Official 2013 NFL Draft - Rounds 4-7 Thread

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

No, see potentially here's what I see:
LT - Brown
LG - Quess
C - Myers
RG - Brooks
RT - Williams
swing tackle - Newt
swing G/C - Jones

That's exactly my point. You are assuming a 6th round pick switches positions to guard and beats out last year's 4th rounder (Ben Jones), and that both of them make Wade Smith expendable (and there is no reason for that to happen). With Brooks, Newton, Jones, and Harris already in the fold (and all cheap), along with Brown and Meyers having two spots locked up, two tackles were not needed.

Again, my guess is they really liked the value in round 6 and could not pass him up, and ended up with an extra OL. That is not a big problem and volume drafting with mid to low picks and letting the best two win the right side spots is not a bad idea. I was just agreeing with Roy that when grading the draft as a whole, we duplicated some things we didn't need to and left out a few that might have been addressed. Hopefully we flesh out the ILB spot with some UDFAs.

[Blitzwood]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Fine with me. I'd rather see Case Keenum get another shot. The Texans traded their seventh so they are all done. What say you? A letter grade?

While I liked our draft, and give them an A-.....reason is because it's so frustrating to listen to R. Smith lie about their draft philososphy. He's been quoted so frequently as saying they always go for best available player, but this was a blatently and strictly a needs oriented draft. When guys like Bray, D'rick Rogers, Poyer, Joe Kruger, and K. Reddick are still on the board, we select fairly unknown products in the 6th....

Of course we know some have baggage and what not, and we aren't privi to the same information as the teams, but to spend a 6th on a talent like Kruger, Poyer, or Rogers the risk would be , IMO, less than spending the same pick on a lesser known talent from an inferior level of competion.

With all that said, we've seemed to plug a lot of holes in our roster. The first 3 rounds were excellent picks, I imagine 4 starters for week one.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by barrett

That's exactly my point. You are assuming a 6th round pick switches positions to guard and beats out last year's 4th rounder (Ben Jones), and that both of them make Wade Smith expendable (and there is no reason for that to happen). With Brooks, Newton, Jones, and Harris already in the fold (and all cheap), along with Brown and Meyers having two spots locked up, two tackles were not needed.

Again, my guess is they really liked the value in round 6 and could not pass him up, and ended up with an extra OL. That is not a big problem and volume drafting with mid to low picks and letting the best two win the right side spots is not a bad idea. I was just agreeing with Roy that when grading the draft as a whole, we duplicated some things we didn't need to and left out a few that might have been addressed. Hopefully we flesh out the ILB spot with some UDFAs.

In spite of the PB selection last year, Wade has been fading and it's time to come up with a cheaper, younger guy. So voila, lot of people had a third round grade on Quess and he fits our ZB scheme, so when he fell into the Texans' lap Smith scrambled and took advantage of the opportunity. See you always want to put your 5 best OLinemen on the field which is what they will do and Jones, who was drafted to be Myers' backup and eventual replacement, will function just fine as the swing player for the interior Oline until his time comes. So by drafting BPA instead of need, the Texans just improvise a bit and everything falls into place for them anyway.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by barrett

Hopefully we flesh out the ILB spot with some UDFAs.

It is my hope that we will some day have an ILB who has enough speed & instincts to play well in coverage. I hated watching that guy we picked up from the Cowboys (Brady james?) attempting to cover TEs & RBs who went across the middle, forget slot WRs. That's why I wanted to sign Karlos Dansby or draft Zaviar Gooden.

At Safety we had a guy named Bernard Pollard who was a nasty hitter and could stop the run around the line of scrimmage. We let him go to Baltimore because he could not cover. I hated the Keo pick because he is too slow to cover and is essentially just a special teams guy to play Gunner. He can't play defense. I'm afraid that's what Swearinger is going to end up becoming. I was hoping for Phillip Thomas because he at least has some ball hawking skills and refuses to let WRs behind him by taking good angles. This is becoming a passing league, so it would be nice to have some defenders who are able to play the ball if our pressure doesn't lead to a sack on every pass play. Jordan Poyer struck me as a perfect fit at Nickleback who would create some INTs.

[chuck]

It's clear that the line play took a step backward last year. I don't mind the team collecting an assload of young linemen that are big and athletic and seeing how it shakes out.

[popanot]

Originally Posted by chuck

It's clear that the line play took a step backward last year. I don't mind the team collecting an assload of young linemen that are big and athletic and seeing how it shakes out.

Exactly. Improvement must be made and the more competition, the better.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by barrett

That's exactly my point. You are assuming a 6th round pick switches positions to guard and beats out last year's 4th rounder (Ben Jones), and that both of them make Wade Smith expendable (and there is no reason for that to happen). With Brooks, Newton, Jones, and Harris already in the fold (and all cheap), along with Brown and Meyers having two spots locked up, two tackles were not needed.

Again, my guess is they really liked the value in round 6 and could not pass him up, and ended up with an extra OL. That is not a big problem and volume drafting with mid to low picks and letting the best two win the right side spots is not a bad idea. I was just agreeing with Roy that when grading the draft as a whole, we duplicated some things we didn't need to and left out a few that might have been addressed. Hopefully we flesh out the ILB spot with some UDFAs.

IMO this is Wade Smith's last season with the Texans, and for that matter Antonio Smith is in his last years here also. That is a lot of cap room to resign Cushing next year.

I think the team is reacting to how hard the injury to Newton is to come back from. It's not the same old ACL or MCL tear here. And they are being proactive and not allowing any of the young linemen rest on their resumes.

I like the idea of 2014 having nunusguy projection. It should be interesting to watch.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by painekiller

IMO this is Wade Smith's last season with the Texans, and for that matter Antonio Smith is in his last years here also. That is a lot of cap room to resign Cushing next year.

I think the team is reacting to how hard the injury to Newton is to come back from. It's not the same old ACL or MCL tear here. And they are being proactive and not allowing any of the young linemen rest on their resumes.

I like the idea of 2014 having nunusguy projection. It should be interesting to watch.

I would say that last year taught us you shouldn't mess with a good OL if possible. Our OL plays on the philosophy of the whole being greater than the parts, and continuity is a big part of that. I don't think Smith has begun to decline in performance at all, and I don't think he has a prohibitive salary that would have me rushing to replace him. I think keeping him should be a priority (relatively speaking). The change on the right side of our line was the only difference between 2011's very effective offense (pre-Schaub injury), and 2012's very inconsistent offense. Arian and Tate carved up everybody behind that 2011 OL, and even though neither of the players replaced were stars individually, the loss of cohesion and continuity killed our offense.

If Smith is not in serious decline I hope he is the starter and that the 2014 OL is identical to the 2013 OL.

[Nconroe]

The other lesson is this new CBA with resulting flat salary cap means non elite players need to accept fair pay or they will be playing somewhere else for veteran minimum or just out of the league before they are ready.

Teams are being forced to get younger to stay under the salary cap which is not good for consistency or keeping your own players.

Wonder if owners and competition committee will change this likely unexpected consequence of new CBA.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Wonder if owners and competition committee will change this likely unexpected consequence of new CBA.

Really? The owners are in the business of making money. Period. Sure, they want to win, as winning brings more money in, but at the end of the day its all about the cash. If they can get similar production from someone 5x cheaper, they'll do it in a heartbeat.

The CBA will equalize some when the new TV deals get in place, and the floor has to be followed. But right now, all the owners are winning.

[Nconroe]

Yeah, I just don't like loosing four favorite players every year and perhaps getting weaker at what had been finally been built to be a strength.

Hard to build consistency or depth, seems to force us to get FA when we had a drafted player we watched develop.

Ok, so owner needs his profit you say.