GP
Go Texans!
To me , Matthews and Tate were pretty much the same player . If that's the case then they way overpaid , besides I'll take the guy from the better conference .
The last time we took a slick-looking football player from Fresno State...a bunch of people were crowing about how the guy had never played in a big game and hadn't really been challenged by playing at Fresno State.
I was one of the people who said "Aw, it don't matter where you play. He'll be fine. Just needs time."
Well, the Texans got what they wanted when they drafted David Carr. Fans didn't.
Granted, there might be a better work ethic with Mathews. There might be a better character and behavioral pattern with Mathews. Tomlinson played at TCU, which wasn't exactly competing for an NCAA title while he was there.
But fate is fickle. I can't dispute that we might've, sort of, possibly had our focus on taking Mathews in round 1. But as someone else has pointed out, is it reasonable to think that Smithiak didn't allow for the very real possibility that Mathews was going to be gone by pick 20 in round 1? Absolutely they calculated that he could be gone.
But at least it happened EARLY and not right before us. It gave them time to circle the wagons and hammer out their Plan B scenario.
Jackson and Tate, IMO, became the Plan B scenario. That's my theory. And maybe fate, because she is so very fickle, will shine on us. I hope so.