3 picks and oh how the 3-4 is shaping up...

[Joe Joe]

At the recap of the draft by Kubiak and "pay Me" Rick, Kubiak talked about the flexibility of Mario. Mario at OLB would give the Texans more depth there as well as maybe being able to keep another DE.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by Joe Joe

At the recap of the draft by Kubiak and "pay Me" Rick, Kubiak talked about the flexibility of Mario. Mario at OLB would give the Texans more depth there as well as maybe being able to keep another DE.

I saw that. His statement was the 1st confirmation that Mario can be used up or down. The drafting of Watt makes that possible. Mario can have a huge year if he embraces the concepts that they going to use. So far I am hearing that Mario is bitching about the conversion. My nephew has talked to Mario in a bar and he is truly not happy about it.

The sooner they can resolve the lockout the better. Getting Mario in to work with Wade can only help.

[HPF Bob]

I see Mario as being similar to the late Reggie White. His chief asset is his quickness for a man his size. Putting him as an OLB in a 3-4 means overpowering smaller, quicker people and playing in space. Yes, he can win some mismatches from there but he's also going to get embarrassed out there because there will be some matchups where he'll be outquicked. I can understand his misgivings. I don't want to say it can't work but I do have doubts the transition will go as well as the braintrust thinks it will.

[Joe Joe]

I was watching the LB's coach talk about Reed on the Texans Website. He reminds me of the character Maurice Minnifield on Northern Exposure. Love the fire, but hope it isn't false bravado.

[barrett]

Nobody plays an exclusive 34 or 43. On 3rd down they all look very similar. I bet mario is playing in the same position as a 43 DE on many 3rd down passing situations. It really isn't as big of a difference unless they plan to use him inside the OT on every snap. I am betting they don't. Especially since Wade has coached a 43, and he has coached a 34 where his DE was a better pass rusher than his OLB. I am guessing that priority one will be how to get Mario Williams into the best possible position to rush the passer. Watt and Reed can only help make that easier.

[painekiller]

With all the news of last week and everyone talking about Mario now being a OLB, I had to rethink the draft.

I understand the Watt pick even more now. He will be expected to start right away. But now the 2nd pick Reed become murkier.

The only way this pick jumps off the page is at the time of the draft Mario was a DE. What changed? Was all the predraft info from the team really smoke to cover the move, thus hidding their real needs list? Must have been. But I am still trying to figure out the Reed pick, was he really only a depth pick? That is not how Reggie Herring presented Reed during the draft. They expected him to come in and push for the starting spot. Barwin was going to be the WOLB and Reed the SOLB. Now Mario is the WOLB and Barwin is being moved.

Call me confused, excited to see the new defense but truly confused.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by painekiller

With all the news of last week and everyone talking about Mario now being a OLB, I had to rethink the draft.

I understand the Watt pick even more now. He will be expected to start right away. But now the 2nd pick Reed become murkier.

The only way this pick jumps off the page is at the time of the draft Mario was a DE. What changed? Was all the predraft info from the team really smoke to cover the move, thus hidding their real needs list? Must have been. But I am still trying to figure out the Reed pick, was he really only a depth pick? That is not how Reggie Herring presented Reed during the draft. They expected him to come in and push for the starting spot. Barwin was going to be the WOLB and Reed the SOLB. Now Mario is the WOLB and Barwin is being moved.

Call me confused, excited to see the new defense but truly confused.

I don't want to call the Texans liers, but I'm really skeptical of their apparent spin which seems to be that their plan all along did not include drafting Aldon Smith with their top pick had he been available because they had decided pre-Draft that Mario was going to be their "focus" WOLB, and Smith was nothing more than a "smokescreen" ? Do you really buy that ?