[dadmg]

What I would have done:
26 - LT Duane Brown (Would've come down to Brown or Phillips, very tough choice but I went with the harder position to fill. Besides, considering how much I advocate building from the trenches out it would have been a bit irresponsible to choose a S over LT if the choice was close. If I'd have been in the room when we were at 18 I would have wept over the 11-16 sequence, briefly considered Mendenhall, then tried desperately to trade down. If I didn't get any offers I would have taken the national scorn and picked Brown, with the hope that more people would focus on the Cherilus pick at 17.)

79 - WR Early Doucet (Not really an area of need, but I think Doucet and Slaton were the best two players on the board. Of course, I would have also probably ended up regretting not making a stronger attempt to improve our secondary. If I didn't take Duane Brown, I would have gone with Anthony Collins for one of the third round picks, which would prove to be a reach of nearly a round, but he's the only player left by this point that I think could become a successful OT.)

83 - RB Steve Slaton (I think that, in a few years, we're going to be very, very happy with this pick.)

118 - OLB Xavier Adibi (Once again the Texans pick stands out as the clear pick for me. Would have also considered CB Zack Bowman, who was a top prospect before a pre-season injury)

151 - DT Frank Okam (If we needed a FB, the pick would have been Owen Schmitt, hands-down. But with the unlikelihood of carrying two FBs and a glut of RBs overall, I think I'd pass for this round. With that ruled out, it'd have been down to DT Frank Okam and C Steve Justice. With Chris Myers acquired and Greg Eslinger on the roster, I'd have likely chosen Okam for DL depth and the outside hope that once he was out of school and focused more on football he might actually play up to his talent.)

173 - C Steve Justice (And I do a little dance. If I'd have taken Justice in the 5th, I'm not sure where I'd have gone here. Maybe Donald Thomas, because he fits our profile, but I'm not terribly sure about him. Then again, this is the 6th round.)

223 - T King Dunlap (Other considerations: OLB Erin Henderson, RBs Justin Forsett and Allen Patrick)

The biggest problem with my draft is that there are several unadressed glaring needs. The secondary needs as much help as any unit, yet I didn't draft a single player for it after strongly considering Kenny Phillips in the first. Much like the Texans real draft (which my draft obviously bears more than a striking resemblance to), my draft also ignores the need for a speed rusher opposite Mario. But you can't address everything and after the early picks I tend to slide the "need" priority down, as evidenced by grabbing a C and another T in the the last two rounds because I felt they were the two best players for us.