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Brian Orakpo, DE, Texas

Blake

Blake

MMQB
Lets get some thoughts on this guy. Will he be around at 15? Will he be a DE or 3-4 OLB?

I just wanted to get a thread on Brian as I feel he could be a potential target of the Texans. He is roughly 6'4 260lbs. Won the Nagurski and Hendricks award as a senior netting 11 sacks and 4 forced fumbles as a senior.

Apparently people think he is slipping on draft boards due to not coming to the senior bowl, and some thinking he is more of a tweener for 3-4 OLB. I personally think he will shoot back up once they get him in the combine drills.

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He could play either in my opinion. If he were drafted by a 3-4 team he would probably just be a stand-up end and rush every play, ala Jerome Harrison & Lamaar Woodley of the Steelers or Joey Porter on the Dolphins. If he were drafted by a 4-3 team he would just play regular DE, probably weakside.

In my opinion he will be gone by the time the Texans are on the board. His stock is dropping now, but once he gets more exposure to the media (ESPN) his stock will go back up, especially after the combine. He will have a Mario-like combine and everybody will be wondering why he wasn't a consensus top 10 pick.
 
IMO, There is no such thing as draft stock. There is how good a guy is and how good he isn't.

Fans and media are dropping this guy's "stock" because he isn't in the public eye right now. That is ridiculous. The guy is going to drop bombs at the combine and will wind up as a top 10 pick.

Fans and media will then credit that to his "stock" going back up at the combine, when in reality, that's where he was the whole time. We just weren't paying attention to him because he wasn't in the all star games and such.

Orakpo can play rush LB in a 3-4 and quick DE in a 4-3. He has the best combination of speed and power of all the DE's in this draft class. He is decent enough against the run that I wouldn't call his ability a weakness, but it isn't a strength either. He can improve in that area.

If a team is looking for a pass rusher, the first names you will hear this year will be Orakpo (4-3) and Clint Sintim (3-4).
 
LZ said that scouts don't believe Orapko has an elite first step . I think guys like Orapko and Kruger have a smaller bust factor because they are relentless , which may be just as important as an elite first step .
 
I agree that he is a top 10 pick. People switching to the 3-4 from the 4-3 will love his blend of speed, size, strength and high motor. I really think there is less than a 5% chance of him dropping to us.

A 3-4 team will get him IMO. With the way teams have seen Woodley and Harrison have played this year for the Steelers, Orakpo should be an intriguing pick.
 
Super Mario said:
I agree that he is a top 10 pick. People switching to the 3-4 from the 4-3 will love his blend of speed, size, strength and high motor. I really think there is less than a 5% chance of him dropping to us.

A 3-4 team will get him IMO. With the way teams have seen Woodley and Harrison have played this year for the Steelers, Orakpo should be an intriguing pick.
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It seems that going from a DE to OLB is a huge step . The only one at the top of my head that made it look easy was Merriman . How many guys did the Texans try before they found Babin .... JK .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
It seems that going from a DE to OLB is a huge step . The only one at the top of my head that made it look easy was Merriman . How many guys did the Texans try before they found Babin .... JK .
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LaMarr Woodley & DeMarcus Ware played 4-3 DE in college & 3-4 rush LB in the pros.
 
bah007 said:
Neither. I don't have enough information to debate it either way.

You just said the only guy you could remember was Merriman so I added two other top guys who are in the same category.
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The two best 3-4 olb in the NFL are Harrison and Ware . One was a 1st rd. pick the other an undrafted free agent .

I think one 3-4 will take Cushing over the three hybrid DE/OLBs .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
The two best 3-4 olb in the NFL are Harrison and Ware . One was a 1st rd. pick the other an undrafted free agent .

I think one 3-4 will take Cushing over the three hybrid DE/OLBs .
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In terms of 3-4, I think Sintim & Maybin will be the first to go. Sintim played the position in college. Maybin will have to convert or gain weight to play DE,

Cushing looks like a 4-3 SLB to me. Doesn't mean he can't play somewhere else. I just think that is his best fit.
 
bah007 said:
In terms of 3-4, I think Sintim & Maybin will be the first to go. Sintim played the position in college. Maybin will have to convert or gain weight to play DE,

Cushing looks like a 4-3 SLB to me. Doesn't mean he can't play somewhere else. I just think that is his best fit.
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It seems if a player has to loose weight to play OLB ( Babin ) then he's a buffet away from not being dominant unless of course he goes the Merriman route ( HGH ) .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
The two best 3-4 olb in the NFL are Harrison and Ware . One was a 1st rd. pick the other an undrafted free agent .

I think one 3-4 will take Cushing over the three hybrid DE/OLBs .
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I think they'll be a run on those guys. Once everyone plugs the first hole....they'll start dropping like dominoes in the second round.

Orakpo started out as the rover guy. He moved to the DE because he was the strongest, quickest guy they had. McClain has already pointed out that highly rated Texas DL tend to bust out. That coupled with the fact that he's been injury prone, makes it highly unlikely that we'll make a move up deal.

TBS, If i was the GM and he made past Oakland I'd move up and go get him. I believe he's the second coming of Elvin Bethea.
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
It seems if a player has to loose weight to play OLB ( Babin ) then he's a buffet away from not being dominant unless of course he goes the Merriman route ( HGH ) .
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Indeed.

The best hybrids are the DEs who might be too small to play DE.

You don't want the OLBs who are too big to play OLB.
 
threetoedpete said:
I think they'll be a run on those guys. Once everyone plugs the first hole....they'll start dropping like dominoes in the second round.

Orakpo started out as the rover guy. He moved to the DE because he was the strongest, quickest guy they had. McClain has already pointed out that highly rated Texas DL tend to bust out. That coupled with the fact that he's been injury prone, makes it highly unlikely that we'll make a move up deal.

TBS, If i was the GM and he made past Oakland I'd move up and go get him. I believe he's the second coming of Elvin Bethea.
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http://www.gbnreport.com/2009projection.html

1 Detroit*Andre Smith OT Alabama
2 St. Louis *Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
3 Kansas City *Matthew Stafford QBGeorgia
4 Seattle Eugene Monroe OT Virginia
5 Cleveland Brian Orakpo DE Texas
6 Cincinnati Michael Oher OT Mississippi
7 Oakland Malcolm Jenkins CB Ohio State
8 Jacksonville Jason Smith OT Baylor
9 Green Bay Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
10 San Francisco *Aaron Maybin LB Penn State
11 Buffalo *Everette Brown DE Florida State
12 Denver *Chris Wells RB OhioState

GBN thinks that there will be a run also .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
http://www.gbnreport.com/2009projection.html

1 Detroit*Andre Smith OT Alabama
2 St. Louis *Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
3 Kansas City *Matthew Stafford QBGeorgia
4 Seattle Eugene Monroe OT Virginia
5 Cleveland Brian Orakpo DE Texas
6 Cincinnati Michael Oher OT Mississippi
7 Oakland Malcolm Jenkins CB Ohio State
8 Jacksonville Jason Smith OT Baylor
9 Green Bay Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
10 San Francisco *Aaron Maybin LB Penn State
11 Buffalo *Everette Brown DE Florida State
12 Denver *Chris Wells RB OhioState

GBN thinks that there will be a run also .
Click to expand...

If Curry makes it to 9, I would want to move up there.
 
I havn't really seen too much of Orakpo or enough that just makes me think he's a top 5 pick, which he's been talked about for so long. I'm starting to warm up about the idea of him on our team if he makes it to us, but as mentioned these 3-4 defenses ahead of us are going to pick apart the defensive talent at the top of the draft.

3-4 OLBs
Brian Orakpo
Everette Brown
Aaron Maybin

MLB
Rey Mauluga

DT/NT
BJ Raji

Other LBs could play in 3-4
Aaron Curry
Brian Cushing

You look at all the defensive front 7 talent at the top of this draft and they can all fit in 3-4 schemes. I think it's just going to depend on teams preferences b/c theres a chance for anyone of these guys, except for Curry, to slip to us.

I personally want the best 4-3 pass rushing DE of the bunch, but I don't want it at the expense of passing up a better player at another position.
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
I havn't really seen too much of Orakpo or enough that just makes me think he's a top 5 pick, which he's been talked about for so long. I'm starting to warm up about the idea of him on our team if he makes it to us, but as mentioned these 3-4 defenses ahead of us are going to pick apart the defensive talent at the top of the draft.

3-4 OLBs
Brian Orakpo
Everette Brown
Aaron Maybin

MLB
Rey Mauluga

DT/NT
BJ Raji

Other LBs could play in 3-4
Aaron Curry
Brian Cushing

You look at all the defensive front 7 talent at the top of this draft and they can all fit in 3-4 schemes. I think it's just going to depend on teams preferences b/c theres a chance for anyone of these guys, except for Curry, to slip to us.

I personally want the best 4-3 pass rushing DE of the bunch, but I don't want it at the expense of passing up a better player at another position.
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We will have our shot at 2-3 of these players. Kind of exciting to predict who it will be.
 
Since the Texans are looking at DT/MLB/DE, is it safe to say that they will just take the best available of those positions and not lock in on a specific guy? Or will they lock in on one like last year (Duane) and trade into that spot?
 
LATexansFan said:
Since the Texans are looking at DT/MLB/DE, is it safe to say that they will just take the best available of those positions and not lock in on a specific guy? Or will they lock in on one like last year (Duane) and trade into that spot?
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I dont think MLB is a huge need. What the Texans do, and what they should do might be 2 different things. I think Best Player Available would be the best idea, but the Texans along with most other teams have been known to draft for need over BPA.
 
Our defense needs playmakers. Hopefully we can get guys at a position of need that can have an immediate impact on our defense.
 
I think a lot depends on how we are rating the different DEs in this class. If a top tier guy doesn't land to us and we're not completely enthralled at anyone at another position, I could see them trying to trade down like last year but instead of targeting a LT... the target a RDE. If they can't find a suitable partner then they'll stay put and take the BPA, maybe a LB or DB in this draft.
 
LATexansFan said:
Since the Texans are looking at DT/MLB/DE, is it safe to say that they will just take the best available of those positions and not lock in on a specific guy? Or will they lock in on one like last year (Duane) and trade into that spot?
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I think it's more like the best of DT/DE/OLB/S. And if several guys that they like fall to them or if no one they REALLY like falls to them, they may trade back.

However, if they see someone at the Combine that they really like, they may choose to focus on one guy.
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
I think a lot depends on how we are rating the different DEs in this class. If a top tier guy doesn't land to us and we're not completely enthralled at anyone at another position, I could see them trying to trade down like last year but instead of targeting a LT... the target a RDE. If they can't find a suitable partner then they'll stay put and take the BPA, maybe a LB or DB in this draft.
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I think it's likely that the top DEs are taken ahead of us and we have to settle for the best DB, which would probably be a CB.
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
I think a lot depends on how we are rating the different DEs in this class. If a top tier guy doesn't land to us and we're not completely enthralled at anyone at another position, I could see them trying to trade down like last year but instead of targeting a LT... the target a RDE. If they can't find a suitable partner then they'll stay put and take the BPA, maybe a LB or DB in this draft.
Click to expand...

This is likely to happen.

I would like to see a trade back to the 20-25 range & aquire more picks.

We should be able to draft Krueger, M. Johnson, Ayers, or S.Smith in that range. All of these guys have the potential to be as good as anybody we can pick @ 15 IMO
 
bah007 said:
I think it's likely that the top DEs are taken ahead of us and we have to settle for the best DB, which would probably be a CB.
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I'm thinking a CB like Vontae Davis may be available that would could stay put for. Maybe Cushing for SLB.

steelbtexan said:
This is likely to happen.

I would like to see a trade back to the 20-25 range & aquire more picks.

We should be able to draft Krueger, M. Johnson, Ayers, or S.Smith in that range. All of these guys have the potential to be as good as anybody we can pick @ 15 IMO
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I'm liking the idea if we could trade down to the range you suggested and targeting some of these guys. I like the prospects that should be available in this range. On top of those you listed, maybe Cushing slips, Alphonso Smith, Patrick Chung, Louis Delmas, Peria Jerry, etc. Plus we'd add probably at least a 3rd rounder that would be REALLY useful like we witnessed last year.
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
http://www.gbnreport.com/2009projection.html

1 Detroit*Andre Smith OT Alabama
2 St. Louis *Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
3 Kansas City *Matthew Stafford QBGeorgia
4 Seattle Eugene Monroe OT Virginia
5 Cleveland Brian Orakpo DE Texas
6 Cincinnati Michael Oher OT Mississippi
7 Oakland Malcolm Jenkins CB Ohio State
8 Jacksonville Jason Smith OT Baylor
9 Green Bay Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
10 San Francisco *Aaron Maybin LB Penn State
11 Buffalo *Everette Brown DE Florida State
12 Denver *Chris Wells RB OhioState

GBN thinks that there will be a run also .
Click to expand...

Yeah and these are the same guys that have had us taking Will Moore for the first two months of the process. Obviously they didn't watch the games this year.

No player's stock is going to fall further than Moore's. Unless there's an injury we don't know about....he's an under sized will LB. And WTH is St. Louis going to do with Crabtree if they don't have Pace starting ? It's like buying a Mercedes medallion and sticking it on a Yugo's hood. St. Louis has got to have a left tackle if they want their QBs to survive '09.
 
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