The 11th Pick in the 2011 Draft

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by NBT

The popular pick in most Mocks (if we stay at 11), have us taking CB Prince Amakamura, but I think the smart pick would be LB Aldon Smith from Missouri. What do you think we should do?

I've been spending some time on one of the Chiefs boards and those guys know Smith very well since a lot of them obviously are Mizzou fans/grads and have followed him there very closely as they followed their favorte college team. Anyway while most are not surprisingly bias about Smith and think he's a tremendous prospect, many think he's stricly a 4-3 DE prospect, FWIW ?
Re Amakamura: good speed and size, physical but not very skillful at a corners most important task - coverage.

[nunusguy]

The more tape I see on Patrick Peterson, the more I'm wondering if he wouldn't be a more valuable addition to the Texans roster than
Von Miller ? Afterall, aren't shut-down corners an even more valuable commodity than steller edge-rushers and the Texans surely don't have either one ?

[NBT]

Kind of an either-or type of thing. Big time rush specialists make the job of sitting out there on that island a little easier. The quicker the QB has to get rid of the ball, the better chance for the CB to make the int.

[Nconroe]

It seems mostly to be defense, defense, defense, and hope we get the good to exceptional and great players.

From Nick Scurfield's blog at Texans site he has two interesting mocks, one could consider

quoting
ESPN draftniks Mel Kiper and Todd McShay came out with new three-round mock drafts today. Here’s who they had the Texans taking with each of their first three picks:

Kiper (link)
1 (11): North Carolina LB Robert Quinn
2 (42): Texas CB Curtis Brown
3 (73): North Carolina CB Kendric Burney

McShay (link)
1 (11): Temple DE Muhammad Wilkerson
2 (42): Georgia OLB Justin Houston
3 (73): Temple S Jaiquawn Jarrett
end quote

I hear lot of people saying these guys need to start right away, just seems this is not a realistic expectation and often a bad idea, atleast if you want to win right away, might be good for long term.

Which makes a defensive turnaround in one year difficult if there is no free agency.

On the other hand, if you took away two or so long pass plays in most games, we could have had a possibly better record, and defensive stats, not making excuses.

[edo783]

On path to the draft today, they said the front guys have more impact on the back guys than the back guys do on the front guys. In other words, pass rush has more effect than coverage does. Obviously the coverage has to at least be competent for that to actually hold true.

[NBT]

Until we actually get into the playoffs, we will always be an afterthought to the sports networks. Both Quinn, and especially Wilkerson, have issues. Heck Wilkerson isn't even projected to go in the first round.

[Roy P]

I think the Texans select Ryan Kerrigan to play opposite of Connor Barwin. Just my 2 cents.