I think the biggest difference between Seattle last year & the Texans (other than Schaub's lingering issue concerns) was that their game manager knew when to take chances, & when not. Then when he took those chances, he was better at it than ours... then our starting & back up running backs got hurt, & our starting TE. & his defense didn't suck.
Other than that, we were pretty much the same.
hahaha, purely from draft perspective.
Big improvement with coaching changes (Carroll & Harbaugh) hopefully something similar happens 4 Texans w/OB.
as far as the respective GM's work & how they stack up compared to Rick Smith tenure here as GM I think you can see pretty clearly he has under-performed. even when they reach for a player like Bruce Irvin or Michael Jenkins it doesn't cripple them, it's very hard for me to believe that drawing blanks on Brennan Williams & Sam Montgomery could devastate a team but it did because both positions needed immediate impact players. San Fran has three #1 draft picks dedicated to their OL, Seattle 2 w/high 2nd on starting Center Max Unger from Oregon. Texans have one, Duane Brown, late 1st 26th overall. You wanna know why the Texans QB continue to struggle @ the QB position & have such a hard time in the red zone, that is a large piece, IMO.
San Francisco
2013 1 1 18 18 Eric Reid DB Louisiana State
2 2 8 40 Cornellius Carradine DE Florida State
3 2 23 55 Vance McDonald TE Rice
4 3 26 88 Corey Lemonier DE Auburn
5 4 31 128 Quinton Patton WR Louisiana Tech
6 4 34 131 Marcus Lattimore RB South Carolina
7 5 24 157 Quinton Dial DE Alabama
8 6 12 180 Nick Moody LB Florida State
9 7 31 237 B.J. Daniels QB South Florida
10 7 40 246 Carter Bykowski T Iowa State
11 7 46 252 Marcus Cooper DB Rutgers
2012 1 1 30 30 A.J. Jenkins WR Illinois
2 2 29 61 LaMichael James RB Oregon
3 4 22 117 Joe Looney G Wake Forest
4 5 30 165 Darius Fleming LB Notre Dame
5 6 10 180 Trent Robinson DB Michigan State
6 6 29 199 Jason Slowey C Western Oregon
7 7 30 237 Cam Johnson DE Virginia
2011 1 1 7 7 Aldon Smith DE Missouri
2 2 4 36 Colin Kaepernick QB Nevada
3 3 16 80 Chris Culliver DB South Carolina
4 4 18 115 Kendall Hunter RB Oklahoma State
5 5 32 163 Daniel Kilgore G Appalachian State
6 6 17 182 Ronald Johnson WR USC
7 6 25 190 Colin Jones DB Texas Christian
8 7 8 211 Bruce Miller LB Central Florida
9 7 36 239 Michael Person G Montana State
10 7 47 250 Curtis Holcomb DB Florida A&M
2010 1 1 11
11 Anthony Davis T Rutgers
2 1 17
17 Mike Iupati G Idaho
3 2 17 49 Taylor Mays DB USC
4 3 27 91 Navorro Bowman LB Penn State
5 6 4 173 Anthony Dixon RB Mississippi State
6 6 13 182 Nate Byham TE Pittsburgh
7 6 37 206 Kyle Williams WR Arizona State
8 7 17 224 Phillip Adams DB South Carolina State
2009 1 1 10 10 Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
2 3 10 74 Glen Coffee RB Alabama
3 5 10 146 Scott McKillop LB Pittsburgh
4 5 35 171 Nate Davis QB Ball State
5 6 11 184 Bear Pascoe TE Fresno State
6 7 10 219 Curtis Taylor DB Louisiana State
7 7 35 244 Ricky Jean Francois DT Louisiana State
2008 1 1 29 29 Kentwan Ballmer DT North Carolina
2 2 8 39 Chilo Rachal G USC
3 3 12 75 Reggie Smith DB Oklahoma
4 4 8 107 Cody Wallace C Texas A&M
5 6 8 174 Josh Morgan WR Virginia Tech
6 7 7 214 Larry Grant LB Ohio State
2007 1 1 11 11 Patrick Willis LB Mississippi
2 1 28
28 Joe Staley T Central Michigan
3 3 12 76 Jason Hill WR Washington State
4 3 34 97 Ray McDonald DT Florida
5 4 5 104 Jay Moore DE Nebraska
6 4 27 126 Dashon Goldson DB Washington
7 4 36 135 Joe Cohen DT Florida
8 5 10 147 Tarell Brown DB Texas
9 6 12 186 Thomas Clayton RB Kansas State
Seattle -
2013 1 2 30 62 Christine Michael RB Texas A&M
2 3 25 87 Jordan Hill DT Penn State
3 4 26 123 Chris Harper WR Kansas State
4 5 4 137 Jesse Williams DT Alabama
5 5 5 138 Tharold Simon DB Louisiana State
6 5 25 158 Luke Willson TE Rice
7 6 26 194 Spencer Ware RB Louisiana State
8 7 14 220 Ryan Seymour G Vanderbilt
9 7 25 231 Ty Powell DE Harding
10 7 35 241 Jared Smith DT New Hampshire
11 7 36 242 Michael Bowie T NE Oklahoma State
2012 1 1 15 15 Bruce Irvin DE West Virginia
2 2 15 47 Bobby Wagner LB Utah State
3 3 12 75 Russell Wilson QB Wisconsin
4 4 11 106 Robert Turbin RB Utah State
5 4 19 114 Jaye Howard DT Florida
6 5 19 154 Korey Toomer LB Idaho
7 6 2 172 Jeremy Lane DB Northwestern State (LA)
8 6 11 181 Winston Guy DB Kentucky
9 7 18 225 J R Sweezy DE North Carolina State
10 7 25 232 Greg Scruggs DE Louisville
2011 1 1 25
25 James Carpenter T Alabama
2 3 11 75 John Moffitt G Wisconsin
3 4 2 99 K.J. Wright LB Mississippi State
4 4 10 107 Kris Durham WR Georgia
5 5 23 154 Richard Sherman DB Stanford
6 5 25 156 Mark Legree DB Appalachian State
7 6 8 173 Byron Maxwell DB Clemson
8 7 2 205 Lazarius Levingston DE Louisiana State
9 7 39 242 Malcolm Smith LB USC
2010 1 1 6
6 Russell Okung T Oklahoma State
2 1 14 14 Earl Thomas DB Texas
3 2 28 60 Golden Tate WR Notre Dame
4 4 13 111 Walter Thurmond DB Oregon
5 4 29 127 E.J. Wilson DE North Carolina
6 5 2 133 Kam Chancellor DB Virginia Tech
7 6 16 185 Anthony McCoy TE USC
8 7 29 236 Dexter Davis LB Arizona
9 7 38 245 Jameson Konz RB Kent State
2009 1 1 4 4 Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
2 2 17
49 Max Unger C Oregon
3 3 27 91 Deon Butler WR Penn State
4 6 5 178 Mike Teel QB Rutgers
5 7 36 245 Courtney Greene DB Rutgers
6 7 38 247 Nick Reed DE Oregon
7 7 39 248 Cameron Morrah TE California
2008 1 1 28 28 Lawrence Jackson DE USC
2 2 7 38 John Carlson TE Notre Dame
3 4 22 121 Red Bryant DT Texas A&M
4 5 28 163 Owen Schmitt RB West Virginia
5 6 23 189 Tyler Schmitt C San Diego State
6 7 26 233 Justin Forsett RB California
7 7 28 235 Brandon Coutu K Georgia
2007 1 2 23 55 Josh Wilson DB Maryland
2 3 22 85 Brandon Mebane DT California
3 4 21 120 Baraka Atkins DE Miami (FL)
4 4 25 124 Mansfield Wrotto G Georgia Tech
5 5 24 161 Will Herring LB Auburn
6 6 23 197 Courtney Taylor WR Auburn
7 6 36 210 Jordan Kent WR Oregon
8 7 22 232 Steve Vallos T Wake Forest
Texans
2013 1 1 27 27 DeAndre Hopkins WR Clemson
2 2 25 57 D.J. Swearinger DB South Carolina
3 3 27 89 Brennan Williams T North Carolina
4 3 33 95 Sam Montgomery DE Louisiana State
5 4 27 124 Trevardo Williams DE Connecticut
6 6 8 176 David Quessenberry T San Jose State
7 6 27 195 Alan Bonner WR Jacksonville State
8 6 30 198 Chris Jones DT Bowling Green
9 6 33 201 Ryan Griffin TE Connecticut
2012 1 1 26 26 Whitney Mercilus DE Illinois
2 3 5 68 Devier Posey WR Ohio State
3 3 13 76 Brandon Brooks G Miami (OH)
4 4 4 99 Ben Jones C Georgia
5 4 26 121 Keshawn Martin WR Michigan State
6 4 31 126 Jared Crick DT Nebraska
7 5 26 161 Randy Bullock K Texas A&M
8 6 25 195 Nick Mondek T Purdue
2011 1 1 11 11 J.J. Watt DE Wisconsin
2 2 10 42 Brooks Reed DE Arizona
3 2 28 60 Brandon Harris DB Miami (FL)
4 4 30 127 Rashad Carmichael DB Virginia Tech
5 5 13 144 Shiloh Keo DB Idaho
6 5 21 152 T.J. Yates QB North Carolina
7 7 11 214 Derek Newton T Arkansas State
8 7 51 254 Cheta Ozougwu DE Rice
2010 1 1 20 20 Kareem Jackson DB Alabama
2 2 26 58 Ben Tate RB Auburn
3 3 17 81 Earl Mitchell DT Arizona
4 4 4 102 Darryl Sharpton LB Miami (FL)
5 4 20 118 Garrett Graham TE Wisconsin
6 5 13 144 Sherrick McManis DB Northwestern
7 6 18 187 Shelley Smith G Colorado State
8 6 28 197 Trindon Holliday RB Louisiana State
9 7 20 227 Dorin Dickerson TE Pittsburgh
2009 1 1 15 15 Brian Cushing LB USC
2 2 14 46 Connor Barwin DE Cincinnati
3 3 13 77 Antoine Caldwell C Alabama
4 4 12 112 Glover Quin DB New Mexico
5 4 22 122 Anthony Hill TE North Carolina State
6 5 16 152 James Casey TE Rice
7 6 15 188 Brice McCain DB Utah
8 7 14 223 Troy Nolan DB Arizona State
2008 1 1 26
26 Duane Brown T Virginia Tech
2 3 16 79 Antwaun Molden DB Eastern Kentucky
3 3 26 89 Steve Slaton RB West Virginia
4 4 19 118 Xavier Adibi LB Virginia Tech
5 5 16 151 Frank Okam DT Texas
6 6 7 173 Dominique Barber DB Minnesota
7 7 16 223 Alex Brink QB Washington State
2007 1 1 10 10 Amobi Okoye DT Louisville
2 3 9 73 Jacoby Jones WR Lane
3 4 24 123 Fred Bennett DB South Carolina
4 5 7 144 Brandon Harrison DB Stanford
5 5 26 163 Brandon Frye T Virginia Tech
6 6 9 183 Kasey Studdard G Texas
7 7 8 218 Zach Diles LB Kansas State