Time to Look Back at the Rick Smith Drafts

[chuck]

Just as damning as the continual poor drafting is the poor cap management that forces the team to lose key contributors most every year.

[Keith]

The drafts were kinda decent 2009-2011, which is probably what helped the team achieve the success it did during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, but really, the 2012-2014 drafts have been black holes of suck outside of Hopkins.

Time to find new thought leadership. Eight is enough.

[Nconroe]

Originally Posted by chuck

Just as damning as the continual poor drafting is the poor cap management that forces the team to lose key contributors most every year.

Agree, the cap management has cost us many above good players just as they were entering their prime of experience and skills just to go to another team.

Cap situation does seem to be getting better for next year, I think?

But there were also some good picks in 5th, 6th, 7th and UDFA.

Other than at QB, seems Texans have a reasonable roster to build on going forward?

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

Just as damning as the continual poor drafting is the poor cap management that forces the team to lose key contributors most every year.

The total absence of outside pass rush has plagued us for 2 years. It led to he drafting of Clowney which may turn out to be a colossal bust.

And yet when you look at the NFL sack leader boards you find Connor Barwin and Mario Williams in the top 6. So we chose to keep Matt Schaub, Joseph, Cushing, AJ, etc... We pay all of them large amounts of money (or are on the hook for their dead money), while getting little to no production from them, while two guys we drafted are starring for other teams at a position of desperate need for us.

I would agree that extensions/FA have been an even bigger screw up for Smith than the draft.

[Nconroe]

Originally Posted by barrett

The total absence of outside pass rush has plagued us for 2 years. It led to he drafting of Clowney which may turn out to be a colossal bust.

And yet when you look at the NFL sack leader boards you find Connor Barwin and Mario Williams in the top 6. So we chose to keep Matt Schaub, Joseph, Cushing, AJ, etc... We pay all of them large amounts of money (or are on the hook for their dead money), while getting little to no production from them, while two guys we drafted are starring for other teams at a position of desperate need for us.

I would agree that extensions/FA have been an even bigger screw up for Smith than the draft.

It would be nice to have Williams and Barwin back wouldn't it, in hindsight.

Hard to find good pass rushers. they seem to be best weapon against the can't touch a WR rules.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

It would be nice to have Williams and Barwin back wouldn't it, in hindsight.

Hard to find good pass rushers. they seem to be best weapon against the can't touch a WR rules.

I was really loud on this site about keeping Mario. He always got a bum rap from fans because he is only a great pass rusher when he should be an all-time great with his physical gifts. He already has 88.5 sacks in his career and has now put up 3 straight double digit sack seasons. Barring an injury this will be his 7th year starting all 16 games out of 9.

I am %100 sure that we would all take that career out of Clowney at this point.

Barwin was another guy we let walk. Instead of those two and maybe not being able to afford Schaub and Joseph, we spent two 1sts and one 2nd on Reed, Mercilous, and Clowney.

Imagine a front 7 with JJ, Mario, and Barwin. We'd knock down half of all passes at the LOS while picking up a sack on about every 4th drop back. Fitzy might win a super bowl with that team. We just did a pathetic job evaluating our own talent.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by barrett

I was really loud on this site about keeping Mario. He always got a bum rap from fans because he is only a great pass rusher when he should be an all-time great with his physical gifts. He already has 88.5 sacks in his career and has now put up 3 straight double digit sack seasons. Barring an injury this will be his 7th year starting all 16 games out of 9.

I am %100 sure that we would all take that career out of Clowney at this point.

So you would blame the Texas for drafting someone who's career might be ruined because of injuries ? What was your thoughts about Clowney at the time of the Draft and the Texans decision to draft him back in May ?
As far as Mario goes, I'm pretty sure we just couldn't afford him.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

So you would blame the Texas for drafting someone who's career might be ruined because of injuries ? What was your thoughts about Clowney at the time of the Draft and the Texans decision to draft him back in May ?
As far as Mario goes, I'm pretty sure we just couldn't afford him.

I was desperate to trade down and would have taken less than the trade chart. I said that before the draft. Then in the preseason I fell in love with Clowney off of that one great series against Atlanta. So what do I know. Either way we are talking about a guy whose success is built on explosiveness who has work ethic issues, and now he faces maybe the toughest injury to recover from and the likely loss of some of that explosion. I am in the end of an ACL rehab with Methodist at their main facility. Half of the guys in there are pro athletes and half are out of shape weekend warriors like me. The head PT guy said it is likely 2 years before he is %100 (if ever).

As for Mario, he could have been kept. Cap space is finite and we chose to keep other high priced players rather than Mario. Mario's cap number in 2012 (first year of his contract) was $9 million. In 2013 it was $12.4 million. This year it jumped to $19 where it stays until 2017. Andre's is $15 million. Joseph is almost $12 million. Matt Schaub counts nearly $11 to NOT PLAY FOR US this year. Fitzpatrick is almost $4 million more. Ed Reed counts $3 million more. Danieal Manning actually has dead money this year from the last time he played with us.

For perspective, we pay Matt Schaub, Ed Reed, Owen Daniels, and Danieal Manning more in dead money than Mario makes this year.

Who and how we extend has always been the biggest problem for Rick Smith.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by barrett

I was desperate to trade down and would have taken less than the trade chart. I said that before the draft. Then in the preseason I fell in love with Clowney off of that one great series against Atlanta. So what do I know.

You know atleast as much as any GM in the NFL when it comes to predicting the future, so as far as I'm concerned Rick Smith (and you) are off the hook for not knowing Clowney was going to have these injuries, just like the Texans' organization should not be blamed for drafting Benny Joppru back in 2003 because he ended being IRed multiple seasons for knee issues and did nothing while in Houston (or the NFL for that matter).
It just annoys me that so many people affix this "bust" label on players who fall short of expectations because of injury. Aaron Curry & Vernon Gholston are busts, but Luke Joeckel and Jadeveon Clowney are not busts, net yet anyway.