Duane Brown

[BSofA04]

I was really impressed with the improvement of our franchise LT in year #2. Last season he was a bit out of shape and rotating in and out with Ephraim Salaam (while still managing to give up 11.5 sacks). At times you could tell he was simply overwhelmed by the speed of the game and poor technique.

This past season you could see that he was holding his own against some formidable defenses and DE's. What's really impressive to me is how well he's done despite the Texans having to throw nearly 30-40 times a game.

For you stat gurus, I was able to find a site that shows sacks allowed and the median time...however it is only current as of 12/04.
http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/12/04/b...-team-by-team/

Duane had given up 8 sacks, which was the worst, but it's the median time of 3.55 seconds that should be taken into serious consideration. What that's telling me is that Schaub had a tendency to hold onto the ball way too long. Unfortunately, it also means that we were throwing the ball way too much due to us being behind. 3.55 seconds in an eternity folks!

I wondering how many of those 8 sacks were truly his fault? Maybe half? Either way, it's very impressive. Compare that to Levi Brown of the Cardinals who had given up 6.5 sacks, but had a median time of 2.7 seconds. 2.7 seconds!

I'm feeling very good about Schaub's blind slide protector going forward and that's a first as a Texans fan. How do y'all feel going forward?

[YoungTexanFan]

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by YoungTexanFan

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

Honest question, where is the protection coming from if not partly from Duane? Schaub was sacked 25 times this season and just from watching the games I have been impressed with the pocket the line has provided him, especially the 2nd half of the season.

[Carr Bombed]

Originally Posted by YoungTexanFan

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

Horrible value. A good young LT in the bottom of the first round is not "horrible value".

[Carr Bombed]

Originally Posted by Jackie Chiles

Honest question, where is the protection coming from if not partly from Duane? Schaub was sacked 25 times this season and just from watching the games I have been impressed with the pocket the line has provided him, especially the 2nd half of the season.

Don't mind him......he's been wielding that ax at Duane Brown since the moment we picked Brown.

[houstonspartan]

I haven't paid enough attention to Brown this year to comment on his work this season. But I do agree with you that SOMEBODY has been protecting Matt fairly well this year.

[BSofA04]

I don't understand that hate 2 years after we drafted him. Like most others, I was upset/disappointed that there was such a massive run on LT's and we simply couldn't get anyone that was a household name. Duane was a project, but was the most athletic LT and had potential.

What if KC didn't draft Brandon Albert before we picked? It's possible we wouldn't have traded down with the Ravens and pulled the trigger on Albert. Would we be better off with Albert? Hell no. Was Ephraim the answer for 2008? Hell no. We had to draft a LT for the future and we lucked out that Duane wasn't picked earlier. It is widely believed that San Diego would've picked Brown at #27 if we selected CB Antoine Cason at #26. Brown fit the mold we were looking for and so far it has worked out.

The Texans with 25 sacks allowed are #5 in the NFL. That's outstanding considering that we lost Briesel, Pitts. When Schaub was sacked, I'd say half the time it was because he held onto the ball too long. But that's nit-picking on my part, Schaub was great this year.

[b0ng]

Originally Posted by YoungTexanFan

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

Really this idea seems to just sound like grudge holding from a draft 2 years ago. Matt Schaub is a league leading passer for a reason, and it's not because Eric Winston is so supreme he plays both tackle positions. Nobody is calling him a world beating stud but judging by other picks taken before him, he is not a bad LT from that draft.

[keyser]

I think Duane Brown has done well - about how you'd expect someone drafted at the bottom of the first round to do. I don't think he's likely to ever be a pro bowler, but he's solid. He's done better than I expected (I thought, and still think to some degree, that he was a significant reach at that point). He's solidified that position, which was pretty much what we needed.

Still, I think he could be upgraded. Last year, I was wanting Oher, and though Cushing turned out to be absolutely great, I don't think we would have done bad at all had we picked Oher instead (Brown could have moved to the interior OL, which would have helped a lot this year).

[Goatcheese]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

Horrible value. A good young LT in the bottom of the first round is not "horrible value".

Yep a good LT is great value at the bottom of the first round.

7.5 sacks for 56.5 yards, 10 QB hits, and 34 QB pressures

Hold on, let me find my pro bowl ballet.

[Brisco_County]

Fire Duane Brown!!!1!!

[TimeKiller]

Originally Posted by YoungTexanFan

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

Worst.

Post.

Ever.

[HOU-TEX]

I think he improved upon last season, but there's no doubt he needs to get better. Duane wasn't our primary problem along the Oline.

[El Tejano]

You can't appreciate Duane Brown until our offense throws a screen to Slaton on Duane Brown's side. Then everything you hated about Brown is gone because so is Steve.

[BigBull17]

He has holes in his game, but he isn't a scrubb that costs us games. Schaub holds the ball al long time and still doesn't get sacked that much. He normally has lots of time to scan the field. And Brown is unbelievable on sreens and any play he pulls.

[GP]

Originally Posted by El Tejano

You can't appreciate Duane Brown until our offense throws a screen to Slaton on Duane Brown's side. Then everything you hated about Brown is gone because so is Steve.

Good post. Rep your way, if it lets me.

[Porky]

Originally Posted by YoungTexanFan

I'm still upset. Horrible value. Simply a bad pick. Maybe by his 4th year he'll be league average. You don't draft that type of player in the first round. He wasn't good in college, and he has been nothing but the same in the NFL.

LOL. That's about all I can say about that post.

[Hardcore Texan]

Originally Posted by HOU-TEX

I think he improved upon last season, but there's no doubt he needs to get better. Duane wasn't our primary problem along the Oline.

Agreed. Between Myers getting routinely rag-dolled and Winston getting beat around the edge half the time, clearly Brown did pretty well in pass pro.

Originally Posted by El Tejano

You can't appreciate Duane Brown until our offense throws a screen to Slaton on Duane Brown's side. Then everything you hated about Brown is gone because so is Steve.

This is a point I was going to bring up, Brown's ability to get outside and block for those little screens to Slaton was fantastic. Very athletic for a big guy, a couple of those resulted in TD's.

[YoungTexanFan]

It's not that I dislike us picking Brown. He's an NFL player, I'm not arguing that. It was still a terrible pick. It was a reach. It wasn't good value. He still hasn't produced enough to warrant that pick. It's like drafting Seth Wand at the bottom of the first round. Would anyone have been happy with that? If we had drafted Duane Brown in the third round, I would have been better with the pick. It also didn't help when we threw our project rookie LT, who gave up something close to 9 sacks in the ACC his senior year, into the starting role he clearly wasn't ready to handle. There is no telling if he will finally develop in his 3rd or 4th year to where we should/would pass on an upper tier LT in the 1st round. I hope he does, but if there is a tier-one LT, I draft him and move Brown.

[YoungTexanFan]

Originally Posted by b0ng

Really this idea seems to just sound like grudge holding from a draft 2 years ago. Matt Schaub is a league leading passer for a reason, and it's not because Eric Winston is so supreme he plays both tackle positions. Nobody is calling him a world beating stud but judging by other picks taken before him, he is not a bad LT from that draft.

I haven't ever liked him. Even at VT. I didn't put him on my big board because he wasn't a top player. It's not about a grudge. I didn't like Johnathan Stewart and he's doing great. I can admit when I was wrong about players. I'm not wrong to this point about Duane Brown. I'm not saying he's "bad" but I'm saying he's not "good". He's passable. That isn't what you take in the first round. This is going on year 3 now for him. He still has potential because he was new to the OT position, and it still may "click" for him, but no NFL team should wait for that to happen while paying first round money and putting him at a premium position.

That's my point. Not that he won't stick in the NFL, not that he's costing us games, not that he isn't at least marginally improving...The point is that it wasn't a good pick. It was a reach and we compounded that by starting him in the NFL before he was ready.