Exactly 17 months ago, the Houston Texans were atop the NFL standings at 11-1, gearing up for a late season showdown at Foxborough against the New England Patriots. Since that time, they’ve fired their head coach and most of his staff, jettisoned their starting quarterback, failed to acquire any free agents of note, and lost 17 of their last 20 regular season games.
They’ve essentially provided the rest of the league with a veritable “How To” manual on acquiring the first pick in the NFL Draft.
While most of the talk surrounding the Texans’ draft has centered around the first pick, general manager Rick Smith will look to fill numerous holes on a team that many predicted would be a Super Bowl contender at the start of last season.
Most glaring is the need for a viable option at the starting quarterback position. After Matt Schaub’s midseason Pick Six-A-Thon and subsequent benching all but assured that he’d be gone at season’s end, the Texans were left with backup T.J. Yates (who promptly came in and threw a pick six of his own after replacing an injured Schaub against the Rams) and hometown long shot Case Keenum as the only two quarterbacks on the roster.
After taking over for Schaub last season and getting off to a quick start, Keenum quickly faded and failed to win a single game as a starter, while Yates couldn’t even get back on the field. This led to the signing of free agent Ryan Fitzpatrick, who will, at worst, enter the season as the team’s backup. There is growing speculation that Fitzpatrick will in fact be the starter on opening day as the Texans look to ease their newly-drafted signal caller (whoever he is) into his role as the team’s quarterback of the future.
Schaub was far from the only notable departure during the Texans’ offseason. New defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel inherits a squad that lost key starters from a year ago in both the front seven and the secondary.
With starting defensive lineman Earl Mitchell and Antonio Smith now gone, the Texans will most assuredly look to get J.J. Watt some help up front. Couple the potential addition of Jadaveon Clowney or Khalil Mack with the return of defensive captain Brian Cushing and the continued improvement of 2012 first round pick Whitney Mercilus, and the pass rush could quickly become an area of strength on defense. However, they’ll still need help at the linebacker position after Joe Mays and Darryl Sharpton found new homes this offseason.
The secondary is another story. Following the Ed Reed debacle, the team made another questionable decision at the safety position by opting to release veteran Danieal Manning in the offseason. Free agent acquisitions Cris Clemons and Kendrick Lewis are serviceable NFL players at best, as is Shiloh Keo, leaving last year’s second round pick D.J. Swearinger as the best of an admittedly bad lot at the safety position.
Cornerback is no picnic either. While Kareem Jackson improved upon a dreadful 2012 season, Jonathan Joseph seemed to take a step back. Beyond those two, the Texans have nothing resembling even a decent NFL-caliber corner.
The offensive line, particularly the right side, is also an area of concern, but the return of 2013 third round pick Brennan Williams and sixth rounder David Quessenberry, both of whom missed all of last season due to injury, should provide some relief.
While it seems unlikely that they will trade the first overall pick, look for the Texans to trade down in subsequent rounds to acquire extra picks given the numerous holes they are looking to fill and the depth of this year’s draft class.
The last time the Texans picked first overall, they made the controversial (at the time) decision to draft Mario Williams over Vince Young and Reggie Bush. While that pick grabbed the headlines, many forget that they also drafted two other Pro Bowlers that year in middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans and tight end Owen Daniels.
Houston had better hope for similar success in this year’s draft. Otherwise they’ll continue to grab headlines for all the wrong reasons.
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