redwhiteblue
Waterboy
Houston Texans General Manager/Executive Vice President Rick Smith
(on the Texans biggest needs heading into 2012) First of all, coming off the season that we came off, and having the success that we had for the first time for an organization, you go back to the drawing board again no different than you did every year before. Its a very honest assessment of where we are, where we feel like were strong, where we think we need to improve. And when you look at those areas, I think the wide receiver position is a position where we might strengthen our team. You can never have enough corners. I know I always say that. Pass rushing is a premium. I mean, its pretty standard. We look for guys that make plays, that impact the game. We can never find or have too many players that impact the game, whether youre talking about a pass-rusher or guy who can take the ball and make a play with the ball in his hands.
(on if he will draft with the best-player-available approach) We always do. We stay true to our board and thats not a philosophy that were going to alter because I think it gives you the best chance to have success. If you assess value and you follow the value of your board and dont stretch for need, because I think thats where people make mistakes. Weve not done that before and I would suspect that we stay true to that philosophy and not do that in the future.
(on if it is impossible to align the teams priorities until figures out what its going to do with OLB Mario Williams) No, its not impossible. Not at all. Weve assessed our team. Obviously, there are variables that you always have to adjust to but I think we understand what we have and where we need to go and then you adjust as the process plays itself out.
(on how he approaches players who have issues off the field) Its a function of research and trying to get to know the player. We take a position that we dont penalize a player or kill a player because he made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. What you dont want, you dont want repeat offenders because that will indicate something thats maybe a deeper issues. We wont just take a player off of our board for character reasons if he makes a single mistake. If there is repeated, repetitive behavior that suggests something different than that, then we become a little bit more concerned and thats what this process is about. Thats what the process that our scouts have been evaluating these players over the last few months, so well take all that information and assess how comfortable we feel or where we feel that there is a risk more so than another. Character is important. Its always been important. I think again, Ive said a lot, where you see that is in the fourth quarter. When youve got players that (have) quote en quote character, what does that mean? That means that theyre disciplined, they execute when theyre supposed to execute. If youve got a team full of players who have that discipline in the fourth quarter, in the big time in the game where the pressure is at its height, those guys with discipline tend to continue to do the things that they need to do in order to perform and execute and continue to be successful.
(on if he takes a hard look at someone with first-round talent who has had two or three transgressions rather than discarding that player) In my opinion, its all about the value. Its how assess the risk. How much value are you going to place on a player or how much risk are you willing to take compared to where you think his behavior (is).
(on if hes reluctant to put the franchise tag on RB Arian Foster and if he thinks more restricted free agents will now get the franchise tag with the new CBA rules) Obviously, its way too early to determine or to predict a trend. We are having all of those conversations and discussions, without revealing too much of what our thought process is. We will use every available option that we have and try to do, well try to make the decisions that give us the best chance to impact our team overall. Whether were talking about a Mario (Williams), an Arian (Foster) or a Chris Myers or whoever were talking about with respect to our guys that we would like to sign back that are in some form of free agency, whether its restricted or unrestricted. What were trying to do is put together a game plan together that gives us the best chance to have the best overall football team.
(on if theres any regret that the franchise tag number is so big with the new CBA deal) No. First of all, I dont live in regret that way. I didnt write the deal. Its function of the first pick in the draft. Its a function of the timing of going into the last cap year. Theres a number of nuances and variables that impacted and affected that deal. It was what it was and we had to deal with it. Mario (Wiliams) is a great player and we want him to be a part of our football team and our organization, so were working hard to figure out a way to get that done.
(on if he anticipates more contract restructuring to help with the teams salary cap situation) Yeah. We have to. Thats what weve got to do. Weve got to look at some deals and restructure some contracts and try to get as creative Ive challenged (vice president of football administration) Chris Olsen to come up with as many available opportunities that we have. The goal is to build the best football team that we can build.
(on the process of restructuring the Texans defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4) In the sense of a transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4, it started actually a couple weeks ago a year ago, when we hired (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips). Meeting with our scouts, sitting down with Wade and talking to him and getting a real idea of what he was looking for; watching a ton of tape with him and the defensive coaches and gaining some insight as to what type of player fit into the defense and then going to the Senior Bowl and corralling the scouts and talking to them. Making sure that everybody understood what we were looking for. And then just going through the process and again, staying true to the value that we placed on players. We were fortunate. We were fortunate that J.J. Watt turned out to be an excellent football player. I think he made more impact plays than anybody thought he would. We knew he would be a great player but I dont think anybody knew that he would make an impact on a game as much as he did. That was certainly something that was nice and then the second round pick with Brooks (Reed). So we did some things. We were able to come together as a group and identify the players that fit the system and the scheme. And then we were fortunate as the Draft kind of fell that we were able to pick some players that were good for our system.
(on what he looks for in developing a college player into a 3-4 outside linebacker) I think the first thing is pass rush. Is there some sort of natural pass-rush ability is what you look for. Then you look at the athleticism. Then you look at what type of football instincts and all the other things that kind of come on. One of the things we put a premium on is pass rush. And you mentioned the projection; when we made this transition last year, we did not have one linebacker on our team, whether you talk about a Brooks Reed or any other player, or Mario (Williams), any of them that had played in that position. They were all projections. We were fortunate. Even projecting (Brian) Cushing inside was a projection. It worked out for us. I think have to say that in that context of our defense and the way that they performed, in light of how we handled adversity and injury through the year, I cannot say how effective a job our coaching staff did. I mean, it was impressive to watch those guys week-in and week-out get the team ready regardless of who was going on the field and had them out there executing on a high level. Thats a testament to the job Gary (Kubiak) and his staff did.
(on if hed be more aggressive trading up in the Draft if the opportunity arose now that his roster depth is as strong as its been) Yeah, all of those things. Just because we havent done it doesnt mean we havent run the exercise and thought about it and all of those kinds of things. Its just that we have not been in the situation where it was proven to do it. We will still entertain any, and Ive always said this, we will entertain any opportunity we can, whether its moving up or moving back to better our football team. Those moves, as you know, are expensive. Youve got to make sure that if youre going to do something, whether youre talking about moving up 10 spots or however far, youve got to make sure that youve got a player thats worth whatever the value is of the move. The last time we had this pick, we didnt start the Draft with the 26th pick. We started I think at 20 and we moved back with Baltimore and traded back to 26 and picked up an extra third round pick. So were always moving and were always entertaining those options and if its something that we think will help us, then well do it.
(on this years draft class) I tend to stay away from overall evaluations of the classes. I think that when you look at players, what we look for in that group, I guess Ill stay specific to that, is guys that make plays on the ball. I think that thats a premium. Turnovers are a premium in this League to the degree that you have a group of players in your secondary that can make plays on the ball. I think thats what Johnathan Joseph, one of the things he added; Danieal Manning, they added that element to our secondary. And there are some players in this class that have that ability.
(on if there is a level of influence from an assistant coach that can be too much in a draft selection regarding a players success or failure because he put his name on the line) I think thats the responsibility of whoever is in charge of running the draft. I dont think thats specific to coaches. I think scouts will have the same type of affinity for a player. You want that. You want conviction in the draft room. You want people to step up and say This guy can makes plays for us. Its a matter of the decision-making process at that point to weight the opinion, to weight how significant that drives the decision. But you want people with conviction in your draft room and then its just a matter of making sure your process is set up such that like you said, its not skewed, but it falls into line with everything else that you make a good decision.
(on if he had to push the envelope with injuries playing OLBs Connor Barwin and Brooks Reed as much as the Texans did and how much the Texans need a third outside linebacker) Pass rushers are premiums. You need as many as you can get, so we were fortunate in the sense that both of those guys were healthy the entire year and we had some production from both of them. But you can never have too many pass rushers. You cant.
(on wanting OLB Mario Williams to remain a Texans) Yeah. I think weve been very clear. Theyve been very clear that we would love to have him here. And I dont talk a whole bunch about negotiations publicly, but I think that there is no doubt that all the parties involved know what the desire is and thats for him to be here.
(on the chances that the Texans make moves in free agency as big as they did last year) You know what, and again, this goes back to philosophy; we feel like its prudent to build through the draft and thats our philosophy, and then you supplement via free agency. I think youve seen that over the years in what weve done. I think we were obviously a major player in free agency last year and so if we are staying true to form, I would anticipate that we would not be as active this year. Again, if theres an opportunity for us to get better and we think that its by free-agent acquisition, were not going to be shy about doing it. I would not expect that we would be as active as we were last year unless an opportunity presents itself that way.
(on if there is something you can gain from watching throwing quarterbacks at the Combine, as the Texans did with QB T.J. Yates last year) I think what you get here is you get an athletic grade and you get an opportunity to talk and get to know the guy a little bit better in an interview setting and all the testing. The body of work is what he does on tape, especially at that position. But you can see his arm live. You can do some things if you hadnt had a live exposure or any kind of view. You can see some of those athletic things. But really, youve got to use the body of work, a guys playing resume on tape. Thats where we put the most emphasis on our evaluation process.
(on if something stood out about QB T.J. Yates at last years Combine) First of all, you look at the offense that he ran and how similar it was to ours. You looked at the competitive way he led his football team in the face of a ton of adversity. You looked at his ability to be accurate with the football, his ability to make all the throws. He doesnt have a super gun, but hes got a strong enough arm to make all the throws. You start to look at all those factors and you got excited about the guy and we really did. Were fortunate and the job that he did was pretty incredible for a young guy to come in and lead the football team like that in the games late in the year and win a playoff game and to go on the road the way that he did and compete. Those are some of the things that you saw from him just from a competitive standpoint and a playing standpoint and what he could do physically that you said, Hey, this guy might have a chance to be pretty good in our system.
(on not drafting for need but making his first five draft picks defensive players last year) Yeah, but again, when you hit the homerun, and I guess I would consider J.J. (Watt) to be a homerun, where you hit the homerun is as you stack your board and assess value. If you can pick a player at the corresponding spot that is a position of need, thats a homerun. So you dont go into the Draft saying Ive got to get this. Ive got to get that, because, in my opinion, if you do that, you are inclined to reach and take a player that doesnt meet the value. Its not that you dont select players in positions that you need. The key is that they have the corresponding value at the point where you are picking and if you do that, and you can hit a player at a position of need at the value spot, then you are good.
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...-Combine/93224fca-a8a8-4b57-975e-c6ad081ec479
(on the Texans biggest needs heading into 2012) First of all, coming off the season that we came off, and having the success that we had for the first time for an organization, you go back to the drawing board again no different than you did every year before. Its a very honest assessment of where we are, where we feel like were strong, where we think we need to improve. And when you look at those areas, I think the wide receiver position is a position where we might strengthen our team. You can never have enough corners. I know I always say that. Pass rushing is a premium. I mean, its pretty standard. We look for guys that make plays, that impact the game. We can never find or have too many players that impact the game, whether youre talking about a pass-rusher or guy who can take the ball and make a play with the ball in his hands.
(on if he will draft with the best-player-available approach) We always do. We stay true to our board and thats not a philosophy that were going to alter because I think it gives you the best chance to have success. If you assess value and you follow the value of your board and dont stretch for need, because I think thats where people make mistakes. Weve not done that before and I would suspect that we stay true to that philosophy and not do that in the future.
(on if it is impossible to align the teams priorities until figures out what its going to do with OLB Mario Williams) No, its not impossible. Not at all. Weve assessed our team. Obviously, there are variables that you always have to adjust to but I think we understand what we have and where we need to go and then you adjust as the process plays itself out.
(on how he approaches players who have issues off the field) Its a function of research and trying to get to know the player. We take a position that we dont penalize a player or kill a player because he made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. What you dont want, you dont want repeat offenders because that will indicate something thats maybe a deeper issues. We wont just take a player off of our board for character reasons if he makes a single mistake. If there is repeated, repetitive behavior that suggests something different than that, then we become a little bit more concerned and thats what this process is about. Thats what the process that our scouts have been evaluating these players over the last few months, so well take all that information and assess how comfortable we feel or where we feel that there is a risk more so than another. Character is important. Its always been important. I think again, Ive said a lot, where you see that is in the fourth quarter. When youve got players that (have) quote en quote character, what does that mean? That means that theyre disciplined, they execute when theyre supposed to execute. If youve got a team full of players who have that discipline in the fourth quarter, in the big time in the game where the pressure is at its height, those guys with discipline tend to continue to do the things that they need to do in order to perform and execute and continue to be successful.
(on if he takes a hard look at someone with first-round talent who has had two or three transgressions rather than discarding that player) In my opinion, its all about the value. Its how assess the risk. How much value are you going to place on a player or how much risk are you willing to take compared to where you think his behavior (is).
(on if hes reluctant to put the franchise tag on RB Arian Foster and if he thinks more restricted free agents will now get the franchise tag with the new CBA rules) Obviously, its way too early to determine or to predict a trend. We are having all of those conversations and discussions, without revealing too much of what our thought process is. We will use every available option that we have and try to do, well try to make the decisions that give us the best chance to impact our team overall. Whether were talking about a Mario (Williams), an Arian (Foster) or a Chris Myers or whoever were talking about with respect to our guys that we would like to sign back that are in some form of free agency, whether its restricted or unrestricted. What were trying to do is put together a game plan together that gives us the best chance to have the best overall football team.
(on if theres any regret that the franchise tag number is so big with the new CBA deal) No. First of all, I dont live in regret that way. I didnt write the deal. Its function of the first pick in the draft. Its a function of the timing of going into the last cap year. Theres a number of nuances and variables that impacted and affected that deal. It was what it was and we had to deal with it. Mario (Wiliams) is a great player and we want him to be a part of our football team and our organization, so were working hard to figure out a way to get that done.
(on if he anticipates more contract restructuring to help with the teams salary cap situation) Yeah. We have to. Thats what weve got to do. Weve got to look at some deals and restructure some contracts and try to get as creative Ive challenged (vice president of football administration) Chris Olsen to come up with as many available opportunities that we have. The goal is to build the best football team that we can build.
(on the process of restructuring the Texans defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4) In the sense of a transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4, it started actually a couple weeks ago a year ago, when we hired (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips). Meeting with our scouts, sitting down with Wade and talking to him and getting a real idea of what he was looking for; watching a ton of tape with him and the defensive coaches and gaining some insight as to what type of player fit into the defense and then going to the Senior Bowl and corralling the scouts and talking to them. Making sure that everybody understood what we were looking for. And then just going through the process and again, staying true to the value that we placed on players. We were fortunate. We were fortunate that J.J. Watt turned out to be an excellent football player. I think he made more impact plays than anybody thought he would. We knew he would be a great player but I dont think anybody knew that he would make an impact on a game as much as he did. That was certainly something that was nice and then the second round pick with Brooks (Reed). So we did some things. We were able to come together as a group and identify the players that fit the system and the scheme. And then we were fortunate as the Draft kind of fell that we were able to pick some players that were good for our system.
(on what he looks for in developing a college player into a 3-4 outside linebacker) I think the first thing is pass rush. Is there some sort of natural pass-rush ability is what you look for. Then you look at the athleticism. Then you look at what type of football instincts and all the other things that kind of come on. One of the things we put a premium on is pass rush. And you mentioned the projection; when we made this transition last year, we did not have one linebacker on our team, whether you talk about a Brooks Reed or any other player, or Mario (Williams), any of them that had played in that position. They were all projections. We were fortunate. Even projecting (Brian) Cushing inside was a projection. It worked out for us. I think have to say that in that context of our defense and the way that they performed, in light of how we handled adversity and injury through the year, I cannot say how effective a job our coaching staff did. I mean, it was impressive to watch those guys week-in and week-out get the team ready regardless of who was going on the field and had them out there executing on a high level. Thats a testament to the job Gary (Kubiak) and his staff did.
(on if hed be more aggressive trading up in the Draft if the opportunity arose now that his roster depth is as strong as its been) Yeah, all of those things. Just because we havent done it doesnt mean we havent run the exercise and thought about it and all of those kinds of things. Its just that we have not been in the situation where it was proven to do it. We will still entertain any, and Ive always said this, we will entertain any opportunity we can, whether its moving up or moving back to better our football team. Those moves, as you know, are expensive. Youve got to make sure that if youre going to do something, whether youre talking about moving up 10 spots or however far, youve got to make sure that youve got a player thats worth whatever the value is of the move. The last time we had this pick, we didnt start the Draft with the 26th pick. We started I think at 20 and we moved back with Baltimore and traded back to 26 and picked up an extra third round pick. So were always moving and were always entertaining those options and if its something that we think will help us, then well do it.
(on this years draft class) I tend to stay away from overall evaluations of the classes. I think that when you look at players, what we look for in that group, I guess Ill stay specific to that, is guys that make plays on the ball. I think that thats a premium. Turnovers are a premium in this League to the degree that you have a group of players in your secondary that can make plays on the ball. I think thats what Johnathan Joseph, one of the things he added; Danieal Manning, they added that element to our secondary. And there are some players in this class that have that ability.
(on if there is a level of influence from an assistant coach that can be too much in a draft selection regarding a players success or failure because he put his name on the line) I think thats the responsibility of whoever is in charge of running the draft. I dont think thats specific to coaches. I think scouts will have the same type of affinity for a player. You want that. You want conviction in the draft room. You want people to step up and say This guy can makes plays for us. Its a matter of the decision-making process at that point to weight the opinion, to weight how significant that drives the decision. But you want people with conviction in your draft room and then its just a matter of making sure your process is set up such that like you said, its not skewed, but it falls into line with everything else that you make a good decision.
(on if he had to push the envelope with injuries playing OLBs Connor Barwin and Brooks Reed as much as the Texans did and how much the Texans need a third outside linebacker) Pass rushers are premiums. You need as many as you can get, so we were fortunate in the sense that both of those guys were healthy the entire year and we had some production from both of them. But you can never have too many pass rushers. You cant.
(on wanting OLB Mario Williams to remain a Texans) Yeah. I think weve been very clear. Theyve been very clear that we would love to have him here. And I dont talk a whole bunch about negotiations publicly, but I think that there is no doubt that all the parties involved know what the desire is and thats for him to be here.
(on the chances that the Texans make moves in free agency as big as they did last year) You know what, and again, this goes back to philosophy; we feel like its prudent to build through the draft and thats our philosophy, and then you supplement via free agency. I think youve seen that over the years in what weve done. I think we were obviously a major player in free agency last year and so if we are staying true to form, I would anticipate that we would not be as active this year. Again, if theres an opportunity for us to get better and we think that its by free-agent acquisition, were not going to be shy about doing it. I would not expect that we would be as active as we were last year unless an opportunity presents itself that way.
(on if there is something you can gain from watching throwing quarterbacks at the Combine, as the Texans did with QB T.J. Yates last year) I think what you get here is you get an athletic grade and you get an opportunity to talk and get to know the guy a little bit better in an interview setting and all the testing. The body of work is what he does on tape, especially at that position. But you can see his arm live. You can do some things if you hadnt had a live exposure or any kind of view. You can see some of those athletic things. But really, youve got to use the body of work, a guys playing resume on tape. Thats where we put the most emphasis on our evaluation process.
(on if something stood out about QB T.J. Yates at last years Combine) First of all, you look at the offense that he ran and how similar it was to ours. You looked at the competitive way he led his football team in the face of a ton of adversity. You looked at his ability to be accurate with the football, his ability to make all the throws. He doesnt have a super gun, but hes got a strong enough arm to make all the throws. You start to look at all those factors and you got excited about the guy and we really did. Were fortunate and the job that he did was pretty incredible for a young guy to come in and lead the football team like that in the games late in the year and win a playoff game and to go on the road the way that he did and compete. Those are some of the things that you saw from him just from a competitive standpoint and a playing standpoint and what he could do physically that you said, Hey, this guy might have a chance to be pretty good in our system.
(on not drafting for need but making his first five draft picks defensive players last year) Yeah, but again, when you hit the homerun, and I guess I would consider J.J. (Watt) to be a homerun, where you hit the homerun is as you stack your board and assess value. If you can pick a player at the corresponding spot that is a position of need, thats a homerun. So you dont go into the Draft saying Ive got to get this. Ive got to get that, because, in my opinion, if you do that, you are inclined to reach and take a player that doesnt meet the value. Its not that you dont select players in positions that you need. The key is that they have the corresponding value at the point where you are picking and if you do that, and you can hit a player at a position of need at the value spot, then you are good.
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...-Combine/93224fca-a8a8-4b57-975e-c6ad081ec479
Like I have said a 10000000000 times!
ism involved here but the proof is in the puddin'. The roster says they've done a pretty good job.
