I’ve seen enough NFL drafts to know that the only competent grading system is based on could the GM have gotten back assets and still taken the player they wanted?? There are countless examples of “oh horrible pick should have gone with x” that turn out to be laughable later. of course you never know for certain whether a GM could have traded back or not or should have traded up or not. but that’s how I’d grade it. this year there didn’t seem to be any obvious reaches by the Texans. Maybe even the opposite - seems like they were getting guys that could have definitely gone many picks earlier. so I can’t complain. Hopefully that aside they’ll actually turn into productive players. I think they all sound pretty solid from an scouting perspective... which means they’ll probably all suck!
Good draft given what they had to work with. No real complaints, which is unusual with this group. I’ll take it!
Heck will probably be a 10 year player, yes probably at swing tackle but you have to have guys that can come in and play in the case of injuries. Coach's kids, NFL O-line coach's kids have big advantage there. I think Warring will be the big target deep and Fells in short passing game. I don't mind that we didn't draft a big WR. I think Dylan Cole will return to being a tight end covering machine. ACL's aren't the career enders they used to be. I think the most glaring weakness last year was the inability to get inside pressure and collapse the pocket. If you don't do that you put a lot more pressure on you DB's and give the opposing QB the ability to scramble and make plays. If the Texans could do that, they flush the QB into Watt and Mercilus. Blacklock is a stunting master and blocking assignment confusion helps inside rushers. The main criticism of Watson is the tendency to hold the ball to long. If you have high quality receiving backs his confidence on check downs should decrease that tendency. Running backs covered by linebackers is easy money. Especially if the DB's are mainly concerned with the speed receivers and are covering them deep. If the RB gets by the LB it's 15 yards a pop.
I like what we did via draft Ill give it a B. Possibly B+ depending on if Jamir Jones (udfa) crack the rotation. Blalock, UF kid and Jones can be vital for the defense. Looking forward to seeing how Coulter develop. Although i won't get too excited given our history not being great at getting developing non 1st rounder WR to develop in house.
Gotta take the wait and see approach to drafts and Undrafted FA pool signings. I thought Blalock was a nice pick though.
Wouldn’t have mattered what the Texans did in the draft. Seems like this grade factors in all the trades that were made so they giving us low scores for Hopkins.
Most of these writers don’t know anything more than you or me when it comes to this stuff. There is absolutely no way the Texans had the second worst draft in the league. No way at all. I’m not a BOB defender by any stretch of the imagination, but this wasn’t a bad draft, and when you look back at it a few years from now, I’m pretty sure the record will support that. Time will tell, but I really do think they did pretty well for themselves.
I don't think they had a terrible draft or necessarily reached for anyone but not giddy either. Spoiler Same defense minus DJ Reader that couldn't generate a pass rush? Same defense that allowed the Chiefs to score 293891218 straight points? ("but but but the Chiefs can do that to anyone!") LOST: QB Joe Webb III RB Carlos Hyde RB Taiwan Jones RB Lamar Miller ----------------------> Replaced with David Johnson WR DeAndre Hopkins -----------------------------> Replaced with Randall Cobb, Brandin Cooks & Isaiah Coulter OT Chris Clark OT Dan Skipper ----------------------> Replaced with Brent Qvale & Charlie Heck NT D.J. Reader ---------------------> Replaced with Tim Jernigan(still not official) & Ross Blacklock LB Joel Heath LB Barkevious Mingo ----------------------------> Replaced with Jonathan Greenard CB Johnathan Joseph S Mike Adams S Jahleel Addae ----------------------> Replaced with Eric Murray, Jaylen Watkins, Michael Thomas & John Reid QB: Deshaun Watson | A.J. McCarron | Alex McGough RB: David Johnson | Duke Johnson | Buddy Howell | Karan Higdon Jr. FB: Cullen Gillaspia WR: Will Fuller | Kenny Stills | Chad Hansen WR: Brandin Cooks | Steven Mitchell | Isaiah Coulter | Isaac Whitney WR: Randall Cobb | Keke Coutee | DeAndre Carter TE: Darren Fells | Jordan Akins | Jordan Thomas | Jerell Adams | Kahale Warring OT: Laremy Tunsil | Brent Qvale | David Steinmetz | Elijah Nkansah G: Max Scharping | Senio Kelemete | Rick Leonard C: Nick Martin | Greg Mancz G: Zach Fulton OT: Tytus Howard | Roderick Johnson | Charlie Heck | Kyle Murphy DE: Angelo Blackson | Charles Omenihu NT: Tim Jernigan | Ross Blacklock | Brandon Dunn | Eddie Vanderdoes DE: J.J. Watt | Carlos Watkins | Ira Savage-Lewis OLB: Whitney Mercilus | Duke Ejiofor | Davin Bellamy ILB: Benardrick McKinney | Peter Kalambayi | Nate Hall ILB: Zach Cunningham | Dylan Cole | Tyrell Adams OLB: Jacob Martin | Brennan Scarlett | Jonathan Greenard | Chris Landrum CB: Bradley Roby | Keion Crossen | Anthony Chesley | Cornell Armstrong CB: Gareon Conley | Lonnie Johnson | Phillip Gaines CB: Vernon Hargreaves | John Reid S: Justin Reid | Eric Murray | Michael Thomas | A.J. Moore | Shalom Luani S: Tashaun Gipson | Jaylen Watkins | Jonathan Owens K: Ka'imi Fairbairn P: Bryan Anger LS: Jon Weeks
Grading drafts before 2 years is really just an exercise in futility and a call for clickbait. Everyone raving over DAL, MIN, BAL, etc...yes, they "graded" well based on name value, but let's see how things actually play out. Several teams have "won" drafts before on draft day only to see reality hit them in the face years later. It takes several years to see who the real winners and losers are. Unfortunately for HOU, we need to develop and coach these guys up, and I'm not sure that BOB and co. can do that.
I'd say B- on the Sunday after. Like someone said, we didn't really reach for anyone and probably got Blaylock and Greenard past where they should have gone. Seems like Heck is the biggest question mark, which I think he was mostly picked due to his father playing and coaching NFL offensive line so pedigree and character.
PFF HOUSTON TEXANS Spoiler Round 2 (40): DI Ross Blacklock, TCU Round 3 (90): EDGE Jonathan Greenard, Florida Round 4 (126): OT Charlie Heck, UNC Round 4 (141): CB John Reid, Penn State Round 5 (171): WR Isaiah Coulter, Rhode Island Day 1: Houston sent its first-round pick to Miami prior to the 2019 season in the Laremy Tunsil trade. In his lone season with the Texans, Tunsil posted a 75.8 overall grade that ranked 17th among tackles. This past week, the Texans signed him to a three-year, $66 million extension with $57 million guaranteed. That makes him the highest-paid offensive lineman annually by over $4 million. Day 2: While beefing up the interior defensive line was a priority for Houston, so was improving the secondary. And considering the number of talented cornerbacks on the board when they were on the clock at pick 40, the Texans should have addressed the more valuable position. Ross Blacklock has the athleticism you covet on the interior defensive line, but there isn’t any technical proficiency with him. He lacks pass-rush moves and won’t be an immediate impact player, but he should be able to develop his pass-rushing over time with his elite agility and explosiveness. There was a report that Jonathan Greenard, the 90th overall pick, was supposed to be going to the Detroit Lions via trade, but they backed out last minute, leaving Houston with Greenard and Bill O’Brien displeased. Taking Greenard this early in the draft was a pretty massive reach — he ranked 167th on the PFF Big Board and lacks the athleticism needed for an NFL edge rusher. Greenard abused the lower-tier SEC tackles and ended up owning an 88.0 pass-rush grade in 2019, but his lack of athleticism was apparent when he went up against above-average tackles. Day 3: Houston finally addressed its slot woes on Day 3 and was fortunate enough to land John Reid, PFF’s 100th-ranked player, at the 141st overall pick. Reid has one of the top athletic profiles of any defensive back in the class and was an ideal fit for a zone-heavy team, so it makes this pick an interesting one. That said, Reid played under 100 snaps in man coverage this past season and flashed some incredible skills on those limited reps by allowing only six catches on 18 targets with six plays made on the ball. Draft Grade: C+
They are not grading the draft, they are grading the other Texans' moves. Bullshit. They don't know how things are going to play out. Who cares what they think. Grade the draft of the players taken.
I agree with the most of the analysis but not the grade. If grading the draft outside of the other moves in the offseason, I still give it a B. Including the previous moves is what moves it down to a C for them.
Agreed. Not giddy either. And I think that is why we are seeing some grades as low as they are. There was no Justin Reid picked this year. There was no player that fell much further than expected that the Texans picked up. All the players were picked either higher than expected or exactly where expected. Things would have been different if for instance Xavier McKinney made it to the 40th pick. Or if they stuck with their original 4th rounder and picked Troy Pride out of Notre Dame. This was a bleh draft and I think it was by design. O'Brien already said he was expecting to depend more on veterans this season.