The fact that he [Wade Phillips] knows what he’s doing, that’s a little more weight. He’s going to have an influence.

I think it works this way:

1. Wade/Gary, being responsible for designing/implementing the defensive/offensive schemes, know what type of player, in their mind, fits said scheme.
2. They relay this "player type" info to the GM and Scouting Dept.
3. GM/Scouting Dept. scours the college ranks and comes up with a list of guys who "fit the bill". This is done pre-combine and refined/tweaked post-combine.
4. GM/Scouting Dept. AND the defensive/offensive coordinators and position coaches review the list together. Smith said they spend a week on each side of the ball and then one final week with everyone in the room. Re-reading the Smith quote I posted, looks like the do this second assessment starting the first week in April. That tells me it's after F/A moves have been made so their draft board changes depending on who we had to let go and who we were able to snag/keep.
5. Smith creates the "shopping list" from this last set of coaches/GM/Scouts meetings. Again, Wade/Gary may or may not actually name/names (i.e., make out the list themselves) but I bet $100 they screen this list looking for guys they know of and like to make sure they're included.
6. From here Smith assesses what other teams may do and makes up his mock. This tells him whether we can stand pat at our slot or if he has to trade up or if has the flexibility to trade back and get extra picks.

As for who actually makes the call on which guy to select, it's probably Rick Smith (I'll have to concede and rep TK for being technically correct ). But as Smith said, he's picking from their "board" (which, to me, is another way of saying the "shopping list" signed off on by the coaching staff)

did I miss anything?

[GP]

General Managers....m-a-n-a-g-e. They manage.

Texans have guys in the FO who calculate contracts, how to structure them and what it counts against the cap, and how all of that factors into a longer term for upcoming seasons and expectations of new deals and how it all factors into the equation of things. Rick manages those guys. It's his job to make sure they are doing what they should do, that they're following the strategies and such that Bob and his guys have set forth for the team's direction.

The Texans have scouts. Some scout the college guys, some scout the current NFL players and help with free agency each season, to help determine which guys to target etc. Rick manages those guys. He makes sure, again, that they are doing well and have resources at their disposal. He manages them.

The Texans have coaches on offense, defense, and special teams. Rick manages them. Kubiak needs something from a scout or Wade wants a report built on something? They contact Rick and Rick gets his guys on the project.

The Texans have a P.R. department and/or Marketing Department. Rick manages those heads of that department.

Rick Smith is a General Manager. Underneath Bob McNair is Rick Smith. Rick Smith is, for all practical purposes, the COO (Chief Operations Officer) who manages the heads of other departments. He's closest to McNair. You want to see Don Corleone? Go through Tom Hagen first. And once an owner doesn't think his consigliere has the stuff anymore, he's out. Because the owner needs his GM to transfer the owner's direction/vision to the rest of the organization.

To this end, Rick is not ultimately making certain decisions for Kubiak or Wade or whomever. I'm sure he has input, no doubt, but if Kubiak says "We're done trading back, let's draft Duane Brown NOW." then Rick is going to take his finger off the button and get Kubiak's guy for him. Wade Phillips had a wish list of what type of guys he wanted, it was drafted and constructed...and on draft day Wade his choices of what was there at our pick. Wade wanted Aldon Smith but got JJ Watt whom I think is the next phenom of the NFL.

I think Rick Smith has done a great job. Damn sight better than Casserly ever did. Right?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on what I said in this post. As I pour over all the posts, and look at the history of this discussion, weighing it against the quotes I've seen from Rick, Bob, and Gary over the past few years, it seems like people think Rick Smith is pulling all these levers and hitting all these switches behind the scenes. He's managing managers. He's coordinating it all, making sure everything runs in harmony with one another. He's Bob's consigliere, for lack of a better description.

[drs23]

Originally Posted by GP

General Managers....m-a-n-a-g-e. They manage.

Texans have guys in the FO who calculate contracts, how to structure them and what it counts against the cap, and how all of that factors into a longer term for upcoming seasons and expectations of new deals and how it all factors into the equation of things. Rick manages those guys. It's his job to make sure they are doing what they should do, that they're following the strategies and such that Bob and his guys have set forth for the team's direction.

The Texans have scouts. Some scout the college guys, some scout the current NFL players and help with free agency each season, to help determine which guys to target etc. Rick manages those guys. He makes sure, again, that they are doing well and have resources at their disposal. He manages them.

The Texans have coaches on offense, defense, and special teams. Rick manages them. Kubiak needs something from a scout or Wade wants a report built on something? They contact Rick and Rick gets his guys on the project.

The Texans have a P.R. department and/or Marketing Department. Rick manages those heads of that department.

Rick Smith is a General Manager. Underneath Bob McNair is Rick Smith. Rick Smith is, for all practical purposes, the COO (Chief Operations Officer) who manages the heads of other departments. He's closest to McNair. You want to see Don Corleone? Go through Tom Hagen first. And once an owner doesn't think his consigliere has the stuff anymore, he's out. Because the owner needs his GM to transfer the owner's direction/vision to the rest of the organization.

To this end, Rick is not ultimately making certain decisions for Kubiak or Wade or whomever. I'm sure he has input, no doubt, but if Kubiak says "We're done trading back, let's draft Duane Brown NOW." then Rick is going to take his finger off the button and get Kubiak's guy for him. Wade Phillips had a wish list of what type of guys he wanted, it was drafted and constructed...and on draft day Wade his choices of what was there at our pick. Wade wanted Aldon Smith but got JJ Watt whom I think is the next phenom of the NFL.

I think Rick Smith has done a great job. Damn sight better than Casserly ever did. Right?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on what I said in this post. As I pour over all the posts, and look at the history of this discussion, weighing it against the quotes I've seen from Rick, Bob, and Gary over the past few years, it seems like people think Rick Smith is pulling all these levers and hitting all these switches behind the scenes. He's managing managers. He's coordinating it all, making sure everything runs in harmony with one another. He's Bob's consigliere, for lack of a better description.

GP, I think that's an excellent representation of how everything more than likely goes down.

I've never though about it in that much depth and detail but damn, Rick Smith sure has a lot on his plate.

Anyone know what kinda duckets he rakes for all this managing? Just guessing he don't send the OL down to the thrift shop to score the kid's school clothes, huh?

Oh, and thanks.