Malcolm Jenkins would walk in and take Reeves starting job no problem. Reeves is more suited to being a nickel CB. He has excellent coverage skills, but very poor ball skills. He always sticks to his man, but rarely knocks down a pass.
As for me determined to ignore reason that is not the case. It is my philosophy that you need to go into the draft with a plan and if I were the Texans GM my plan would be to leave the first day of the draft with a CB and a LB.
However that does not mean that those are the only 2 positions that I care about. If we took a CB in round 1 and there were no good LB's in round 2 I would not reach for a 3rd round prospect. I would go BPA at a position of need. If it is a RB or an offensive lineman so be it, but my main priorites are CB and strongside LB.
Perhaps that's true but a lot of NFL people think he doesn't have the speed to play CB in a system like ours. People, experts included, get so enamored with college football players as they enter the NFL. And, so often, they end up dead wrong about them. I think, with very few exceptions, that it is unrealistic to assume any college player can come in and be an above average NFL starter early in his career.
Looking at 2007's 1st round, I count 12-14 quality NFL starters out of 32. So, it seems a stretch to think that the Texans can draft in the middle or later part of the 1st round, limiting their choices to the defensive side of the ball, and get a player that immediately upgrades their starting defense. Of course it could happen, and I hope it does. I think the Texans should do one of two things when they're selecting in the first 3 rounds:
1.
take the BPA, period!- that will limit mistakes and allow for a premium amount of talent to be on the roster and/or
2.
Move into position to get good value for a player/players at a position with poor depth. With this method, perhaps the Texans don't draft a guy that wins the starting job his first year or two but he immediately improves the depth of the team and has upside that could make him a good NFL starter down the road. For example, I like the idea of the Texans drafting someone like Eric Wood in the second round. And, while perhaps he doesn't win a starting job over Briesel or CMyers, he has a chance to be very good in a couple years. In the meantime, when Briesel goes down with an ankle injury in week #4, instead of replacing him with Kasey Studdard we replace him with Eric Wood- and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, especially Matt Schaub! This is the genesis for the argument to take a RB early. Our depth at RB is non-existent! And, not only are RBs prone to injury but the primary backup should be in the game for close to 30% of the snaps. On the other hand, if we draft a CB in the first round, that player will have very little positive impact on the team unless we are ravaged by injury or if the pick is a home run (see #1)... If the guy is a home run, in theory, he would be the BPA on our board. Our CB situation is very interesting. We have 4 players under 28 years old, with a lot of athleticism, and all of them should be ascending players. So, I don't take a CB unless he is BPA. LB is similar in this respect. DRyans, Adibi, and Diles are all 26 yrs old or young, they all have at least flashed on the field and are ascending players. Behind them we have some quality depth. So, I don't take a LB unless he's BPA. If you want to immediately improve the team, then you address the positions that lack depth: OC/OG, RB, Safety... does that make sense?
2007 First round
1(1) Oakland JaMarcus Russell QB LSU
2(2) Detroit Calvin Johnson WR Georgia Tech
3(3) Cleveland Joe Thomas OT Wisconsin
4(4) Tampa Bay Gaines Adams DE Clemson
5(5) Arizona Levi Brown OT Penn State
6(6) Washington LaRon Landry DB LSU
7(7) Minnesota Adrian Peterson RB Oklahoma
8(8) Atlanta (from Houston) Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas
9(9) Miami Ted Ginn, Jr. WR Ohio State
10(10) Houston (from Atlanta) Amobi Okoye DT Louisville
11(11) San Francisco Patrick Willis LB Mississippi
12(12) Buffalo Marshawn Lynch RB California
13(13) St. Louis Adam Carriker DE Nebraska
14(14) NY Jets (from Carolina) Darrelle Revis DB Pittsburgh
15(15) Pittsburgh Lawrence Timmons LB Florida State
16(16) Green Bay Justin Harrell DT Tennessee
17(17) Denver (from Jacksonville) Jarvis Moss DE Florida
18(18) Cincinnati Leon Hall DB Michigan
19(19) Tennessee Michael Griffin DB Texas
20(20) NY Giants Aaron Ross DB Texas
21(21) Jacksonville (from Denver) Reggie Nelson DB Florida
22(22) Cleveland (from Dallas) Brady Quinn QB Notre Dame
23(23) Kansas City Dwayne Bowe WR LSU
24(24) New England (from Seattle) Brandon Meriweather DB Miami (FL)
25(25) Carolina (from N.Y. Jets) Jon Beason LB Miami (FL)
26(26) Dallas (from Philadelphia) Anthony Spencer LB Purdue
27(27) New Orleans Robert Meachem WR Tennessee
28(28) San Francisco (from New England) Joe Staley OT Central Michigan
29(29) Baltimore Ben Grubbs OG Auburn
30(30) San Diego Craig Davis WR LSU
31(31) Chicago Greg Olsen TE Miami (FL)
32(32) Indianapolis Anthony Gonzalez WR Ohio State