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Texans UDFA Signings
- Thread starter Mari-OWNED!
- Start date
tru80texan
Waterboy
Let's not forget Graham also suffered an ACL injury in late October of 2011. It seems it takes a year or a little over a year for some to recover fully & it would've been roughly 15-16 months since he suffered his injury at the time of the combine. He does seem very elusive & quick, but his long speed does seem to be lacking some as he was caught from behind or some players made up some serious ground on him in pursuit. I still like his potential because he makes people miss & uses an array moves to do it & his catching ability seems to be pretty good as well.
I'm also interested to see what Cierre Wood has to offer. From what I have watched he also moves well & has some elusiveness. His long speed seems to be a better then Grahams's & his size is a plus as well. The knock on him from what I have read is his reluctance to pick up tough yards or move piles w/ his size, but Arian isn't exactly that type either & it seems their running styles are similar IMO.
I can't wait to see what these 2 have to offer. The other 2 that were signed were not all that impressive IMO. That could change come TC, as I'm sure they will all be attempting to do their best to keep their dreams alive.
Game review: Ohio St. vs. Michigan St. Spartans
Against the Spartans and the big RB Le'Veon Bell,
the Buckeyes loaded the box and leave their CBs mostly in one-one-one.
Bell was linmited to 47 yards on 17 carries.
This was a good game to review, especially with a wide and deep camera angle.
They even showed several end zone shots that make player evaluation easier and more accurate.
Howard was left on an island for most of the games,
playing either off-man or press man coverage.
He allowed one 3-yd catch playing off-man on first and ten, converging quickly.
He stayed well with, and ahead of the receiver on a post route
(a difficult one to defend one-on-one), resulting in an incompletion.
He reacted back and took down the RB Bell with a nice tackle that stopped Bell dead in his track.
On a side line route, Howard stayed disciplined against the double move,
reacted well and turned to run stride for stride with the receiver.
He then pinned the receiver to the sideline, in phase, securing he route, and forcing another incompletion.
("terrific coverage", in Brent Musburger's term
and "good coverage and good position by Herbie, the other commentator.)
On a quick short pass, Howard appeared to stop the receiver short of the first down on third and five, but the ref gave it to the Spartans.
The receiver never reached the first down marker.
(Howard was switching man; he was about to take on the inside receiver who went deep, but reacted back very well to help the slot defender on the outside receiver, nearly foiling the conversion.)
He gave up a 10-yd slant playing off-man, but made the tackle immediately.
(I think he was about to drop into a 3-deep zone when he realized that it was a quick slant and reacted back to make the play. The nickel was a little too far inside to drop back into the flat soon enough. The nickel - Orhian Johnson, was eying either the TE or the RB or both before making his drop.)
Howard was right there with the receiver on a couple more plays, forcing an incompletion on a quick slant and a dropped ball on a quick out.
In the second half, Howard continued to show well in run support.
They didn't target him but one time when the quick slant throw was low and away with zero chance for the receiver.
Howard was right there, ready to deliver the blow; even if the pass was on target, there was no guarantee that the receiver can hold on to the ball.
The QB looked Howard's direction three other times, but didn't go there.
The TV angle was good on one occasion where I can see that
Howard was step to step with the receiver.
.......................
O. Johnson made a couple of nice play disengaging from the slot to help thwart off 2 passes to the boundary receiver, showing good awareness, agility, as well as range.
On one play, he missed a tackle in pursuit (it wasn't his man), going in too high with the arm tackle.
This needs to be cleaned up.
He also played deep safety, breaking up a pass, and was generally in good position where he was supposed to be.
His run support continued to be solid.
The Mich. St. QB Maxwell was 22 of 42 for 269;
only a tiny portion of that production was against Howard and Johnson.
.......
Zac Boren also continued his good plays.
He's definitely a very good college lead blocker.
...
The Spartans CB Johnny Adams played similarly to Brice McCain when he was at Utah, mostly in press man with some off-man coverage mixing in.
He looks physical, pound per pound, with the ability to mirror the receiver.
He can fight off his man (bigger and taller) to support the run very well.
He did give up a 12-yd catch in off-man (he was switching man similarly to Howard, so it was not a poor play or anything.)
He gave up another irrelevant catch short of the first down marker on third and long on a broken play in off-man coverage.
Not a problem there either.
He gave up a TD on a side line route; this time it was a problem.
He was looking back trying to locate the ball and it just zoomed past him into the hands of the receiver.
He was in trail position and could have broken up the pass if he had simply played through the receiver.
He needed to secure the route before trying to locate the ball.
It was a perfect pass; I must say, however.
Ohio St. attemtped just 22 passes; only those 3 went Adams' way.
He was in good position throughout the game, even on the TD.
......
All and all, these four guys are very interesting prospects.
I think I will come back to them later if I have the time.
Right now, I want to watch me some Alan Bonner.
Against the Spartans and the big RB Le'Veon Bell,
the Buckeyes loaded the box and leave their CBs mostly in one-one-one.
Bell was linmited to 47 yards on 17 carries.
This was a good game to review, especially with a wide and deep camera angle.
They even showed several end zone shots that make player evaluation easier and more accurate.
Howard was left on an island for most of the games,
playing either off-man or press man coverage.
He allowed one 3-yd catch playing off-man on first and ten, converging quickly.
He stayed well with, and ahead of the receiver on a post route
(a difficult one to defend one-on-one), resulting in an incompletion.
He reacted back and took down the RB Bell with a nice tackle that stopped Bell dead in his track.
On a side line route, Howard stayed disciplined against the double move,
reacted well and turned to run stride for stride with the receiver.
He then pinned the receiver to the sideline, in phase, securing he route, and forcing another incompletion.
("terrific coverage", in Brent Musburger's term
and "good coverage and good position by Herbie, the other commentator.)
On a quick short pass, Howard appeared to stop the receiver short of the first down on third and five, but the ref gave it to the Spartans.
The receiver never reached the first down marker.
(Howard was switching man; he was about to take on the inside receiver who went deep, but reacted back very well to help the slot defender on the outside receiver, nearly foiling the conversion.)
He gave up a 10-yd slant playing off-man, but made the tackle immediately.
(I think he was about to drop into a 3-deep zone when he realized that it was a quick slant and reacted back to make the play. The nickel was a little too far inside to drop back into the flat soon enough. The nickel - Orhian Johnson, was eying either the TE or the RB or both before making his drop.)
Howard was right there with the receiver on a couple more plays, forcing an incompletion on a quick slant and a dropped ball on a quick out.
In the second half, Howard continued to show well in run support.
They didn't target him but one time when the quick slant throw was low and away with zero chance for the receiver.
Howard was right there, ready to deliver the blow; even if the pass was on target, there was no guarantee that the receiver can hold on to the ball.
The QB looked Howard's direction three other times, but didn't go there.
The TV angle was good on one occasion where I can see that
Howard was step to step with the receiver.
.......................
O. Johnson made a couple of nice play disengaging from the slot to help thwart off 2 passes to the boundary receiver, showing good awareness, agility, as well as range.
On one play, he missed a tackle in pursuit (it wasn't his man), going in too high with the arm tackle.
This needs to be cleaned up.
He also played deep safety, breaking up a pass, and was generally in good position where he was supposed to be.
His run support continued to be solid.
The Mich. St. QB Maxwell was 22 of 42 for 269;
only a tiny portion of that production was against Howard and Johnson.
.......
Zac Boren also continued his good plays.
He's definitely a very good college lead blocker.
...
The Spartans CB Johnny Adams played similarly to Brice McCain when he was at Utah, mostly in press man with some off-man coverage mixing in.
He looks physical, pound per pound, with the ability to mirror the receiver.
He can fight off his man (bigger and taller) to support the run very well.
He did give up a 12-yd catch in off-man (he was switching man similarly to Howard, so it was not a poor play or anything.)
He gave up another irrelevant catch short of the first down marker on third and long on a broken play in off-man coverage.
Not a problem there either.
He gave up a TD on a side line route; this time it was a problem.
He was looking back trying to locate the ball and it just zoomed past him into the hands of the receiver.
He was in trail position and could have broken up the pass if he had simply played through the receiver.
He needed to secure the route before trying to locate the ball.
It was a perfect pass; I must say, however.
Ohio St. attemtped just 22 passes; only those 3 went Adams' way.
He was in good position throughout the game, even on the TD.
......
All and all, these four guys are very interesting prospects.
I think I will come back to them later if I have the time.
Right now, I want to watch me some Alan Bonner.
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
On 610, they just said something about a possible "surprise" UDFA signing.
Anybody know what they were talking about?
Anybody know what they were talking about?
He's playing QB.
Case is the only QB on the roster that qualifies for the rookie camp stuff and Klein would be the extra arm. At this point in time I think they'll coach him up as a QB.
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
That's what I meant....Brain fail...
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
Playoffs
Hall of Fame
Who hasn't signed, yet? Any big names?
HOU-TEX
Ah, Football!
Earl's lookin pretty good these days
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
I might have misheard it. They were using it as a teaser but then they didn't seem to come back to it.
Señor Stan
El Guapo
Surprise Free Agent signing maybe?
It's hard to imagine an UDFA still out there that would merit that type of teaser...
NCTexan
Veteran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkAjVhrkxHE
Earl Okine, the DE from Florida, looks like he comes off blocks well to get the running back. I could see him making the team this year as one of the last guys, at least the practice squad I think.
Earl Okine, the DE from Florida, looks like he comes off blocks well to get the running back. I could see him making the team this year as one of the last guys, at least the practice squad I think.
The Texans nine draft picks, including first-round wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, will participate in the mini-camp. So will their undrafted rookie free agents and an undisclosed group of tryout players invited by the team.
Anybody knows who these players are ? Do we ever get to find out ? and does this happen every year? Don't remember from past history.
Anybody knows who these players are ? Do we ever get to find out ? and does this happen every year? Don't remember from past history.
There's your surprise UDFA signing, LOL!
I believe it's the annual try-out teams organize mostly for local players.
Some might be from UCLA, or Rutgers NY, but they came from around here.
Their families may live in La Porte or Round Rock for example, and they attended HS in the surrounding areas.
Playoffs
Hall of Fame
I think I heard kubiak say that he hasn't done many rookie mini camps in the past because they fly out stay for a couple days and then have to fly back hone. I think he said that this year will be different because it will work out so that it leads right into ota's or something like that.
Well, I've been watching a good amount of Gators tapes and it bothers me that Okine didn't see the field often. He was in a rotation with 4 other guys (not to mention an occasional play here and there by a couple of others at the same position.)
One of the four guys is fellow senior Lerentee McCray who was given mid-round status by NFL.com and 5th round by both CBS Sports and NFL Draft Scout (but he ended up as an UDFA for the Broncos - I guess the share playing time hurts his stock as well as his injury history.)
What bothers me is that the other 3 guys were underclassmen (2 of them were Freshmen.) It was discouraging to find that out until I learned that both of them were chosen to the All-Freshman SEC team. I also learned that all those 3 guys were 5-star recruits.
Now that it makes more sense, I can get back to Okine's game.
He didn't play much, averaging may be a dozen snaps a game at most.
His production per snap isn't bad at all, but he still looked kinda raw.
Due to his length, he reminds me a little of Mario Williams.
The comparison probably should end there, LOL!
It seems to me that Okine hasn't learn how to use his long arms to his advantage.
Quite often, he failed to disengage from the blockers and got held up as the runner went past him.
In the pass rush, he mainly bull rushed his man towards the QB, but then didn't know what else to do... On occasions, he just couldn't shred the blocker off of him; the highlights notwithstanding.
But when he did get low to come off the stance, he showed the strength that leverage can bring to augment his power.
I guess it boils down to consistency.
Had he shown the consistency, he would have played more (and therefore boosting his draft stock.)
If a guy demonstrates that he can do certain thing, certainly he can be coached up to do it again with more consistency, right?!?
Oh, and by the way, I did see him on a couple of occasions in standing up position and he looked comfortable with the knee bend and the get off.
I really like to see him at TC.
The guy does possess the measurables and the tools; I keep wondering what is it that stopped him from being more consistent.
HOU-TEX
Ah, Football!
Here's the official list from HT.com. Klein is only here on a tryout basis
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...e-agents/ca34065c-d4f9-4ff1-a6d2-54ebc741b5bd
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...e-agents/ca34065c-d4f9-4ff1-a6d2-54ebc741b5bd
HOU-TEX
Ah, Football!
Here are the players here on a tryout basis, including 6 veterans
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...-tryouts/a943e31b-483d-4883-a30a-e8096d26764f
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...-tryouts/a943e31b-483d-4883-a30a-e8096d26764f
He's Dean's son.
The Huskers didn't do him a favor moving him to defense.
I wonder if our coaches are looking to see what he can do on the O-line.
The guy does have 34" arms.
Been watching some of Chris Jones.
I started with 2011.
Paid most attention to the W. Virginia game; not exactly the big boys, but at the same time, he was a Junior.
Nice game!
At the least, Jones showed he can start in the Big 12.
Won a fair-to-good amount of match-ups.
Got himself a sack and a couple of QB pressures - no slouch against a fast-paced Mountaineers offense.
Sustained the double-team admirably (a pleasant surprise).
Good base, but could firm up the mid-section.
Good short-area burst, but surely not exceptional.
Still raw with his arm techniques; no signature move to speak off.
==> Inconsistent.
The flashes are there. When he maintains leverage, the result is totally different; he can be a force (better than the core tests show) - that was a little nice surprise too.
Need to stress on the inconsistencies though; as he was pretty meh in another game.
Can't wait to watch his 2012 tapes to see the progression, if any.
I started with 2011.
Paid most attention to the W. Virginia game; not exactly the big boys, but at the same time, he was a Junior.
Nice game!
At the least, Jones showed he can start in the Big 12.
Won a fair-to-good amount of match-ups.
Got himself a sack and a couple of QB pressures - no slouch against a fast-paced Mountaineers offense.
Sustained the double-team admirably (a pleasant surprise).
Good base, but could firm up the mid-section.
Good short-area burst, but surely not exceptional.
Still raw with his arm techniques; no signature move to speak off.
==> Inconsistent.
The flashes are there. When he maintains leverage, the result is totally different; he can be a force (better than the core tests show) - that was a little nice surprise too.
Need to stress on the inconsistencies though; as he was pretty meh in another game.
Can't wait to watch his 2012 tapes to see the progression, if any.
I've been watching more UConn tapes.
In the Pittsburgh game, it was mentioned that Ray Graham had an ACL in early November 2011.
That he was able to come back to play at a good level in 2012 seems to indicate that they have made good progress in the medic field. Or is it just another exception?
Also Graham suffered a hamstring right at the end of the year.
I wonder if that prevented him from posting a better time in the forty?
In the Pittsburgh game, it was mentioned that Ray Graham had an ACL in early November 2011.
That he was able to come back to play at a good level in 2012 seems to indicate that they have made good progress in the medic field. Or is it just another exception?
Also Graham suffered a hamstring right at the end of the year.
I wonder if that prevented him from posting a better time in the forty?
Of all the 29 that we picked up, how many are still with the team?
CloakNNNdagger
Hall of Fame
I think that 29 number was for players offered to sign and, obviously, not all chose to sign with the Texans, like Golic, who went with the Steelers, and Kenny Demens (LB Michigan) who also signed with another team. I also think Colin Klein was considered part of the 29 but he was never offered a contract and only came to the Rookie Mini Camp on a tryout basis. Of that 29, only 21 UDFA's started OTA's and 2 of them (Dann O'Neill, OT and George Winn, RB) were cut to make room for 2 of the "tryout" guys (Deji Karim, RB, 4yrs NFL exp and Tyler Horn, C, 1 yr NFL exp). So, by my calculations, the Texans are down to 19 UDFA's from 2013 as of 5/25/13. Hope that helps.
