I'm just the messenger here passing along Charley's tweet.
I believe it was McNair who made the final decision on Carr because Bob liked the idea and wanted David being the face of the franchise.
Imagine, if you can, that Charley is right about Lynch and if the Texans drafted Lynch at #22 it would cost them $9MM over 4 years instead of the $72MM they paid for Osweiller.
Charley has a definite bias here and an ax to grind with the Texans because they told him it was time for him to go, so take it for what it's worth.
Sean Jones confirmed it (and continues to confirm it) on his local radio show.
He was being interviewed to be Charlie's capologist and when asked who he'd pick no. 1, Jones said hands down Julius Peppers. Mentality was build a good defensive foundation, and start to build the offense over a couple of seasons so all you would need is a QB.
Jones said Carr was always penciled in as no. 1 because of the marketing angle, plain and simple. McNair thought he was a family man and looked good in a Texans uniform, and they were trying to sell this team to the city at the time. Of course, this city was so hungry for a football team that none of that was really needed, but that's what you get with a boardroom mentality that relies on focus groups to market products. That's why we are the Houston Texans and not something cool like the Texas Toros (IMO, of course).
Imagine when Brock takes us to the Super Bowl
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
So much of what you think you know is simply not true. Think of me as Texans fan in much the same way you think of the Chicago Cubs fans.
I have thought about your Chicago Cubs fan example for many years (as in this must be what it feels like to be a Chicago Cubs fan, but with the Texans).
Vinny used to take a lot of heat for being critical of the franchise, to the point that he changed his title to "Shiny Happy Fan" (which I think is still on his profile today). He never could tow the company line and eventually got tired of always being attacked anytime he was perceived as saying something critical or negative. Dude had some excellent football takes, too, but he no longer even visits Texans Talk after getting burned out by all of it.
He did leave us with his classic line
"it's a marketing company with a football division", and I've used it for many years since then.