NFL and Houston Texans Superthread: Are we ready for some football?

I just heard an interview with Gil Brandt. For the record, I have never been a Cowboy's fan. In fact, they have long been my least favorite NFL franchise. With that said, I believe Gil Brandt was one of the premier evaluators of football talent in my lifetime. In the interview, Brandt acknowledged that he attended Johnny Football's Pro Day and was extremely impressed. So much so, that when asked which direction he would go if he were making the Texans selection, he did not hesitate when he quickly named JF.

I am still inclined to believe that the Texans should draft a pass rusher (probably K. Mack or Clowney) with their first choice and the best QB available with the 2nd selection. But I do have a tremendous amount of respect for Gil Brandt's opinion. In other words, I am closer than ever to jumping on the Johnny Football bandwagon.

I have ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith in being able to draft well. His free agent signing so far this year have been crappy players. If he drops down too far he will miss out on the real play-makers on either offense or defense. Would not put it pass him to take a so-so player at 9 where Buffalo is now and a QB in serious need of development in the second round. And my worse fears is Jacksonville drafting a QB who turns out to be good and suddenly the Texans find themselves at the bottom of the division for 10 years. Make no mistake the new owner at Jacksonville did a smart thing, he went and found some football people who know what they are doing and they are doing a good job of rebuilding the organization. The Texans need to ace this draft and just don't think Rick Smith has the ability

I have ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith in being able to draft well. Originally Posted by BigLouie

I agree with the "ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith." That damn JJ Watt was a wasted 1st round draft choice who ended up being a total bust!

What was Rick Smith thinking, anyway?

J.J. Watt is a perfect example of a blind pig finding an acorn, for the most part all of his draft picks have been bad. The Texans have cap problems not so much because they over paid on Schaub but because Rick wiffed on so many draft picks they had to sign high priced free agents to make up for it. The only reason Foster came to the Texans was because he knew the Texans had done a terrible job of drafting running backs and were in dire need.

I have ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith in being able to draft well. Originally Posted by BigLouie

I agree with the "ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith." That damn Duane Brown was a wasted 1st round draft choice who ended up being a total bust!

What was Rick Smith thinking, anyway?

I agree with the "ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith." That damn Duane Brown was a wasted 1st round draft choice who ended up being a total bust!

What was Rick Smith thinking, anyway? Originally Posted by bigtex

You have named just two starters out of numerous draft picks. Sure they hit on Brian Cushing also but for every starter you can name that Rick hit on there are 6-7 failures per draft. Kareem Jackson is a perfect example. For the most part he has been terrible, we passed on Devin (can't remember his last name) who everyone expected the Texans to take. New England took him and he went on to be a Pro Bowler and has been outstanding his whole career.

You have named just two starters out of numerous draft picks. Sure they hit on Brian Cushing also but for every starter you can name that Rick hit on there are 6-7 failures per draft. Kareem Jackson is a perfect example. For the most part he has been terrible, we passed on Devin (can't remember his last name) who everyone expected the Texans to take. New England took him and he went on to be a Pro Bowler and has been outstanding his whole career. Originally Posted by BigLouie

BL, you're the one who made the claim to have "ZERO (0) faith in Rick Smith in being able to draft well." I merely shot a few holes in your argument. I didn't sugar coat the actual words used. Instead I applied your exact quote. It is apparent that your intent was that the Texan's GM is totally incapable (I believe ZERO "0" was the number you applied to his ability) of making a competent selection. You even went as far as to say if he did make a good choice it was little more than a "blind pig (occasionally) finding an acorn."

I merely pointed out two Pro Bowl draft selections that he has previously made, one being JJ Watt and the other Duane Brown. Another All Pro, Brian Cushing, was next on my list but you recognized the fallacy of your argument and threw out his name prior to me doing so. A VERY strong argument could be made that JJ was the best selection (I believe he was the 11th pick) in that years draft. Considering where he was selected (26th pick in the first round) an argument could be made that Duane Brown was also one of the very best selections in that year's draft. As mentioned, Brian Cushing proved to be a pretty damn good selection too. I suppose you're now going to say there are THREE (3) blind hogs running around in the woods hoping to stumble on an acorn!

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to make the claim that Rick Smith is the best in the biz. But I will say that he deserves much more credit than ZERO (0). Truth be known, the Houston Texans teams from 2010-2012 were very competitive and consistently ranked among the best in the NFL. Those teams were assembled almost entirely by players brought in by Rick Smith.

Don't you think that justifies a higher confidence level than ZERO (0)? Or do you prefer to only dwell on the negatives? Which one is it?

A lot of teams around the league sure think highly of Rick Smith and his draft picks that's why those same picks are on other teams now .
He has some success with his first round picks and had some okay picks but not all teams have had success in the first round
Duane Brown -Pro Bowler
JJ WAtt - Pro Bowler -Defensive Player of the Year 2012
Brian Cushing .
DeAndre Hopkins .

He has found some free agent gems also .

Rick Smith can't draft where it matters, rounds 3 - 6. That's where the majority of your team needs to be formed and then supplement that through free agency. Glover Quinn is probably the best mid round draft pick that Smith has made in his time with the Texans.
I've said it before. Smith should have been let go the same day as Kubiak. It's now an awkward situation. BOB has a free pass this year even if we go 2-14 again he won't lose his job. Smith doesn't have that luxury. He is under the gun and has to hit it out of the park(against a knuckle-baller I might add. This draft doesn't have a high hanging curve ball). His best option for hitting it out is to draft JFF. It's a crap shoot but JFF has the most potential for being an immediate impact player that can single handedly put wins on the board. I said potential because there are still questions. Clowney might be the best overall player but won't be the significant immediate impact player that Smith needs. His other option is to trade picks to gain more thereby upping his chances of getting multiple impact players in middle rounds. He hasn't shown an ability to do that up to this point. Smith is a lame duck with no good options.

Rick Smith can't draft where it matters, rounds 3 - 6. That's where the majority of your team needs to be formed and then supplement that through free agency. Glover Quinn is probably the best mid round draft pick that Smith has made in his time with the Texans.
I've said it before. Smith should have been let go the same day as Kubiak. It's now an awkward situation. BOB has a free pass this year even if we go 2-14 again he won't lose his job. Smith doesn't have that luxury. He is under the gun and has to hit it out of the park(against a knuckle-baller I might add. This draft doesn't have a high hanging curve ball). His best option for hitting it out is to draft JFF. It's a crap shoot but JFF has the most potential for being an immediate impact player that can single handedly put wins on the board. I said potential because there are still questions. Clowney might be the best overall player but won't be the significant immediate impact player that Smith needs. His other option is to trade picks to gain more thereby upping his chances of getting multiple impact players in middle rounds. He hasn't shown an ability to do that up to this point. Smith is a lame duck with no good options. Originally Posted by boardman

Rick Smith has a new Scouting department let's see how well they work together plus input from the new coaches

Rick Smith can't draft where it matters, rounds 3 - 6. That's where the majority of your team needs to be formed and then supplement that through free agency. Glover Quinn is probably the best mid round draft pick that Smith has made in his time with the Texans.
I've said it before. Smith should have been let go the same day as Kubiak. It's now an awkward situation. BOB has a free pass this year even if we go 2-14 again he won't lose his job. Smith doesn't have that luxury. He is under the gun and has to hit it out of the park(against a knuckle-baller I might add. This draft doesn't have a high hanging curve ball). His best option for hitting it out is to draft JFF. It's a crap shoot but JFF has the most potential for being an immediate impact player that can single handedly put wins on the board. I said potential because there are still questions. Clowney might be the best overall player but won't be the significant immediate impact player that Smith needs. His other option is to trade picks to gain more thereby upping his chances of getting multiple impact players in middle rounds. He hasn't shown an ability to do that up to this point. Smith is a lame duck with no good options. Originally Posted by boardman

I can agree with most of what you said. I can't with BL.

Rick Smith has a new Scouting department let's see how well they work together plus input from the new coaches Originally Posted by carkido45

But wasn't Smith the head of the old scouting department? Ultimately he signed off on the personnel decisions being made.(along with Kubiak) We still don't know who made the call to fire the old staff. If it really was Smith then good on him but that doesn't make his job any easier with a whole new pro personnel staff trying to understand a whole new team philosophy. Again, Smith should have been shown the door the same time as Kubiak if the Texans were really going to start over.
More than likely, this time next year we will be discussing BOB having to get used to a new GM who may or may not be a BOB guy. Then BOB will be on the hot seat to produce with a new GM getting a pass.
I didn't dislike Kubiak but it was time for him to go.
I don't dislike Smith, I just think keeping him considering everything else was a bad decision.

I agree with BL and others, Rick Smith sucks ass!!! Who can't make a good pick with a first round pick. We are in salary cap hell because of this dipshit and his shitty drafts after the first round. You must pay the first round picks big money especially when they re up like Cush, Brown. He also fucked us by re signing Fucking Dopey to that bullshit contract. We need Long Dong Rick Smith to hit on some late round picks that will be cheap for years to come to build this team over again. We also need a good coach who can coach up the late rounders and turn them into stars and studs. Kubes would always pussy out and make excuses about the kids aren't ready to play, do you think Belechick would pussy out and say that, Fuck No. The Texans Pussiness begins at the top with Bob McNuttless, he don't want to win, he only wants a good image. The Texans will probably pussy out like always and make the safe pick at #1 or totally fuck the pooch and trade down too far and not even get a playmaker. This team needs playmakers and nasty mother fucking lineman. Besides JJ and Andre Johnson what playmakers do we have? Foster didn't do shit but tap golddigger ass all last year, Cushing was a gimp, and the secondary was the worst in the league. Choke on my cock Rick Smith!!

It also scares me that BT(The Dopey Cum Bucket) now likes JFF. We all know his ineptness as choosing QB's as he was the leading athletic supporter for the Dopester. I bet BT is just as cross eyed as Dopey after taking it up the ass too many times from him. This obviously made him come up with this JFF revelation. He is like Rick Smith, even a blind squirrel finds a NUT every once in a while, BT found Dopeys spunky NUT up his ass as he fantasized about JFF and Dopey in a 3 way!!!

I'm not sure if JFF is the right guy or not, but he will be the most exciting guy and he is a playmaker for sure!!

That second contract doesn't have anything to do with where they are drafted. The initial contract dollar amount is paid based on where they were picked in the draft. First round picks get first round money, second round picks get second round money and so on. However, that next contract is based on performance over their first 4(or 5) years. So it's likely that a 6th round pick gets BIG money if he performed at the top of his position for those previous years when it's time to re-up. If the team that drafted him doesn't want to pay it someone else might. That's exactly what happened with Glover Quinn.