Babin vs. Peek

Last year we uncerimoniously drafted Antwaan Peek in the 3rd round. This
year, with great fan-fare and controversy, we traded our 2,3, & 4 picks with
our division rival Titans to move up to the firstr round and select Jason Babin.
Both were DE at non major league colleges drafted to play OLB in our 3-4.
What did we see and like so much in Babin that we didn't in Peek ? The difference in consideration given up for the 1st round pick vs. the 3rd rounder
was like night and day, yet the primary differences between the two that I
see at this point in time is that Peek is the superior athelete who plays with
more intensity !

They saw a player who could get to the QB despite being blocked by multiple players. He got to the QB against big time teams. He knows how to use his body, and is an all around good guy, which the Texans like.

Every years draft is different with differing depth at certain positions. Ultimately Babin is a better player and will probably have more production then Peek.

In the 2003 draft, it was thought that Peek would go in the second from the Bearcats. But because of the "run" as they call it, on certain positions, some guys get bumped back in the draft. On the flip side exactly that happened to Babins position in his draft class. There were less quality DE in that particular draft so the good ones get snatched up sooner. If that means trading up to do it, then you do it. So that is what the Texans did.

On thing that you will notice is that neither one of these guys will quit on a play.

I think that I read somewhere that Babin was a state wrestling champion in Michigan. That means two things. He is faster and quicker then almost anybody that you or I know and probably much quicker then a majority of the guys in the NFL. It also means that he is a surpurb athlete with incredible balance and the ability to use his body to create leverage. In 2 preseason games he has had 2 sacks - in the scrimmage with Miami he threw a constant wrench in the offensive works for them.

I think that it was good to get him.

Our pass rush will be dramatically improved with those two guys on the field.

nunusguy said:

The difference in consideration given up for the 1st round pick vs. the 3rd rounder
was like night and day, yet the primary differences between the two that I
see at this point in time is that Peek is the superior athelete who plays with
more intensity !

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Let me get this right you are saying that Peek is better. Did you watch the last game. Peek who is one year in the system is still making the same mistakes, jumping inside and getting sealed. While Babin at least takes on the blocks and stands his ground. Babin is only going on instinct right now, and is still a far better player than Peek. I agree Peek seems to have the Intensity right now, but if he conitnues to make the same mistakes it does us no good.


PS- Pittsburg must have saw something to keep running at Peek and not Babin.

The reason we went after Babin even though we had Peek was to provide better depth overall in the LB corp. Instead of just having Peek and Wong play the outside with no real backups at the OLB position, we have a quality backup at the OLB and Wong provides quality at the MLB.

The impatience with Babin is amazing. He has yet to play a down and we have started tons of threads dogging the man. Apparently (to me at least) we picked them to play different positions. Peek on the open side and Babin on the Strong side. Peek has more quickness so I would think his best position is weakside backer and Babin has nice size and can hold the point of attack like good strongside linebackers should. Peek's strength surely isn't the running game and we will see for ourselves what Babin's strengths are, but frankly, I tend to grade out a players worth in real games, and not on knee-jerk speculation.

I see Peek as a good pass-rusher but a liability at stopping the run. I see Babin as more of the complete package. He may not end up being as good of a pass-rusher as Peek, but he will almost definitely cover the run considerably better. Hopefully both improve and we have one of the best group of LB's in the league.

TheOgre said:

...I see Babin as more of the complete package. He may not end up being as good of a pass-rusher as Peek, but he will almost definitely cover the run considerably better...

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Just a little reminder for everyone: Peek had 1 sack in 10 games last season.

Yeah, he got some QB pressures and that's important. But it's not as if Peek is a polished pass rusher, either. Slap me and call me Shirley if Babin has only 1 sack in 10 games this year.

Lucky said:

Just a little reminder for everyone: Peek had 1 sack in 10 games last season.

Yeah, he got some QB pressures and that's important. But it's not as if Peek is a polished pass rusher, either. Slap me and call me Shirley if Babin has only 1 sack in 10 games this year.

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You did notice I said, "He may not end up being as good of a pass-rusher as Peek ", right? I don't know which will be better. The two are both early in their development and both show the capacity to be pass-rush threats. My point was that Babin looks to be better suited than Peek at stopping the run. I love it when someone focuses on a secondary comment I make instead of focusing on my point.

Lucky said:

Just a little reminder for everyone: Peek had 1 sack in 10 games last season.

Yeah, he got some QB pressures and that's important. But it's not as if Peek is a polished pass rusher, either. Slap me and call me Shirley if Babin has only 1 sack in 10 games this year.

Click to expand...

But that is a little unfair when you consider the circumstances. In the 34 the defensive lineman have to pick up mulitple blockers to free the OLB, but with Payne and Walker out there was nobody to get attention from another blocker so that made Peek's job harder...

He does need to improve though...

TheOgre said:

My point was that Babin looks to be better suited than Peek at stopping the run.

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I agree that Babin is already ahead of Peek as a run stuffer. Maybe I should have pointed that out.

I also believe that Babin is ahead of the 1st year version of Peek as a pass rusher. Can you imagine Babin coming up with an average of 0.1 sacks/game? He should top that on O-line blown assignments alone. Where's your case for "He may not end up being as good of a pass-rusher as Peek "? I don't see it. At least I didn't see it during Peek's rookie season.

That's the difference between a 1st rounder (like Babin) and a 3rd rounder (like Peek). Both have the physical ability to play in the league, the 1st rounder is generally able to contribute sooner. At best, Peek is a situational pass rusher in his 2nd year. Hopefully, an everydown player in his 3rd season. Babin will be an everydown player his rookie year. Two rounds apart in the draft, 2 seasons apart in development.

I just think that Babin is smarter and stronger than Peek. Peek may be quicker but lacks a bit upstairs and may be putting himself out the plays. Thing is, Peek should be a real contributer next year, not necessarily this year. Babin is being thrown into the wolves, something that I don't agree with because this changes our whole chemistry. We could potentially have 3 out of 4 linebackers spots being played by players that were not there last year. I mean just look at it. On our defense we could have 7 new players out of the 11 that were not significantly there last year. That doesn't sound too assuring.

I'm not going to judge a player on his rookie campaign. Especially when he is relegated to spot duty behind a patchwork street free agent DL. Just look at what Pitts, Hollings, Gaffney and Carr did their rookie seasons. They weren't stellar either, but I am not going to comdemn them for it.

Peek has shown quickness and some moves in practice, training camp, and preseason over the last two seasons. He needs to translate that into production when it counts though. He lacks discipline and that has been his biggest downfall.

Peek has POTENTIAL to be a damn good pass-rusher. The same thing with Babin. I'm not going to claim to know which one will be better in the long-run. Right now it is too early to know. 2-3 years from now we will though. I'm not saying Peek will be better. I'm just saying I have no idea at this point. Heck if Peek continues to do stupid stuff (like losing the playbook), he may not even make it through this season.

I'm going out on a limb and saying wong won't be back next season. By the middle of this season Peek and Babin are both strarting.

Well, I assume we got Babin specifically for the pass rush. Last year, we didn't do a very good job at getting to the QB, so it looks like we really wanted some athleticism and a pass-rushing OLB. Either way, it's nice to have both. :hehe: