Was Kubiak Responsible for our last 3 drafts?

[Texanballer]

2002-2005 Drafts were hit or miss.

2002- David Carr major bust who let back the franchise. Chester Pitts only player who has performed great for the Texans

2003- Andre Johnson best WR in the NFL was discovered. No one else did much for the Texans. Dominick Davis was a steal but was unable to stay healthy and Antwan Peek was a nice player but was let go i believe.

2004-Dunta Robinson, our heart of the defense was found. Jason Babin is a major bust and everyone else drafted is gone from the team.

2005- Travis Johnson is drafted, arguably a bust. Jerome Mathis a pro bowl returner but was not healthy and i think he got into legal trouble and therefore let go. C.C Brown was nice, i think he is injured? No one else of note has benefited this from this draft

Now after 2005 i believe Dom Capers was fired. Charlie Casserly was around for the 2006 draft i think. Was Kubiak already here for this draft? And how much of an influence was he in our last three drafts? We pretty much owned them.

2006- Mario Williams. Pro bowl DE. One of the best in the league, major contributor on defense. Demeco Ryans, pro bowl Linebacker, another huge contributor on the defense. Charlie Spencer looked like he was going to be a good player but he got injured. Eric Winston, started on the O-Line, i like him a lot. Owen Daniels, our starting TE, a major threat and contributor on offense. David Anderson has played well for a later round pick.

2007-Amobi Okoye, a project who looks like he is turning into a good player. Jacoby Jones has been a good punt returner for us and hopefully he gets more plays on offense. Fred Bennett has been a very solid CB. Zac Diles was playing great and starting before he got injured.

2008- Duane Brown, he looks like he will be a very good lineman eventually. Antwaun Molden has potential to be good. And we all know about Steve Slaton. The steal of the Draft. Our starting RB who has surprised everyone. And Xavier Adibi has shown potential to do well on defense now that he is healthy.

With success in the last 3 drafts, who is responsible? Kubiak or Rick Smith?

I think the way things are going we should have another great draft

 

[Drew_Smoke]

....*yawn*

Come back in 3 months.

 

[gtexan02]

07 looks like the draft of lost potential.

Okoye and Bennet have both regressed a lot this year

 

[TEXANRED]

Looking back on Smith's first draft as the Texans GM I would have to say that it was a horrible draft. Like 2004 kind of horrible draft.

Amobi - So far I would put him in the bust Category.

Jones - Sure he is a good punt returner, when he doesn't fumble the ball and only if his mom is in the stands. He cant even beat out David Anderson for a spot.

Bennett - had one good half season. Lost his starting spot to Faggins, which just about sums it up.

Brandon Harrison - He should be cut soon.

Frye - Already cut

Studdard - Should be cut soon

Diles - Not sold on him either. Sure he makes a lot of tackles, but not at the point of attack. Not to mention he is too slow and not athletic enough to play OLB. But what should one expect from an OLB that is really a MLB.

2008 looks good so far. But We need to wait till next year to pass this draft as a pass fail.

Slaton is lights out, Adibi is going to be a star. Jury is still out on Brown. If he plays like this next year we will be looking for another LT. Moulden only saw PT as a Special Teamer. Again, beat out by Faggins. So we will see. Barber is a good special teamer and may even be good depth at the SS spot. Brink was a dumb pick. He could of easily been a UDFA.

 

[gtexan02]

Looking back on Smith's first draft as the Texans GM I would have to say that it was a horrible draft. Like 2004 kind of horrible draft.

Amobi - So far I would put him in the bust Category.

Jones - Sure he is a good punt returner, when he doesn't fumble the ball and only if his mom is in the stands. He cant even beat out David Anderson for a spot.

Bennett - had one good half season. Lost his starting spot to Faggins, which just about sums it up.

Brandon Harrison - He should be cut soon.

Frye - Already cut

Studdard - Should be cut soon

Diles - Not sold on him either. Sure he makes a lot of tackles, but not at the point of attack. Not to mention he is too slow and not athletic enough to play OLB. But what should one expect from an OLB that is really a MLB.

2008 looks good so far. But We need to wait till next year to pass this draft as a pass fail.

Slaton is lights out, Adibi is going to be a star. Jury is still out on Brown. If he plays like this next year we will be looking for another LT. Moulden only saw PT as a Special Teamer. Again, beat out by Faggins. So we will see. Barber is a good special teamer and may even be good depth at the SS spot. Brink was a dumb pick. He could of easily been a UDFA.

Why do people think this?
If he makes all his tackles downfield, why haven't other players made them first? How did he lead the team in tackles?
If he's too slow and not athletic enough to play OLB, how was he getting to the ballcarrier so often?
How is he really a MLB?

People have huge misconceptions about poor Diles

 

[TEXANRED]

Why do people think this?
If he makes all his tackles downfield, why haven't other players made them first? How did he lead the team in tackles?
If he's too slow and not athletic enough to play OLB, how was he getting to the ballcarrier so often?
How is he really a MLB?

People have huge misconceptions about poor Diles

A linebackers job is to meet the ball carrier at the point of attack and stop the play. They play run first and pass second. Offenses are able to gain the edge on Diles. The reason he is still able to make the play is B/C he plays the angle instead of attacking. Why you may ask? Cus he is not fast enough to attack the edges.

Now MLB is a little different. Still run first but no edges to cover meaning his point of attack is straight up field. And since offenses are running toward you when running up the gut, a LB speed is not really a factor but strength is.

Thats why your less athletic and slower players are MLB. Athletic and fast play OLB.

And watching Diles cover a TE is like watching Greenwood cover a TE. Bad news.

 

[gtexan02]

A linebackers job is to meet the ball carrier at the point of attack and stop the play. They play run first and pass second. Offenses are able to gain the edge on Diles. The reason he is still able to make the play is B/C he plays the angle instead of attacking. Why you may ask? Cus he is not fast enough to attack the edges.

Now MLB is a little different. Still run first but no edges to cover meaning his point of attack is straight up field. And since offenses are running toward you when running up the gut, a LB speed is not really a factor but strength is.

Thats why your less athletic and slower players are MLB. Athletic and fast play OLB.

And watching Diles cover a TE is like watching Greenwood cover a TE. Bad news.

I'll agree that watching Diles in coverage is not exciting.

But as to the other points, I just flat out disagree.

Last year we had Clark I think as our SLB and the year before that we had Orr. Both seasons, Greenwood and Ryans had well over 100 tackles.

This year, with Diles, Greenwood Ryans tackle numbers dropped like crazy. Diles was getting to the ball carrier before Ryans or Greenwood. Maybe he's not playing the line as aggressively as you think he should, but the fact that he's taking tackles from Greenwood and taking tackles from our perennial probowler Ryans is a pretty impressive sign to me

 

[alphajoker]

Why do people think this?
If he makes all his tackles downfield, why haven't other players made them first? How did he lead the team in tackles?
If he's too slow and not athletic enough to play OLB, how was he getting to the ballcarrier so often?
How is he really a MLB?

People have huge misconceptions about poor Diles

I agree. Although in his second year, Diles is essentially playing as a rookie. He is still learning and IMO, did fairly well up until his injury that derailed his season. I look for him to make a big jump next year.

 

[nunusguy]

07 looks like the draft of lost potential.

Okoye and Bennet have both regressed a lot this year

Very true and I think we'd have to add Jacobey to that list or to atleast say he's drifted in the latter part of the season.
Lots of credit has to go to Casserly for our 2006 Draft, easily the Texans best ever.

 

[Ole Miss Texan]

I think Casserly was on a short leash during the '06 draft. McNair knew he would be out as GM but I do believe more credit is do to Casserly than most people really gave. Kubiak was the head coach at the time.

'07 draft was a draft of pure potential, as mentioned. All these guys had/do have upside to be great players and major steals. Let's hope we can develop them. This draft was Smith's first one with the Texans.

'08 draft was the 2nd draft with Kubiak and Smith in charge. Smith executed a trade down in the 1st and even had calls to trade down further. Kubiak said heck no, and they pulled the trigger on Brown + got Slaton and Barber out of it.

I think Smith and Kubiak have great chemistry. I've been impressed with Kubiak and Smith from a player personnel standpoint, they've gotten a good mix of stop gap players in FA, have done well in the draft, and have worked pretty well with what they were left with.

EDIT: I realized what the thread title was and will say I think Kubiak is a huge part of the last 3 drafts. If you want to place blame or praise for certain moves I would give most prays for the '06 draft to Casserly but so much is still unclear about these moves and who was resonsible. '07 draft, I believe was probably Smith/Kubiak working together- this was their first draft with each other as the top dogs. '08 draft, Smith was responsible for making that trade happen, Kubiak and Gibbs are responsible for stopping any further trade down and taking Brown. The new Aggie coach was responsible for the Ahman Green fiasco.

 

[infantrycak]

I think Casserly was on a short leash during the '06 draft. McNair knew he would be out as GM but I do believe more credit is do to Casserly than most people really gave. Kubiak was the head coach at the time.

This is one of the rare instances where we have some real information on the inner workings. Kubiak gives all the credit for Owen Daniels to Casserly saying Casserly convinced him to pick OD. That little story says a lot on how things have worked on draft day since Kubiak came to town.

 

[Insideop]

This is one of the rare instances where we have some real information on the inner workings. Kubiak gives all the credit for Owen Daniels to Casserly saying Casserly convinced him to pick OD. That little story says a lot on how things have worked on draft day since Kubiak came to town.

I have heard this too, and I think it was the only pick you can give credit (at least 100&#37 to Casserly. The rest of the 06 Draft was Kubes basically telling CC this is who I/we(other coaches) want. I don't think CC had any problems with this since he knew he was leaving, and he was there just trying to help Kubes build his own team. I know he said at the time not to blame Kubes for the Mario pick, but I think he was just trying to deflect the criticism Kubes was getting in the press and from the fans.

As for the 07 and 08 Drafts, that's all on Kubes and Smith. I think they work well with each other from their time spent together in Denver, and I think both drafts will turn out good given time. JMHO!