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Texans will draft a RB in the 1st or 2nd

P

Polo

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I'm pretty convinced about that at this point, though my mind could change.

Based on some things that Kubiak has said, and how this team has acted in the past I don't see us escaping the first day without the second half of our RB duo in place.

-Kubiak says that he was pleasantly surprised that Slaton held up for as many games as he did and that he doesn't believe that Steve can be counted on to have that kind of iron man season every year.

-Kubes says he needs another starting caliber back

-Supposedly, Kubes wanted to trade up for Deangelo Williams the year we got Demeco

-We have not signed any veteran RB's in free agency

-Most other position have somewhat reliable depth

-Our biggest off-season additions so far have come on the defensive side of the ball; They said they wanted to improve that area of the defense and the first thing they did was fire the coach. They may feel like that alone makes us a much better unit. Greenwood and Weaver are no longer here. Assuming Antonio Smith is alive he should be better than Weaver, and Adibi as a rookie helped spark our defense more than Greenwood did in his entire tenure.


If we roll into the draft as is, I don't see our front office not placing another RB as a priority considering how much importance we've placed on that position in the past and our lack of reliable threats currently on the roster. Of course my mind changes all the time, but right now this is what I'm currently feeling. Thoughts ?
 
yeah i think rashad jennings or andre brown in the 3rd/4th looks pretty likely. if wells, donald brown, green or mccoy slip to 48 then maybe
 
HOU-TEX said:
Nope, 3rd round or later. :cool:
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If the Texans are serious about making their play-off push this year I think the likelihood of that happening as of right now is low.

Last year when we took Slaton in the third we had Ahman Green, Chris Taylor, Darius Walker and Chris Brown. I don't think that their intention was to rely on Slaton who was a third round pick.

We don't have all those bodies and vets who we know can atleast play on the proffesional level. I don't see how they could feel confident about any third round or later pick coming in and being 1b. Though it sounds good in theory, I just don't see that.
 
I agree with HOU-TEX. I don't see a RB before the 3rd. I'm still wondering if we're going to try and grab a Denver cast off or surplus player with a late round pick. It seems like we'd have NFL film on those guys and that Kubiak could find out anything he wanted to know about them via the Shanny connection. Slaton's backup could come out of that pack and I'd be happy.
 
HoustonFrog said:
This guy agrees with you Polo

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/03/nfp-three-round-mock-draft/
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I think that going after Benson when we went after Benson says a lot about the Texans view of the RB position. They don't want to take flyers on guys there when it comes to being an intergal part of the offense. They seem to want guys that have proven they could play in this leauge at a high level.

We could have gotten Benson before he went to the Bengals (during the season when we really didn't have anyone besides Steve), but they didn't really show major interest until after he went to Cincy and had some success...

I just don't see the Texans waiting too long to get that combo sured up when in the past they've shown that they want realiability there. Had we gotten Benson then I would have said we would get a back in the 4th or later...but without any other backs on the roster I'm not seeing it...

The Denver cast-offs are a possibility, but right now I just gotta process the info I'm given...and right now we are scarily thin there...
 
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Hervoyel said:
I agree with HOU-TEX. I don't see a RB before the 3rd. I'm still wondering if we're going to try and grab a Denver cast off or surplus player with a late round pick. It seems like we'd have NFL film on those guys and that Kubiak could find out anything he wanted to know about them via the Shanny connection. Slaton's backup could come out of that pack and I'd be happy.
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True, there's still a lot of FA acquisitions to be had as well. The Texans will bring in several more FA's and UDFA's before camp.

As far as the comment above about needing to draft a RB on the first day to be serious about the playoffs this season-------> :spit:
 
1st round...no, I just can't see them doing it. 2nd-7th okay and I think we may get out of there with 2 picks at RB but I honestly can't imagine them being any higher than 3rd rounders. 2nd as long as it's not Green.
 
I see almost zero chance we draft a back before the 3rd round myself. Not only am I tired of seeing a rotten defense, I think the team is a bit tired of having to score 30 points to win a game also.
 
Polo said:
I'm pretty convinced about that at this point, though my mind could change.

Based on some things that Kubiak has said, and how this team has acted in the past I don't see us escaping the first day without the second half of our RB duo in place.

-Kubiak says that he was pleasantly surprised that Slaton held up for as many games as he did and that he doesn't believe that Steve can be counted on to have that kind of iron man season every year.

-Kubes says he needs another starting caliber back

-Supposedly, Kubes wanted to trade up for Deangelo Williams the year we got Demeco

-We have not signed any veteran RB's in free agency

-Most other position have somewhat reliable depth

-Our biggest off-season additions so far have come on the defensive side of the ball; They said they wanted to improve that area of the defense and the first thing they did was fire the coach. They may feel like that alone makes us a much better unit. Greenwood and Weaver are no longer here. Assuming Antonio Smith is alive he should be better than Weaver, and Adibi as a rookie helped spark our defense more than Greenwood did in his entire tenure.


If we roll into the draft as is, I don't see our front office not placing another RB as a priority considering how much importance we've placed on that position in the past and our lack of reliable threats currently on the roster. Of course my mind changes all the time, but right now this is what I'm currently feeling. Thoughts ?
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I just think given the zone-blocking system that we run, that it isn't a necessity to draft a back in the first two rounds. Sure, a highly skilled back that could excel in our system could be the next Clinton Portis (or Steve Slaton hopefully!), but what Denver proved is it doesn't depend so much on the player as it does on the system. With that said, I think it much more likely to focus the first two picks on the defensive side of the ball, and then in the 3rd or later go for a solid RB with good vision and football IQ, and hope he pans out like SS did for us last year.
 
HOU-TEX said:
Nope, 3rd round or later. :cool:
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Hervoyel said:
I agree with HOU-TEX. I don't see a RB before the 3rd. I'm still wondering if we're going to try and grab a Denver cast off or surplus player with a late round pick. It seems like we'd have NFL film on those guys and that Kubiak could find out anything he wanted to know about them via the Shanny connection. Slaton's backup could come out of that pack and I'd be happy.
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Vinny said:
I see almost zero chance we draft a back before the 3rd round myself. Not only am I tired of seeing a rotten defense, I think the team is a bit tired of having to score 30 points to win a game also.
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I'm with the pack on this one...drafting an RB prior to the 3rd is almost sacriligious for the ZBS scheme.
 
HOU-TEX said:
As far as the comment above about needing to draft a RB on the first day to be serious about the playoffs this season-------> :spit:
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I think it's terribly funny that anyone thinks that adding a 3rd round pick to our backfield will amount to much. Especially when Slaton wasn't supposed to be anything more than a reliever, change of pace, 3rd down back, returner...

I doubt the Texans have as much faith in third round picks becoming starter caliber RB's as most of you guys.
 
As the guy had in the above mock I can see maybe a 2nd rounder if the right guy is there but I think they can get their guy with Gartrell Johnson in the mid to later rounds.
 
pbat488 said:
I just think given the zone-blocking system that we run, that it isn't a necessity to draft a back in the first two rounds. Sure, a highly skilled back that could excel in our system could be the next Clinton Portis (or Steve Slaton hopefully!), but what Denver proved is it doesn't depend so much on the player as it does on the system. With that said, I think it much more likely to focus the first two picks on the defensive side of the ball, and then in the 3rd or later go for a solid RB with good vision and football IQ, and hope he pans out like SS did for us last year.
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I think the 1b running back is too important to simply "hope" he pans out.

And I think that any RB will do in the ZBS is way overrated and Kubiak and Co. haven't even demonstrated that they feel this way in any shape or form so I'm not sure why it keeps getting repeated as if it's fact...

I don't see how anyone could still feel this way after we paid so much for Ahman and also brought in Chris Brown to be his back-up....Not sure why anyone thinks the Texans are going to hand the keys to late round picks when they've always seemed to have wanted to avoid that...
 
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I think most would agree a trade back in the first would be ideal if we could still land a Matthews. Now if that does happen, I think an extra pick in the draft could enable us to possibly look at a RB in the second if they are in love with a guy. Thats the only way I see it going down as of now.
 
Polo said:
I think the 1b running back is too important to simply "hope" he pans out.

And I think that any RB will do in the ZBS is way overrated and Kubiak and Co. haven't even demonstrated that they feel this way in any shape or form so I'm not sure why it keeps getting repeated as if it's fact...

I don't see how anyone could still feel this way after we paid so much for Ahman and also brought in Chris Brown to be his back-up....Not sure why anyone thinks the Texans are going to hand the keys to late round picks when they've always seemed to have wanted to avoid that...
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Great points in this thread Polo and I agree with just about everything you have said. I find it funny as well at how cocky some posters on this board have gotten with our running game just because we have Slaton and he worked out for us. NOt a lot of people around the league and experts expected Slaton to be that great in the NFL. Like GP pointed out in another thread in that Slaton was like Kubiak's last quarter in a slot machine. Lol! I thought that was a great analogy. People seem to foget how bad this offense was under Kubiak's philosophy of wanting to constantly pound the ball and you don't even have a good RB to do it. If we don't have a good running game next season we'll go nowhere.

What if Slaton gets hurt for a significant amount of time? Our offense will drop off a lot. The biggest reason why our offense was able to go up and down the field a lot more last season was because of the improved running attack from Slaton. In Kubiak's first two seasons our rushing game was awful behind his arrogance of the ZBS. He wasn't able to implement all of that well with those horrible backs we had and we suffered because of it. Last year we suffered from the red zone woes as well, and a stronger bruising back is pretty essential in short yardage situations. It's good to have both, and with the way that RB's get hurt so easily now days, you want to have two productive ones.

At first I wanted our first few picks to be mainly defense, but I think Wells would make our offense extremely dynamic and we could do so much with him and Slaton paired together. I also wouldn't mind getting Shonn Greene with a traded down first round pick or a second round pick but I doubt he'll be there with our 2nd rounder.
 
disaacks3 said:
I'm with the pack on this one...drafting an RB prior to the 3rd is almost sacriligious for the ZBS scheme.
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Don't get me wrong on this. If we had the luxury of being able to grab a monster back in the first round and he was there I'd be thrilled and I think Kubiak and Smith would do it too. I really do.

I just know that we have much bigger fish to fry than a first day RB. With our defense it would be a crime to use a first day pick on an offensive player unless he was a verifiable once in a lifetime player. I don't see that guy in this draft. If he's in there then he's a sleeper.
 
Texecutioner said:
Great points in this thread Polo and I agree with just about everything you have said. I find it funny as well at how cocky some posters on this board have gotten with our running game just because we have Slaton and he worked out for us. NOt a lot of people around the league and experts expected Slaton to be that great in the NFL. Like GP pointed out in another thread in that Slaton was like Kubiak's last quarter in a slot machine. Lol! I thought that was a great analogy. People seem to foget how bad this offense was under Kubiak's philosophy of wanting to constantly pound the ball and you don't even have a good RB to do it. If we don't have a good running game next season we'll go nowhere.

What if Slaton gets hurt for a significant amount of time? Our offense will drop off a lot. The biggest reason why our offense was able to go up and down the field a lot more last season was because of the improved running attack from Slaton. In Kubiak's first two seasons our rushing game was awful behind his arrogance of the ZBS. He wasn't able to implement all of that well with those horrible backs we had and we suffered because of it. Last year we suffered from the red zone woes as well, and a stronger bruising back is pretty essential in short yardage situations. It's good to have both, and with the way that RB's get hurt so easily now days, you want to have two productive ones.

At first I wanted our first few picks to be mainly defense, but I think Wells would make our offense extremely dynamic and we could do so much with him and Slaton paired together. I also wouldn't mind getting Shonn Greene with a traded down first round pick or a second round pick but I doubt he'll be there with our 2nd rounder.
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I understand your point that we lucked out on Slaton emerging as an absolute beast when he was supposed to be a 3rd down guy, but I don't think it's cocky to assume we can find a late round RB and he can also do big things. We have the same running attack Denver used for years and they made big time contributors out of Terrell Davis (6th I think), Olandis Gary, and Mike Anderson from Utah to name a few, and those three were taken in the 4th or later. While they might not of had the staying power we hope for, they produced in the system and right now as long as someone can produce and spell Slaton in some games, I would take that.
 
Maneuvering a trade for Hillis with Broncs would answer the bell.

Also, I wouldn't have a problem going all out for Beanie Wells, at least in the second round, if he's still there. My question is how Wells does as a receiver and pass block, since his system really never relied on this aspect of his play, and when they did on the latter, he showed inconsistency. However, that can be coached up. What can't be coached is brute strength. Despite injury concerns, no one can question his toughness and willingness to play through pain. The standout of his play is his brute "locomotive" strength.........and his fearsome STIFF ARM weapon..................just watch this VIDEO.
 
pbat488 said:
I understand your point that we lucked out on Slaton emerging as an absolute beast when he was supposed to be a 3rd down guy, but I don't think it's cocky to assume we can find a late round RB and he can also do big things. We have the same running attack Denver used for years and they made big time contributors out of Terrell Davis (6th I think), Olandis Gary, and Mike Anderson from Utah to name a few, and those three were taken in the 4th or later. While they might not of had the staying power we hope for, they produced in the system and right now as long as someone can produce and spell Slaton in some games, I would take that.
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Good points and I can't really argue with that, but I don't think any team should fall into that philosophy that they can just easily pick some RB in any season they want and find a real productive one. It happens quite often, but it's not as easy as some people make it out to be. Denver did real well for a stretch of a few seasons and all but I liked their running game a lot better when Portis was there because he was still a lot more consistent and I think that it hurt Denver in the long run because they were just swapping RB's in and out every season. I really liked the Titans running game last year with White bruising away for long possessions and TD carries and Johnson making all sorts of plays like Slaton. Their running game was just as important as that top defense they had last year.

With a guy like Wells, the things we can do are just so much more because of the contrast between both guys sort of like how NY had with Jacobs and Bradshaw even though Bradshaw was 3rd string. People will see how good BRadshaw is this season since he'll be getting a lot more carries.
 
Polo said:
I think it's terribly funny that anyone thinks that adding a 3rd round pick to our backfield will amount to much. Especially when Slaton wasn't supposed to be anything more than a reliever, change of pace, 3rd down back, returner...

I doubt the Texans have as much faith in third round picks becoming starter caliber RB's as most of you guys.
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Well, I find it terribly funny that anyone would think that we'd have to spend a 1st or 2nd round pick on a RB in order to contend for a playoff spot.

Considering the history of our Head Coach and Oline coach I think it's obvious they have had faith in 2nd day RB's.

I suppose we can agree to disagree, but I think your logic is flawed.
 
I think Kubes has said he wants another back to take some of the load off Slaton. However, there are other needs that should be addressed first especially as many backs similar to Slaton should be available in lower rounds. The bad news imo only 3 "power backs" that can take load off Slaton and still score in Red Zone exist after Wells. Jennings 6'1" 231 but small college (real deal), Shonn Greene 5'1" 227 who worked his way back to 2nd round talk with pro day 40 @4.55 and Gartrell Johnson.

Others intriguing to me are Andre Brown as 4.49 combine and he is 6'0 224. He only ran for 700 yards but had 28 receptions for 305 yds. Broke foot in October and did little after. Not clear on his health now.

I watched Gartrell play and he runs like a dump truck & appears to have "football speed." 1500+yards 12 TDs 32 receptions for 300 yds. I really like this young man. But there are others to watch such as Javarris Williams 5'10" 223 and 4.52 40.

On my board barring a trade down, I have Cedric Peerman 5'10" 216( may have lost 5lbs)
4.45 combine in 5th round and follow up with Gartrell Johnson 5'10 219lbs in 6th.
On my trade down board I have Jennings with my 1st 3rd round as he is just too good to pass up. We have an extra 3rd coming to us in a trade down.
 
badboy said:
But there are others to watch such as Javarris Williams 5'10" 223 and 4.52 40.
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I have to stop this one. Williams looks good, but upon further review I do not like him. He has very stiff hips, and had the benefit of running behind one of the better FCS lines.
 
Texecutioner said:
Good points and I can't really argue with that, but I don't think any team should fall into that philosophy that they can just easily pick some RB in any season they want and find a real productive one. It happens quite often, but it's not as easy as some people make it out to be. Denver did real well for a stretch of a few seasons and all but I liked their running game a lot better when Portis was there because he was still a lot more consistent and I think that it hurt Denver in the long run because they were just swapping RB's in and out every season. I really liked the Titans running game last year with White bruising away for long possessions and TD carries and Johnson making all sorts of plays like Slaton. Their running game was just as important as that top defense they had last year.

With a guy like Wells, the things we can do are just so much more because of the contrast between both guys sort of like how NY had with Jacobs and Bradshaw even though Bradshaw was 3rd string. People will see how good BRadshaw is this season since he'll be getting a lot more carries.
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Yeah, that stuff is all true. I guess I just don't want them to select a RB in the first round at least when we have so many more holes on defense and it's just influencing my thought process about the whole thing.
 
I think that Wells/Slaton could end up as one of the finest tandems in the NFL if we picked BW, but we'd still have to score 30 points on a regular basis to beat teams...still a recipe for .500 if you ask me.
 
Vinny said:
I think that Wells/Slaton could end up as one of the finest tandems in the NFL if we picked BW, but we'd still have to score 30 points on a regular basis to beat teams...still a recipe for .500 if you ask me.
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I couldn't agree more.
 
This is a very deep class for RBs. The deepest one in a while if you ask me.

We can still get a very good back in the 3rd or 4th this year.

We have bigger fish to fry than backup RB. That's why I think we wait a few rounds.
 
bah007 said:
This is a very deep class for RBs. The deepest one in a while if you ask me.

We can still get a very good back in the 3rd or 4th this year.

We have bigger fish to fry than backup RB. That's why I think we wait a few rounds.
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I agree. While I would be excited about the prospect of having a top notch RB paired up with Slaton, it would not really help us win more games. We NEED defensive help and we need to get it early, RB can wait until the 4th.
 
I'd be a big fan of acquiring Peyton Hillis from the Broncos.

I don't really want a RB at #15. If we go RB in the 1st, I'd prefer we trade down a bit into the early 20's. I'd take Donald Brown over any other RB in this draft.
 
Polo said:
I think it's terribly funny that anyone thinks that adding a 3rd round pick to our backfield will amount to much. Especially when Slaton wasn't supposed to be anything more than a reliever, change of pace, 3rd down back, returner...

I doubt the Texans have as much faith in third round picks becoming starter caliber RB's as most of you guys.
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Getting a 1b Running back is a very high priority for the Houston Texans during the upcoming draft. However, it should be remembered that Slaton was a third round pick. As a result of this and that the 2009 appears to be a deep draft for RB's, the coaches are probably feeling pretty good about getting a solid 1b RB in the third round.

In my opinion, the Texans should draft a RB with their third round pick. That is the optimal place in this draft for the Texans to pick up an RB to compliment and compete with Steve Slaton.
 
Vinny said:
I think that Wells/Slaton could end up as one of the finest tandems in the NFL if we picked BW, but we'd still have to score 30 points on a regular basis to beat teams...still a recipe for .500 if you ask me.
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I don't think our defensive talent is as bad as everyone claims. They just had trouble with injuries in '08 that kept our starters either off the field completely, or greatly hampered.

D-Rob clearly wasn't 100%
Diles looked like the real thing before breaking his leg
Adibi has a lot of potential, and was a guy I had a 2nd round grade on. I don't see any reason to give up on him
Okoye is just turning 22, and played well in the last quarter of the season once his ankle was better.
Ryans was slowed with nagging injuries
Williams had a shoulder injury part of the season

Pick the six best offensive players on our team, and knock them out or slow them down with injuries, then tell me we're still a good offense.

Right now we have:

RDE Williams
NT ????
DT Okoye
LDE Smith
WIL Adibi
MLB Ryans
SAM Diles
LCB Reeves
RCB D-Rob
FS Wilson
SS Ferguson

I think other than NT and SS that's a pretty solid unit with everybody on the field at once. The positions we need help at on defense don't have anybody that looks like the 15th pick.

The 2nd round is deep with a lot of good safety prospects that could step in and be impact players right away, which leaves us looking for a NT, and depth to sure up a unit who's health isn't.
 
Polo said:
I'm pretty convinced about that at this point, though my mind could change.

Based on some things that Kubiak has said, and how this team has acted in the past I don't see us escaping the first day without the second half of our RB duo in place.

-Kubiak says that he was pleasantly surprised that Slaton held up for as many games as he did and that he doesn't believe that Steve can be counted on to have that kind of iron man season every year.

-Kubes says he needs another starting caliber back

-Supposedly, Kubes wanted to trade up for Deangelo Williams the year we got Demeco

-We have not signed any veteran RB's in free agency

-Most other position have somewhat reliable depth

-Our biggest off-season additions so far have come on the defensive side of the ball; They said they wanted to improve that area of the defense and the first thing they did was fire the coach. They may feel like that alone makes us a much better unit. Greenwood and Weaver are no longer here. Assuming Antonio Smith is alive he should be better than Weaver, and Adibi as a rookie helped spark our defense more than Greenwood did in his entire tenure.


If we roll into the draft as is, I don't see our front office not placing another RB as a priority considering how much importance we've placed on that position in the past and our lack of reliable threats currently on the roster. Of course my mind changes all the time, but right now this is what I'm currently feeling. Thoughts ?
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Looks like you're drinking Pat Kirwan's koolaid. There is no way Denver South is going for a RB in the 1st round.
 
The OP referenced the fact that Kubiak was willing to trade up in '06 to draft DeAngelo Williams in round one. That's consistent with everything I've ever heard.

Two things in regard to that draft.

  1. Kubiak was taking over a team who's two leading rushers the previous year were Dominick Williams/Davis, and Jonathan Wells. Williams/Davis was dealing with a knee injury, and Wells was average at best. Neither one played another down in the NFL after the '05 season.
  2. Once he was unable to trade up and get Deangelo Williams, Kubiak waited until round 6 to take a back, making Wali Lundy the first RB drafted in the Kubiak era (with Slaton being the only other one).

Last year, with RB higher on most people's list of Texans needs than it currently is, the Texans passed on Rashard Mendenhall, Felix Jones and Chris Johnson in order to trade down to the 26th pick.

One thing that looks to be proven by Kubiak's track record, is that he's not afraid to pass on a RB if he doesn't think he'll fit here - regardless of conventional wisdom. That also probably means he woudn't be afraid to take one high if he's confident of the value, but that takes a pretty special back. My guess is we don't go RB until round 3, with round 4 being a better possibility than round 2.
 
Goatcheese said:
I don't think our defensive talent is as bad as everyone claims. They just had trouble with injuries in '08 that kept our starters either off the field completely, or greatly hampered.
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I think it was pretty bad since we were bad in three areas. Stopping the run, getting after the QB and had one of the weakest starting secondary of any team in the league. Our linebackers are smallish and our Tackles were pushed around all season. Dan Cody has a similar playing style as our other tackles too so he's no help. The End we picked up gets a ton of money to man the strong side and hasn't been known as a sackmaster. You are more optimistic than I am about our talent.
 
ChampionTexan said:
Last year, with RB higher on most people's list of Texans needs than it currently is, the Texans passed on Rashard Mendenhall, Felix Jones and Chris Johnson in order to trade down to the 26th pick.
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To me this is inaccurate.

Last year going into the draft we had Chris Brown, Ahman, Chris Taylor and Darius Walker...

Texans had a fair bit of money tied into that position with Ahman.

Slaton was picked as a supplement type player. After everyone got hurt he got his chance and killed it.

There is no way Kubes passes on those earlier backs if he didn't think that one of the guys currently on the roster would be able to carry the load.
 
bah007 said:
This is a very deep class for RBs. The deepest one in a while if you ask me.

We can still get a very good back in the 3rd or 4th this year.

We have bigger fish to fry than backup RB. That's why I think we wait a few rounds.
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While I agree we'll be able to get a back in the mid rounds, and that's where we will target one...(sorry Polo. RBs aren't like other positions, it's a cheap position and the talent difference between a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd rounder isn't that big and if we do draft a back in the mid rounds you shouldn't just disregard him because he's a 3rd rounder. Just look at the most successful backs in our history....D.D. and Steve Slaton. This team isn't even looking for a #1 back, just a 5-10 carry back......no 1st or 2nd round picks are going to be spent on a RB in this draft.)

....how can this be "the deepest RB class in a while". Last year's class was one of the deepest in the history of the NFL.
 
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Carr Bombed said:
While I agree we'll be able to get a back in the mid rounds, how can this be "the deepest RB class in a while". Last year's class was one of the deepest in the history of the NFL.
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just further proof that you can get a back pretty much any year you want to reach down and make it a priority.
 
I don't understand what hard to fathom about the Texans taking a 1st day RB.

What defensive player slated to be around when we're picking wows you to the point where you think they can come in and dramatically improve our defense? I'm not even convinced that there is a 1st round defensive player that we could pick that would come in a even start...

If you have a chance to get one of the top RB's and you know that you are going to need, and often use that player I don't see what's so outrageous about taking one early...
 
Carr Bombed said:
D.D. and Steve Slaton. This team isn't even looking for a #1 back, just a 5-10 carry back....
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Incorrect.

If you listen to Kubiaks comments on the subject then I think you'd rethink that statement.

He talks about how lucky they were that Steve held up for the whole season and he says that they want a starting caliber player for that position because he's not gonna expect for Slaton to do that again. And I think he even said that this 1b RB might play more than Slaton on some days depending on match-ups and how the games go...Says they don't want a back-up, but rather another starter...

If the Texans were just resigned to taking a mid round back, or some plug and play guy I highly doubt that they ever go after Benson. Why pay that guy when you can just get your own guy in the third or fourth...

And what defensive players that should be available where we pick just wow you guys ?

If RB is the BPA I don't see anyway we pass that guy considering our situation and what Kubes has said and what this franchise has done.

Kubes has never intended on just handing a late round pick a position in their rookie season, so I don't know why he'd start now. Unless there is someone back there that they really like I don't see that happening...
 
Texans34Life said:
Looks like you're drinking Pat Kirwan's koolaid. There is no way Denver South is going for a RB in the 1st round.
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Saying our defense is being dogged unfairly is drinking kool-aid? Kubiak is not Shanny. He does not have the same draft strategy, no matter how many, or how often fans parrot it.

ChampionTexan said:
The OP referenced the fact that Kubiak was willing to trade up in '06 to draft DeAngelo Williams in round one. That's consistent with everything I've ever heard.

Two things in regard to that draft.

  1. Kubiak was taking over a team who's two leading rushers the previous year were Dominick Williams/Davis, and Jonathan Wells. Williams/Davis was dealing with a knee injury, and Wells was average at best. Neither one played another down in the NFL after the '05 season.
  2. Once he was unable to trade up and get Deangelo Williams, Kubiak waited until round 6 to take a back, making Wali Lundy the first RB drafted in the Kubiak era (with Slaton being the only other one).

Last year, with RB higher on most people's list of Texans needs than it currently is, the Texans passed on Rashard Mendenhall, Felix Jones and Chris Johnson in order to trade down to the 26th pick.

One thing that looks to be proven by Kubiak's track record, is that he's not afraid to pass on a RB if he doesn't think he'll fit here - regardless of conventional wisdom. That also probably means he woudn't be afraid to take one high if he's confident of the value, but that takes a pretty special back. My guess is we don't go RB until round 3, with round 4 being a better possibility than round 2.
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They didn't pass on any of those guys. They got a trade offer they liked, and none of those guys were there when we picked.

Vinny said:
I think it was pretty bad since we were bad in three areas. Stopping the run, getting after the QB and had one of the weakest starting secondary of any team in the league. Our linebackers are smallish and our Tackles were pushed around all season. Dan Cody has a similar playing style as our other tackles too so he's no help. The End we picked up gets a ton of money to man the strong side and hasn't been known as a sackmaster. You are more optimistic than I am about our talent.
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You seem to be missing where half the defense, the better half at that, missed a lot of time, or were hampered by injuries. If all of our returning starters are healthy, plus Smith, and a 2nd round safety I think it's a good unit, that's pretty much middle of the road. Obviously if you lose half your defensive starters for long stretches it's not going to be great.

They're switching from the terrible scheme they ran last year, that will put guys like Okoye in better position to play to their strengths. Bush wants to have a fast attacking defense that makes big plays. They're not going to stuff the run, and there's nobody at 15 that's going to change that. I see signs that they will be an average defense without spending 8 draft picks on defense.

What do you think our offense would have looked like if Schaub, Johnson, Winston, Walter, Daniels and Slaton had missed, or been slowed for 6-10 games each last season? I'm guessing somewhere around 30.
 
Polo said:
I don't understand what hard to fathom about the Texans taking a 1st day RB.
What defensive player slated to be around when we're picking wows you to the point where you think they can come in and dramatically improve our defense? I'm not even convinced that there is a 1st round defensive player that we could pick that would come in a even start...

If you have a chance to get one of the top RB's and you know that you are going to need, and often use that player I don't see what's so outrageous about taking one early...
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Its because our D ranked 22nd in the league and gives up more points then our offense can score at times.
 
Texan4Ever said:
Its because our D ranked 22nd in the league and gives up more points then our offense can score at times.
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Yes, but picking a RB in the first or the 2nd isn't exactly going to stop us from being able to get a ton of defensive talent. Let's just say if we did pickup a RB in the first round which I don't think we will, but we would still have the rest of the draft that we could pretty much devote to defense. It would only be one pick where we're getting a freaking stud obviously. We could still get some really good players in other rounds that could help us on D.
 
Texan4Ever said:
Its because our D ranked 22nd in the league and gives up more points then our offense can score at times.
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Using that logic we would have picked Reggie Bush over Mario Williams.

Afterall...How dare we take a DE when we had just picked up a high priced one in Free Agency and our offense was so terrible.
 
Polo said:
I don't understand what hard to fathom about the Texans taking a 1st day RB.

What defensive player slated to be around when we're picking wows you to the point where you think they can come in and dramatically improve our defense? I'm not even convinced that there is a 1st round defensive player that we could pick that would come in a even start...

If you have a chance to get one of the top RB's and you know that you are going to need, and often use that player I don't see what's so outrageous about taking one early...
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Again...

Carr Bombed said:
RBs aren't like other positions, it's a cheap position and the talent difference between a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd rounder isn't that big and if we do draft a back in the mid rounds you shouldn't just disregard him because he's a 3rd rounder. Just look at the most successful backs in our history....D.D. and Steve Slaton. This team isn't even looking for a #1 back, just a 5-10 carry back.
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There isn't even a flat out clear cut #1 back in this draft, while Wells is very talented he also has his faults. He's struggled with injuries last season and I know Ohio State fans that were upset with him, but regardless of that.

Like I said RBs aren't like other positions....the reason why Houston is going to draft defensive players early is, because almost always you have to draft defensive players early. Top quality defensive players are very hard to come by in the draft...they fly off the board like hot cakes and if you're going to get quality defensive players out of the draft you almost always have to get them in the first 3 rounds of the draft. Look at Xaiver Adibi last season...when healthy he was making plays sideline to sideline...we got him in the 4th, but the moment we took him Mike Mayock (possibly the best draft guru out there) instantly knew he was a still and said should've gone much earlier.

RBs aren't like this, every single year there are backs that come in and make a instant impact that are taken extremely low or not even drafted at all. It's all about value and you can go to the "dollar store" and pick up a capable back. Houston isn't looking for a star runner, they feel they already got that guy....their just looking for a support character, a side kick for Slaton. They can easily fill that role with a 4th rounder if they have to.
 
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