Thorn
Dirty Old Man
I don't think Vrabel had much input into the draft, other than being on the staff. I also don't think he'll be that great of a HC, but you never know. It'd be our luck for Vrabel to be the next Belicheat.
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General draft thoughts.
- Thread starter Texansphan
- Start date
I don't think Vrabel had much input into the draft, other than being on the staff. I also don't think he'll be that great of a HC, but you never know. It'd be our luck for Vrabel to be the next Belicheat.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Post was mainly tongue in cheek but I absolutely think he made the call on Mckinney.
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
Some more thoughts on Texans draft - I reckon the other AFCS teams must be pissed that even though Texans didn't have a 1st or 2nd they still got Justin Reid, Martinas Rankin, Keke Coutee and Duke Ejiofor.
Personally, I'm pretty happy about it.
Personally, I'm pretty happy about it.
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
I would have thought they'd have gotten another o-lineman in there somewhere. Guess they'll be bringing in some as UDFAs.
Personally, after free agency and the draft, I don't think the Texans did enough for the o-line. Perhaps it's all they could do, I don't know, but it wasn't enough IMO.
Personally, after free agency and the draft, I don't think the Texans did enough for the o-line. Perhaps it's all they could do, I don't know, but it wasn't enough IMO.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
They added 4 guys that will likely make the team. More than likely only going to carry 8 OL on gameday roster. Can't get rid of everybody from last season.
zshawn10
All Pro
Eric Galko ✔ @OptimumScouting
Great complimentary picks for the #Texans:
-Justin Reid fits nicely next to Tyrann Mathieu.
-Rankin can play OG or challenge for LT.
-Akins slides in as a TE3 pass catcher.
-Coutee can be a natural slot inside Hopkins/Fuller.
-Ejiofor/Kalambayi bring upside depth needed at OLB. https://twitter.com/evansilva/status/990346231703535618 …
2:47 PM - Apr 28, 2018
#Texans draft:
3. Stanford S Justin Reid
3. Mississippi St OG Martinas Rankin
3. UCF TE Jordan Akins
4. Texas Tech WR Keke Coutee
6. Wake Forest OLB Duke Ejiofor
6. Oklahoma CB Jordan Thomas
6. Stanford LB Peter Kalambayi
7. San Jose St CB Jermaine Kelly
2:45 PM - 28 Apr 2018
https://twitter.com/evansilva/status/990346231703535618
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
It is true, that ANY improvement is still an improvement, however small. If they did improve the o-line this offseason, it would will be a small, not a medium size improvement. Because it most certainly wasn't any larger than a medium.
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
Which brings to mind, with our o-line, why are we picking TEs that can't block? I would think it would be the other way around.
I realize that Watson, in full form and force, could probably make any offensive line look good. But he does need help and I'm not sure they gave him a lot of help on the line. They did give him some help in receiving choices though, that's good.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Can we wait and see if the offensive line will be improved before trying to make a to early prediction. Did you really think they would unload the entire line from last season. They added some decent players, so let's see if they will pan out.
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PapaL
Loose Screw
I’m happy with what I’m seeing. Thought we got some players that can contribute. Not overly concerned about CB. Hopefully last years pick McCloud can show something. Our defense should be improved.
Offense we got a couple new toys and more bodies to figure out the OL. I’m going to be optimistic and say we get improved OL play.
I hope we can bring in a couple arms for camp. QB2 is still a concern. Don’t have anyone that can mimick what DW4 does.
Offense we got a couple new toys and more bodies to figure out the OL. I’m going to be optimistic and say we get improved OL play.
I hope we can bring in a couple arms for camp. QB2 is still a concern. Don’t have anyone that can mimick what DW4 does.
AngryNateFTW
Veteran
UDFA is probably going to start in the next 30 minutes. (Granted some moves have already started via twitter)
And with them also drafting a natural slot wr, I think they are going to play them at TE
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TexansBull
Hall of Fame
I will let you know in a couple years what I think of this draft.
I will tell you in a couple of years that you're wrong.
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
And I’m sure there will be someone else saying we are both wrong.
Wouldn’t be the internet if there wasn’t.
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
Well of course you'd both be wrong if you didn't agree with me.
Mr.Scarface
Rookie
I laugh at people on a message board know more about player evaluations than the people paid to do it. Why are aren't u an NFL scout, GM, or Coach?
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
I wonder if people will feel better about the Akins pick if they convince themselves that him and Ejiofor swapped draft positions?
3 (68) Justin Reid, S, Stanford, 80.4
3 (80) Martinas Rankin, G/C, Mississippi State, 77.1
3 (98) Jordan Akins, TE, UCF, 83.5
4 (103) Keke Coutee, TE, Texas Tech, 87.7
6 (177) Duke Ejiofor, Edge, Wake Forest, 85.7
6 (211) Jordan Thomas, TE, Mississippi State, 51.1
6 (214) Peter Kalambayi, Edge, Stanford, 76.6
7 (222) Jermaine Kelly, CB, San Jose State, 79.3
Day 1: n/a
Day 2: Houston finally got to play draft, starting in the third round, and they got good value in Justin Reid who was getting some first-round love leading up to the draft. He’s an athletic safety who struggled at times in a challenging role covering slot receivers at Stanford, but when used in more of a traditional safety role, he closed quickly on underneath routes and showed off his ball skills down the field. He picked off four passes and deflected 14 on 137 targets over the last three years. Martinas Rankins improved from a 47.7 overall grade in 2016 to 71.2 last season, but there’s still more work to do after he ranked 79th in the draft class with a pass-blocking efficiency of 94.0 in 2017. Jordan Akins is a smooth route runner who ranked third in the draft class with 1.93 yards per route, but he must cut down on the drops after letting 10 out of 93 catchable targets hit the ground in his career.
Day 3: Keke Coutee adds another playmaker to the mix as he can be a weapon on gadget plays, but also from the slot where his speed makes him a vertical slot threat. He ranked eighth in the nation with 542 yards on deep passes despite ranking 114th with only 18 deep targets. Duke Ejiofor is a solid player who produced three straight years of grading in between 82.0 and 85.7 overall. He knows how to win with his hands and a multiple moves as a pass-rusher, and he could move around the defensive front to create mismatches. Peter Kalambayi best overall grade came in 2015 (77.2) and his 82.4 grade against the run last season was a career-high.
Overall grade: Below average
LINK
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Interesting to note after spending all that time coaching players at the Senior Bowl the team only acquired one player that participated that week. TE Jordan Akins.
Yup. That’s why I’m not concerned whether or not this pick was a “reach.” The Texans scouted him, liked him and got him. He may just fit like a glove in the new O’Brien/ Watson offense.
We have done a lot this offseason to revamp the line.
We should be solid up front.
I think the catching and capable running TE is a great compliment if O’Brien expounds on the beautiful misdirection he was calling right before Watson got hurt.
CloakNNNdagger
Hall of Fame
I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
We wont know for sure why but could be a medical redflag. Maybe he did poorly in team visits/interviews like Derrius Guice? Or maybe teams just thought he was too raw to contribute right away. He's a big guy who can run. But we got two of those as undrafted free agents in Weah/Smith.
bah007
Hall of Fame
Cain was just graded higher by the media types than he apparently was by teams. I don't remember reading about any red flags on him. I just don't think he's a very exciting prospect. I did some studying on him and was very underwhelmed. Came away thinking a 2nd round grade was ridiculous (and that's where all the media sites had him graded at the time). I had him as a 5th/6th guy.
Low ceiling, little ST value, and don't think he'll ever be more than a #4 WR.
cuppacoffee
Resident Grouch
I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
Probably because "everyone" thought we should have loaded up on O linemen instead of TE's?
Sounds like we got some skilled players to me, just not skilled in the positions of the most apparent need.
I'll let the dust settle in training camp / preseason before I make any harsh judgments.
They must really have stayed with the BPA on their board.
Two Edge guys. Gonna give Watt a lot of rest?
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Texas Jake
Rookie
The grades are pretty much meaningless - just someone's opinion. You can't judge aa draft until a couple years down the road to see how the picks actually do.I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
Good question. If you grade the R1 players the same as R7 players it obviously wouldn't make sense so you must assess based on projection which is subjective.I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
I see SI made a sensible assessment of Texans picks as it must be based on what players you scored at which positions.
For us to score two borderline first round talents in the third round obviously warrants a very high grade (A) for those two.
Akins was a reach as I believe we could have gotten him in the 6th round. (I gave him a C based on that).
Coutee probably went where he should have (B) and Ejiofor was a good score (B+).
SI's grade? A. Probably a tad high, but A- was definitely warranted.
As I said in another post, the other AFC south teams must be annoyed that we got two very good talents with our first two picks despite not having a first or second round pick.
Texans were very fortunate this was such a deep draft.
I would have liked to see us wait on Akins until the 6th and take a quality OL or RB in his place at #98. Akins would replace Jordan Thomas who I would not have drafted.
That would have pushed them to an A.
Their draft could easily have looked like this:-
#68. Justin Reid S
#80. Martinas Rankin OL
#98. Rick Leonard OL or Will Richardson OL or Nyheim Hines RB
#103. Keke Coutee WR
#177. Duke Ejiofor DE
#211. Jordan Akins TE
#214. Peter Kalambayi DE
#222. Jermaine Kelly DB
Sure, hindsight is always 20/20, but there is also a couple more changes I would have liked to see:-
#214. Alex McGough QB
#222. Peter Kalambayi DE.
Sure, you could say we have to be pretty happy with what we got from where we were, but with that in mind, Texans needed to make every single pick count and they dropped the ball a bit with their 3rd, (#98) for mine.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Probably because "everyone" thought we should have loaded up on O linemen instead of TE's?
Sounds like we got some skilled players to me, just not skilled in the positions of the most apparent need.
I'll let the dust settle in training camp / preseason before I make any harsh judgments.
They must really have stayed with the BPA on their board.
Two Edge guys. Gonna give Watt a lot of rest?
Also have to take into account how they graded the position groupings in UDFA. Jaryd Jones-Smith RT Pitt is just as good a prospect as a lot of the OL that got draft 5th round and later for what the team needs.
For our 6th round TE appears that they didn't like the guys left at TE that might go undrafted vs OL.
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
Good question. If you grade the R1 players the same as R7 players it obviously wouldn't make sense so you must assess based on projection which is subjective.I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
I see SI made a sensible assessment of Texans picks as it must be based on what players you scored at which positions.
For us to score two borderline first round talents in the third round obviously warrants a very high grade (A) for those two.
Akins was a reach as I believe we could have gotten him in the 6th round. (I gave him a C based on that).
Coutee probably went where he should have (B) and Ejiofor was a good score (B+).
SI's grade? A. Probably a tad high, but A- was definitely warranted.
As I said in another post, the other AFC south teams must be annoyed that we got two very good talents with our first two picks despite not having a first or second round pick.
Texans were very fortunate this was such a deep draft.
I would have liked to see us wait on Akins until the 6th and take a quality OL or RB in his place at #98. Akins would replace Jordan Thomas who I would not have drafted.
That would have pushed them to an A.
Their draft could easily have looked like this:-
#68. Justin Reid S
#80. Martinas Rankin OL
#98. Rick Leonard OL or Will Richardson OL or Nyheim Hines RB
#103. Keke Coutee WR
#177. Duke Ejiofor DE
#211. Jordan Akins TE
#214. Peter Kalambayi DE
#222. Jermaine Kelly DB
Sure, hindsight is always 20/20, but there is also a couple more changes I would have liked to see:-
#214. Alex McGough QB
#222. Peter Kalambayi DE.
Sure, you could say we have to be pretty happy with what we got from where we were, but with that in mind, Texans needed to make every single pick count and they juggled the ball a bit with their 3rd, (#98) for mine.
Usually after a draft you have 1 to 3 new toys you are really excited about and expect to become one of the best players of your team. Basically your first and sometimes second rounders. I didn‘t expect to get one of those players this draft without a first or second rounder, yet I feel similarly excited about Reid. We got another versatile linemen - now we have got a whole bunch of them, none of them is elite or even very good, but all feel competent and may surprise us in a good or bad way. And I feel like Watson got a few new toys with a lot of speed.
Overall this draft went better than expected. But with 3d rounders and below, those picks always have a big bust potential. Even a guy like Reed can bust, there is a reason why the other teams didn‘t take them before - they might have been wrong, or this is another Louis Nix situation (he also was considered a steal in that draft).
And looking at our team - I don‘t see many holes. Unfortunately the ones we have are pretty important: LT and CB1. Maybe HB and TE as well. I like every other position. So I am hopeful...
Overall this draft went better than expected. But with 3d rounders and below, those picks always have a big bust potential. Even a guy like Reed can bust, there is a reason why the other teams didn‘t take them before - they might have been wrong, or this is another Louis Nix situation (he also was considered a steal in that draft).
And looking at our team - I don‘t see many holes. Unfortunately the ones we have are pretty important: LT and CB1. Maybe HB and TE as well. I like every other position. So I am hopeful...
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Would be nice to slot Akins 3 rounds later than where we picked him but there was a run on TEs after he was picked and Texans obviously thought highly of him. With all the TEs going off the board after him I doubt he'd make it to the 6th.
I'm wondering on what basis the "Below average" grade is given.
If you don’t consider Watson as part of this draft then yeah we started in the 3rd round and didn’t acquire any blue chip players.
But since our first this year was used for Watson I believe he should be considered as part of this draft also.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Justin Reid is absolutely a blue chip player.
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
I agree it was a panic pick but Akins was an UDFA on some big boards.
I say it was worth a risk to wait at least till #177 - especially with so many good players at pon with higher grades above him.
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
And Deon Cain was a 2nd rounder on some big boards. Same with Crosby. Guice a 1st rounder. Reid too... but on our board Akins was a 3rd.
banned1976
sleeper mode
My biggest issue with this draft for the Texans is they passed on Nyheim Hines, Mark Walton and even Kalen Ballage. Anyone of those running backs would have been better picks than Akins. One of the best tools you can give a young QB is a strong running game. I hope the Texans aren't putting all their eggs in D'Onta Foreman's basket. It'd be great if he was healthy...but, he's not and it sounds like O'Brien wants to rush him back.
I honestly think OB believes in the Belichick way of making do with JAGs at virtually every position except QB. We will see how good OB is at coaching up "his guys" moving forward. It's actually kind of neat that all Gaine could draft was middle and late round guys, with Smith being very poor in the middle rounds. I'm still mad as hell that Smith traded away the 2nd to save McNair some $$. Chubb would've been a pretty good pick for the Texans....cue CnD with health concerns in 3...2...1...
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powda
The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
I guess I'm on record as being ho/hum about this draft. That's not entirely true.
I think Akins was a reach ,but mostly that pitifully stupid oz trade showed It's face one last time. I guess it's festered for a year and I hate it.
What 's done is done and It's not Gaines fault.
If you include Watson in this draft we did fairly well.
I'm with you on the ho hum part regarding this draft. I'm very, very glad that I was soooo wrong on Watson and I'd take him over any player in this draft. I'm really excited to see how aligned OB and BG are when the season starts. I've got nothing to say, good or bad, about BG until we see what's up after next year. That would clearly change if some of the players he passed on have great rookie years.
Don't think Sony Michel is a JAG. Every time people think they have "Belicheat" figured out he does something he hasn't done before (or at least in a long time) and I think that's his "modus operandi" (keep them guessing). Whether he's game planning, signing FA's, or drafting he is always doing the unexpected and keeping other teams, and the sports media, off balance. Don't think anyone guessed the Pats would take a RB in the 1st rd. The last time "Belicheat" took a RB in the 1st was in 2006 with Maroney and he only lasted 4 years with the Pats before being traded. Ironically, he too was drafted with an OG in the 1st (Mankins) like Michel was with Wynn this year. If you looked at the team on paper before the Draft the Pats needed OL and RB, so no one should be surprised by the picks. But, since it's "Belicheat," people are surprised that he picked a RB in the 1st.
I think BOB would like to be able to do the same thing as Belichick and some day he may get to that point, but he has a long way to go and a bunch of Super Bowls to win before he gets there!
ATXtexanfan
Hall of Fame
One O lineman?
Strange, would think we know protect the package after last season
Strange, would think we know protect the package after last season
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kiwitexansfan
Hall of Fame
Given what we had to work with, I think the FO did a good job of getting some talent in positions we needed it.
Will look with interest to see how OB's new offense uses his new toys.
Will look with interest to see how OB's new offense uses his new toys.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Maybe we will give AP or Anderson a shot since both of them are on the market. I was hoping we drafted a RB as well.
I agree with you. I think you misunderstood my post. I wasn't trying to say that BB doesn't draft for need or BPA, just that he tends to treat every position, other than QB, as negotiable. Regardless of draft position or recent play, he will flat out trade or cut you if he feels that he has better options available. BB's draft record isn't nearly as remarkable as his other stats. He's a good personnel guy and an amazing coach. OB, after 4 years, is still relatively an unknown beyond players saying they like playing for him. I've never said that I disliked working for my boss unless I already had another job, so yeah...
I'm wondering (hoping actually) if O'Brien's offense is going to a version of the WCO, where short, quick passes to RBs and TEs in the flat and via screens will be used to move the chains instead of the traditional 3/4 yds and a cloud of dust.
IF that's so, then that explains why they picked guys who can catch and make the first tackler miss (and get 5-7 ydes) instead of running Miller up the butt of the guard hoping he can get those 3 yds.
Granted, that's obviously a total guess on my part but it's the only way I can make sense of the picks.
There's two ways to keep Watson healthy: 1) build this all-pro O-line we'd all like to see or 2) do like Brady does and get the ball out in 2 secs or sooner.
It's a different way of thinking.
...and since TK isn't here someone has to do it.
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I'm wondering (hoping actually) if O'Brien's offense is going to a version of the WCO, where short, quick passes to RBs and TEs in the flat and via screens will be used to move the chains instead of the traditional 3/4 yds and a cloud of dust.
IF that's so, then that explains why they picked guys who can catch and make the first tackler miss (and get 5-7 ydes) instead of running Miller up the butt of the guard hoping he can get those 3 yds.
Granted, that's obviously a total guess on my part but it's the only way I can make sense of the picks.
There's two ways to keep Watson healthy: 1) build this all-pro O-line we'd all like to see or 2) do like Brady does and get the ball out in 2 secs or sooner.
It's a different way of thinking.
...and since TK isn't here someone has to do it.
Dude you know if Miller is on the team O’Brien is going to run him up the butt!