Houston Texans: 2003 NFL Draft in Retrospect

The 2002 NFL draft can only be described as an unmitigated disaster as far as the Texans are concerned. They whiffed on just about all of their picks and they did little to take advantage of the extra picks they had as an expansion franchise.

The draft in 2003 didn't go much better when you take everything into consideration, but it can be called a success if only for the fact that it gave the Texans Andre Johnson.

After the Texans took Johnson in the first round, they returned to their usual ways of taking perpetually injured or underachieving players.

Let's take a spin in the way-back machine to 2003 and take a look at that draft.

First Round

Who they took: WR Andre Johnson

Who they should have taken: Johnson

It's obvious the Texans got this pick exactly right. Johnson stepped on the field as rookie and dominated and he hasn't looked back since.

Johnson is arguably the best receiver in the nation and it's hard to imagine any player giving them more production than Johnson has.

Second Round

Who they took: TE Bennie Joppru

Who they should have taken: DB Charles Tillman

Joppru is, in many ways, the ultimate draft bust. The Texans made Joppru a second-round pick after only one solid season of production at Michigan.

Joppru immediately got hurt and missed his entire rookie season. Unfortunately for him and the Texans, it was a harbinger of things to come. In four seasons in Houston, Joppru was on the active roster for all of one game.

In his seven-year career in the NFL, Joppru never caught a pass.

The second round of this particular draft was surprisingly void of impact players. Many teams whiffed on picks here.

Tillman, though, would have been a nice piece. The Texans already had a decent secondary led by corner Aaron Glenn and safety Marcus Coleman, but it would have been nice to have Tillman around when those two left the team soon thereafter.

Third Round

Who they took: LB Antwan Peek and T Seth Wand

Who the should have taken: LB Lance Briggs and TE Visanthe Shiancoe

Peek was drafted to be a pass-rush specialist. The idea was to play him almost exclusively on third down and have him move between outside linebacker and defensive end. He showed all the tools to be successful and even had spurts where he was very effective but, ultimately, he wasn't effective enough to keep around.

Wand was thought of as a possible franchise left tackle. He had the requisite size and strength. He simply looked the part. While he looked the part, he certainly didn't play the part. Wand proved to be too slow to stay with the defensive ends he was lined up against.

If the Texans really wanted someone who could rush the passer, Briggs wouldn't be the guy—but what he would be, is a sure-tackling linebacker who is always in the right place at the right time.

Rather than taking Bennie Joppru in the second round, the Texans could have waited until the third round and taken Visanthe Shiancoe. He has been much more productive than Joppru and is about a million times healthier.

Fourth Round

Who they took: RB Domanick Davis

Who they should have taken: Davis

Davis, who changed his name to Domanick Williams at the tail end of his career, was the first above-average running back the Texans had.

He only played three full seasons with the team and he's certainly no Hall of Fame candidate, but Davis averaged about 1,000 yards per season in his time in Houston.

Sixth Round

Who they took: QB Drew Henson and DT Keith Wright

Who they should have taken: QB Brooks Bollinger and LB Tully Banta-Cain

The selection of Drew Henson was head-scratching from the start. At the time, Henson was still playing minor league baseball and had given no indication that he was going to give it up for pro football. In the end, the Texans traded his rights for another draft pick, so maybe it's not all bad.

Keith Wright didn't make the team out of training camp, continuing their string of misses on defensive tackles, dating back to the 2002 draft.

If the Texans were looking to add a nice backup quarterback, Brooks Bollinger would have been a good choice. He has had a nice long career as a backup and has played well in his starting roles when he has had to step in.

Tully Banta-Cain would have given the Texans a lot of the pass-rushing skill they were hoping to get with the selection of Antwan Peek early in this draft. Banta-Cain has worked hard to have a very long and successful career in spite of how late he was drafted.

Seventh Round

Who they took: S Curry Burns and C Chance Pearce

Who they should have taken: DT Ethan Kelley and WR Kevin Walter

Neither Burns nor Pearce made their mark on the Texans franchise. Pearce failed to make the team out of training camp and Burns played in only one game for Houston.

Ethan Kelley is not a household name nor is he a great defensive tackle but, with as many misses as the Texans had in their first two drafts, Kelley's decent production over five seasons would have been a welcome change.

Kevin Walter eventually found his way to Houston, but only after he broke free of a receiver logjam in Cincinnati. If Walter had played alongside Andre Johnson from day one, the Texans would have had one of the top receiving tandems in the league much earlier.