I have not been drinking the kool aid and haven't for quite a while. Pretty much every pick is a project and, quite frankly, a stretch to be an average to above-average starter this year. Moreover, that development requires good coaching and mentorship by fellow players. Other than Joseph mentoring the CB, I don't see it.
As for Dillard, they got pantsed because they've let their OL get so bad that everyone knew the Texans draft plans and were able to plan accordingly. Apparently, Philly had this deal set up weeks ago. They knew the Texans would take him at 23, so they called Baltimore at 22 and put together the deal if he fell. Simply put, Texans got out-maneuvered and apparently it never occurred to them it wasn't Baltimore they had to worry about but every team below them that knew that 22 was the spot you had to move to if Dillard dropped. Philly played chess, Texans played checkers.
Turning to Howard, no idea if he will be good or not but the consensus is he was a reach. So, the question is are the Texans better at identifying offensive line talent than most? I see no reason to reach that conclusion. They've fielded arguably the worst line in football for several years both in terms of talent and development. That's why I think the Duane Brown comparison (although the most obvious one at first blush) doesn't quite work. Admittedly I'm going off memory but wasn't Kubiak and Alex Gibbs in house when Brown was selected? Both of those guys knew the zone blocking scheme backward and forward, how to coach it, and what traits to look for in players for it. I see no evidence that this staff is even in the same ballpark in that regard.
I realize this is easy for me to say, but I'm also not a huge fan of these 1 year deals we give out in free agency. I get not wanting to overspend, but this just puts us right back in the same spot next year. We saw it with the honey badger. If our 1-year free agents play well, my guess is we'll likely get outbid and have to start over. So, Kalil and Roby either suck (which is bad) or are decent and leave. And then next spring, we're once again trying to replace OL and CB for God knows how many years now.
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