2011 NFL Draft: Houston Texans Possible First Round Draft Picks
I don't know about you, but with all the talk of NFL labor unrest, I'm ready to get back to just talking about football.
Unfortunately, at this rate, it looks like we won't have any actual football to talk about for some time.That's where the NFL Draft comes in. Every year, the draft is one of the more anticipated "sporting events" on the calendar.
This year, though, it's even bigger as it may be the last non-lockout news we get until the lockout is lifted.
Texans fans are surely anticipating the draft as much as any other fan base, and maybe even more. You can make an argument that this is the most important draft in the history of the franchise. Draft a couple of impact players and we are looking at a playoff team. Whiff in this draft and we are likely looking at blowing up the entire team and starting over.
Let's take a look at a few guys that the Texans might be looking at to become one of those impact players.
DE/OLB Von Miller- Texas A&M
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Pass rush expert Von Miller is a favorite among Texans fans. He played locally at Texas A&M, would fill needs both at linebacker and at defensive end, and is a great fit for a hybrid pass rusher in Wade Phillips' defense.
In many ways, Miller is exactly what the Texans need.
Miller totaled 28 sacks over the last two seasons, including an NCAA-leading 17 in his junior season of 2009. Most of those sacks came against double and triple teams when the opposition wanted anybody but Miller to beat them on defense. This was particularly true in 2009, when the Aggies' defense was sorely lacking in veteran talent and production overall.
Miller has been clocked at 4.42 in the 40 yard dash and has a 37 inch vertical leap. For a 6'3", 246 pound defense end and linebacker, those are freakish numbers. They are freakish numbers for any position, really.
Miller can obviously rush the passer, and with his athletic ability, he could probably defend some receivers and tight ends without fear of getting burned.
The problem for the Texans is that Miller will be long gone by the time they draft at 11 in the first round. There is some scuttlebutt that the Texans may look to move up to get him, but on a team with as many defensive needs as the Texans, I'm not sure they are going to want to move other draft picks to move up all the way into the top five.
Texans fans will likely end up having to watch Miller wreak havoc in another uniform.
DE/OLB Robert Quinn- UNC
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Robert Quinn will be an interesting case study whether or not the Texans end up drafting him.
Quinn had a monster 2009 season. He had 11 sacks and 19 tackles for loss. He was a first team All-ACC selection and finished second in the ACC Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Coming into the 2010 season, he was expected to help lead a stout UNC defense to bigger and better things, as the Tar Heels were predicted by many to challenge for the ACC championship.
Those expectations were never fulfilled, as Quinn and others were suspended for the entire 2010 season for receiving improper benefits from an agent. While I'm not ready to write Quinn off as a bad guy for doing what he did, any team that is looking to take him needs to do their homework. The last thing you want to do with a first round draft pick is bring in a bad character player.
With Quinn missing the entire 2010 season, you also have to be concerned with how much rust he will have on him. He ran a 4.62 40 yard dash and bench pressed 225 pounds 22 times at the NFL combine. Those numbers seem to show that he stayed in great shape in the fall and is ready to go physically, but there is no substitute for game speed. Even a physical specimen will require some time to get back to game speed.
I hesitate to call Robert Quinn a poor man's Von Miller because that would be understating Quinn's talents and production. There is a good chance, however, that he will be there when the Texans draft in the first round. If they are wanting to find a hybrid pass rusher in the Von Miller mold without having to move up to get Miller, Quinn may be their guy.
CB Patrick Peterson- LSU
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Patrick Peterson may go a long way towards curing what ails the Texans secondary. Unfortunately, many teams drafting in the top half of the draft feel that way as well, and it's easy to see why.
Peterson has ridiculous measurables. He ran a 4.31 second 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine, and it's rumored that he has run a 4.27. He bench pressed 225 pounds 15 times, a very high number for a defensive back. At 6'0" and 219 pounds, he is also more than just a speedy cornerback who wants to play the ball. He isn't afraid to body up to a receiver and bump him around a little bit.
Beyond the measurements, Peterson has also been highly productive. That's no easy feat at LSU. He was playing against the best athletes in college football on a week to week basis in the Southeastern Conference.
Peterson was the 2010 Jim Thorpe Award winner and Chuck Bednarik Award Winner. He was also named the SEC Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Year.
At cornerback, Peterson had four interceptions and six pass deflections. As a returner, Peterson had 1,350 return yards and two touchdowns. There's little doubt that he was the most electrifying player in the SEC.
Peterson would give the Texans a playmaker at cornerback and a real threat as a return man.
Peterson will likely be gone when the Texans draft in the first round, but there is also a question of whether or not the Texans are really all that interested in drafting another cornerback in the first round.
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DE Da'Quan Bowers- Clemson
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Having a guy like Bowers in this draft is another reason that the Texans may be best served to stay where they are in the first round and not try to move up to get a guy like Von Miller.
Bowers may not be on the same level as Miller, but he would fill the Texans need for a pass rusher and would give the Texans a lot of what they are looking for.
Bowers has been a consistent performer all throughout his career. He came to Clemson as the top high school prospect in the nation, and he is leaving Clemson as a top 15 draft pick. For those that follow recruiting, you know it's not often that a player comes into college with that much fanfare and lives up to it. Bowers did just that.
Last season, Bowers had 15.5 sacks and 24 tackles for loss on the way to being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
At 6'3" and 280 pounds, Bowers is strictly a defensive end, unlike Miller and Quinn. That's not to say he's not athletic, though. Bowers has been clocked as low as 4.56 in the 40 yard dash. Just don't expect him to help out much in pass coverage.
You also have to wonder how he will fit in with the Texans new defense under Wade Phillips. Bowers is an odd fit in a 3-4 defense. In that defense, teams are often looking for players that can put their hand down and get after the passer or stand up as a linebacker to either help in pass coverage or get in the backfield. Bowers just won't give you the flexibility of some others.
All that being said, the Texans could do a lot worse than taking a highly-productive, fast, strong defensive end that can get after the passer as well as anyone in this draft.
DE/OLB Aldon Smith- Missouri
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Early in the process of projecting who the Texans would take in the draft, some experts had them taking Aldon Smith. The projection was greeted with a collective "Who?" from the fanbase. Texans fans should get familiar with Smith.
A former Big 12 Newcomer and Freshman of the Year, Smith has made a living in opposing backfields. A redshirt sophomore in 2010, Smith had only had two full seasons in a Missouri uniform. In those two seasons, he totaled 17 sacks and 108 tackles.
At 6'4" and 263 pounds, Smith would give the Texans the prototypical size you want in a pass rusher. Smith is lean and fit enough to go around offensive linemen and tall enough to force quarterbacks to throw over him.
Smith isn't without question marks, though. Ideally, you'd like such a high draft pick to have more experience. Smith only had the two seasons of college ball, and he missed three games in the 2010 season.
Those three missed games are a reason for pause as well. By all accounts, the leg injury he dealt with wasn't anything too serious, and Smith returned to playing at a high level after the injury, but an injury of any type concerns a team that is considering making a big investment into that player's future.
Smith also doesn't quite have the tools that you would like him to have. His official 40 yard dash time at the NFL Combine was 4.74 seconds, which makes him slower than Miller, Quinn and Bowers. His 20 bench press lifts of 225 pounds is a bit low as well.
Smith's combine performance didn't do him many favors, and I feel that he will likely slip past the Texans, but Smith is a solid, versatile player that some team will be very happy with.
DE/OLB Ryan Kerrigan- Purdue
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Kerrigan may be the most overlooked player in the history of college football for someone who put up the type of numbers that he did.
Last season, Kerrigan totaled 12.5 sacks and 26 total tackles for loss on the way to being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Over his four seasons at Purdue, Kerrigan tallied 33 sacks and had a knack for showing up in the biggest games for the Boilermakers. Of his 12.5 sacks last season, eight came against Big Ten bowl teams Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Northwestern and Ohio State.
Kerrigan would give the Texans the flexibility of using him at defensive end and outside linebacker. He was clocked at 4.67 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. That, coupled with his 33 bench press lifts of 225 pounds, shows that he can either go around or through offensive lineman.
Kerrigan also fits the profile of a classic high-motor pass rusher. He never gives up on a play and goes hard until he hears the whistle. He always plays like he still has to prove himself.
Kerrigan doesn't have nearly the buzz surrounding him that some of the other pass rusher specialists in this draft do, but that doesn't mean that he will be any less successful at the next level. Most mocks have Kerrigan dropping past the Texans, but something tells me a team will reach up to grab him before he falls too far.
CB Prince Amukamara- Nebraska
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If the Texans are looking to invest once more in a high-profile cornerback, Amukamara might be the most likely target.
Prince may not give you everything that Patrick Peterson can, but he's still a very capable player at a position of great need for the Texans.
In 2010, the Big 12 coaches named him their Defensive Player of the Year. Amukamara didn't intercept a single pass all season, but that has less to do with anything he didn't do and more to do with opposing teams refusing to pass his way.
With a 4.38 second 40 yard dash and a 38 inch vertical leap, Amukamara is an elite athlete. Like Peterson, Amukamara can play the ball and play physical, as his 6'0", 206 pound frame can attest to.
I still can't see the Texans going the cornerback route, but if they were to do that in their current slot, it's going to be Prince Amukamara.
DT Phil Taylor- Baylor
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This draft is chock full of potential defensive stars with tons of hype surrounding them. Many of the names on this very list fit that description. One name that that doesn't apply to, but isn't any less relevant, is Baylor's Phil Taylor.
The Texans' two biggest needs are a pass rusher and a playmaker in the secondary. Next in line is probably a big, space-eating defensive tackle that can play nose tackle when Wade Phillips uses a 3-4 defense.
In the Texans' first few years of existence, they used a 3-4 defense under coordinator Vic Fangio. Part of that defense's undoing was their chronic lack of a nose tackle that could eat up multiple blockers and stuff the run.
If this new, situational 3-4 defense is to work any better, they have to shore up that area.
Statistics don't even begin to tell the whole story of a good nose tackle, but Taylor has his share of stats. His total of 62 tackles last season were the most by any Baylor interior lineman since 2002. He also chipped in with seven tackles for loss and two sacks.
Taylor was originally thought to be a high second round pick, but he has recently started making his way up draft boards.
If Taylor can develop his game and become even a poor man's Haloti Ngata of the Ravens, the team that drafts him will be more than happy.
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