Alrighty.
Let me just start off by quoting our GM from an interview in a
USATODAY article Baltimore, MD: What's your philosophy: Take the best available or pick for need?
Charlie Casserly: You pick the best player available without question, then you try to fill your needs by making moves. But if you can't do that with a trade, take the best available.
I am to take from this that Travis Johnson was a better pick than Derrick Johnson, yet everywhere else I can find 20 quotes to 1 that imply different. Couple that with the fact that TJ could be lumped into a group of DTs in this draft that were not particularly spectacular. It seems more and more that got burned by trying to forge more picks by trading down. Add to this Bob's take from HPF:
But why then was the theory floated (and seemingly supported by war room cameras) that the Texans instantly deflated when DJ's name was called by the Chiefs? Not that they wanted him for themselves (though they *should* have) but because they wanted to trade down yet again. It seems as if the Texans' plans blew up when the Chiefs picked Johnson and if part of the strategy of taking a really cheap trade down was to then trade down again from #16 because somebody else wanted DJ, it was stupid to think he would still be there at 16.
I will contend all along that DJ would make an excellent 3-4 linebacker and should have been our pick. The guy ran a good 40 at the combine, has a decent wonderlic score, and can shed blocks. Yes we have Peek at ROLB, but it's taken him 3 years now to develop and he still has to prove he can handle a whole game, much less a whole season. Gutting our LB corps and not replenishing it with a stud rookie who has great potential seems to be smarter than reaching for a DT who has had "issues" and whose perfomance only got him 2.5 sacks his senior season.
Even with all that, I still feel Castillo and S. Cody would have been better picks for someone who is not going to play much this year if all things go as planned. I didn't think we were in the position to draft for depth at the 13th slot, we still needed impact players, DJ fits that mold. And I'm not even a longhorn fan.
