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John McClain in Nashville Tennessean

Mike Kerns

LYSB Podcast
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060415/SPORTS01/604150344/1328/SPORTS

The Titans have the No. 3 pick in the April 29-30 NFL Draft. We're checking in with writers who cover the Houston Texans (No. 1 pick) and New Orleans Saints (No. 2 pick) for the latest draft buzz in their cities:

HOUSTON

John McClain,

Houston Chronicle

The Texans pulled a stunner by bringing in N.C. State defensive end Mario Williams and acting as if they might actually select him with the top pick. Give us a break! Do they think we're dumb enough to believe they're going to give Bud Adams a choice between Vince Young AND Reggie Bush?

Williams is the best defensive player in the draft, but he happens to play the same left side as Anthony Weaver, who got a $12.5 million signing bonus to leave Baltimore for Houston. The Texans tell us that Williams is so good he can play either side. But they tendered restricted free agent Antwan Peek, their best pass rusher, at the maximum.

Maybe Super Mario, who is 6-7 and 290, is so good he can play middle linebacker. Now THAT might be worth the top pick. He can't, of course, so it's going to be Bush unless agent Joel Segal prices him out of the top spot.
 

Mike Kerns

LYSB Podcast
texman8 said:
McClain has gotten so Hollywood. I'm really tired of his close relationship with Tirans.
Yeah, it is getting kind of tired. He is far more concerned about Vince going to the Titans than about what the Texans do in the draft...
 

Texans_Chick

Utopian Dreamer
I think the point McClain doesn't make but is interesting to me is that if Kubiak does not take Bush or D'Brick or Young, and takes a stud defensive player like Mario Williams, he is demonstrating cajones of steel.

Bush is the safe, consensus #1 pick. If he takes Williams, what he is saying is that he can do a stellar job with our offense, basically as is. Even Eric Moulds is picturing what sort of damage he can do with Bush/AJ in the lineup, much of the fan base has been picturing that about a quarter into last season, and if we don't pick Bush, woooweee, Kubiak just has to be crazy confident that his way of doing stuff will work.

That being said, part of me says we need to have more playmakers on defense, but the other part of me says maybe we have a lot of those playmakers who just need to be unleashed. One way or another, I would like some more defensive playmakers.
 
If I was a coach I would say that Mario is probably the most for sure thing in the top three (Young, Bush, Williams). I call it as I see it, Bush is fast, and has great open field vision once he gets outside but he is very small, in fact tiny, by NFL Running Back Standards, Young has NFL QB Body, arm strength, and accuracy but he has played out of a Shotgun O and he has no one to compare with so it makes him scary, but Mario the guy has the size, speed, strenght, and he is the logical top player unless you go with d'brick.
 

texman8

Waterboy
Frank_The_Tank said:
If I was a coach I would say that Mario is probably the most for sure thing in the top three (Young, Bush, Williams). I call it as I see it, Bush is fast, and has great open field vision once he gets outside but he is very small, in fact tiny, by NFL Running Back Standards, Young has NFL QB Body, arm strength, and accuracy but he has played out of a Shotgun O and he has no one to compare with so it makes him scary, but Mario the guy has the size, speed, strenght, and he is the logical top player unless you go with d'brick.
Gale Sayers 6'0 198 lbs
Barry Sanders 5'8 200lbs
Marshall Faulk 5'10 210 lbs
Tiki Barber 5'10 200 lbs
Emmitt Smith 5'10 215 lbs

You have to agree these are pretty good running backs. Most likely, Bush will gain a few pounds. Yes, you have your Earl Campbell ( my favorite RB), Bettis, Larry Johnson, Ricky Williams. Oh, Clinton Portis and LT are similar ,just heavier.

Young is an athletic marvel....it depends if he can read NFL defenses quickly.


Mario Williams is a stud...larger version of Jevon Kearse.....the only question is his motor and inconsistent play.

It seems like 99% of the experts have Bush rated as #1. Unless,someone gives us a killer deal, we're going to pick Bush.
 

Coach C.

Veteran
Texman in all likely hood you are right. Young is not an athletic marvel though. He is a running QB with a decent arm and not very accurate. Not to say he wont be a stud QB, but he is not even more athletic than Reggie McNeal. Switch their respective teams and you have a McNeal getting the hype and Young in the later part of the draft. Mario is my guy and his play is not really in question, but his motor is. He does stop on plays that arent coming to his side sometimes, I mean hell I watched the film and it was obvious. FSU ran 60% of their plays toward Manny Lawson as to avoid Mario and he still gave tons of pressure. Honestly I think Mario and Reggie realize the step up they will have to make and that will make them good pros, I do not believe that VY can see past his own ego though. I truly feel that he feels that he is something phenominal and he cannot see his own faults and learn the game the way he will need to in order to take it to the level most of his supporters feel he already has.
 

kastofsna

Hall of Fame
yes i've heard from several scouts (and corey chavous) that mcneal has better quarterback POTENTIAL than vince young. as much as i'm "anti-young" i don't see that being the case. he'll be a WR (like young should be).
 

Dr. Toro

Rookie
texman8 said:
Gale Sayers 6'0 198 lbs
Barry Sanders 5'8 200lbs
Marshall Faulk 5'10 210 lbs
Tiki Barber 5'10 200 lbs
Emmitt Smith 5'10 215 lbs

You have to agree these are pretty good running backs. Most likely, Bush will gain a few pounds. Yes, you have your Earl Campbell ( my favorite RB), Bettis, Larry Johnson, Ricky Williams. Oh, Clinton Portis and LT are similar ,just heavier.

Young is an athletic marvel....it depends if he can read NFL defenses quickly.


Mario Williams is a stud...larger version of Jevon Kearse.....the only question is his motor and inconsistent play.

It seems like 99% of the experts have Bush rated as #1. Unless,someone gives us a killer deal, we're going to pick Bush.
Bush is the lightest running back prospect in this years draft.
 

Mike Kerns

LYSB Podcast
kastofsna said:
i hope you don't mean the best WR prospect and the best KR prospect.
After USC pro day, there were several scouts that said if he came out as a wide receiver, he would easily be the best one in the draft.
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
Coach C. said:
Texman in all likely hood you are right. Young is not an athletic marvel though. He is a running QB with a decent arm and not very accurate. Not to say he wont be a stud QB, but he is not even more athletic than Reggie McNeal. Switch their respective teams and you have a McNeal getting the hype and Young in the later part of the draft. Mario is my guy and his play is not really in question, but his motor is. He does stop on plays that arent coming to his side sometimes, I mean hell I watched the film and it was obvious. FSU ran 60% of their plays toward Manny Lawson as to avoid Mario and he still gave tons of pressure. Honestly I think Mario and Reggie realize the step up they will have to make and that will make them good pros, I do not believe that VY can see past his own ego though. I truly feel that he feels that he is something phenominal and he cannot see his own faults and learn the game the way he will need to in order to take it to the level most of his supporters feel he already has.
Possibly the only thing I disagree with you Coach. I just do not see McNeal playing QB in the NFL nor did I ever think that he could get the job done that VY did in college. Different QB's that projected out like the UT staff thought they would. I saw many A&M games and felt sorry for my wife. I felt sorry being a UT fan when I saw the kid they installed and it was the first time that I observed that vaunted Aggie spirit in a while. McNeal is a freak athlete, but freak athletes are pieces of a puzzle rather than the big picture. I do not think that McNeal ever got the big picture.

As far as VY goes I honestly believe he will either be a Randall Cunningham type player or one of the greats. The faults that I see are not of the leadership, athleticism and deep ball array. The two major faults that cannot be coached out of him I believe are going to be the way he handles the ball when he is trying to evade defenders while behind the LOS, fumbalaya central, and when he throws outs. He got better last year, but I am not sure how he will do once he drops back and plants and is going up against NFL players coming at him and are defending his receivers. Yes he will need to work on his drops, play under center and a team may have to revamp their playbook and add playmakers to support one player, but heck teams do that all the time, Texans case in point. I could easily see VY leading the league in fumbles.

There is an old basketball theory that if you are playing against a more talented team that you put together a game plan that matches their's, so if you are playing against a pressing team you press them. Now that VY will be at the next level with athletes that are his equals I am not sure that his deficiencies will be unexposed therefore marginalizing his strengths.

Just my :twocents:
 

kastofsna

Hall of Fame
Frak The Jags said:
After USC pro day, there were several scouts that said if he came out as a wide receiver, he would easily be the best one in the draft.
he'd be similar to matt jones if he did that. both are raw at the position (jones much more raw obvliously). bush catches well, but he still not even close to how physical you want a WR at the line or with his routes.
 

TreWardTxn

Waterboy
Coach C. said:
Texman in all likely hood you are right. Young is not an athletic marvel though. He is a running QB with a decent arm and not very accurate. Not to say he wont be a stud QB, but he is not even more athletic than Reggie McNeal. Switch their respective teams and you have a McNeal getting the hype and Young in the later part of the draft.
First off, how can you only have a decent arm and be "not very accurate," but be a "stud QB"? If McNeal were so obviously better than Young as a QB, then why did Mack (and every other major DI school) covet Young more? They're from the same area, it's not like Mack didn't see McNeal play, and he was the player that won the state championship that year...

texman8 said:
Gale Sayers 6'0 198 lbs
Barry Sanders 5'8 200lbs
Marshall Faulk 5'10 210 lbs
Tiki Barber 5'10 200 lbs
Emmitt Smith 5'10 215 lbs
I hope most poster realize that 5'10 210 is a substantial difference when compared to 6' 212 (added weight). Remember, Eddie George got beat up alot because on top of being used like a battering ram, he was 6'2'' (or so), and ran high, there was a lot of leg to attack. Bush is taller than most RBs, has lean legs, runs high, and hopefully won't take big hits due to his ability to make people miss, but those factors are at play when considering his durability in addition to his weight...
 

Janus3

Waterboy
i never liked john mcclain, he talks football like he knows something any football fan doesn't when all he's stating is common sense. he's also very conservative in his writing.
 
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