Amobi Okoye: Youth Shouldn't Be An Excuse Anymore
by Tim on Aug 26, 2009 4:16 PM CDT
in News
19 comments
As I alluded here, I'm quickly losing my patience with Amobi Okoye. More accurately, I'm sick of hearing the same tired "He's Barely 22! Give Him Time!" defense that Jerome Solomon was trumpeting in the Chronicle a couple of days ago. Put me squarely in the Lance Zierlein camp. Per LZ's Twitter feed:
Can't wait for amobi to get older. He's going 2 be awesome when he grows up. Maybe not. Texans knew his age when they drafted him, right?
We get it. Amobi Okoye is young. Very young, in fact, for someone who's playing professional football. He's the same age as most rookies. Indeed, many players still toiling in college are the same age as him. All of this is true. It also shouldn't matter in this case.
The critical distinction is that Amobi Okoye is entering his third year in the NFL. That's the key. I don't care that he's 22 years old. It's not like his agent gave the Texans a break on the contract because Amobi was only 19 years old when he signed it. Far as I know, Amobi's contract does not include a clause that discounted his salary for the first few years because of his youth. He didn't do the Texans any favors by signing a deal with almost $13,000,000.00 in guaranteed money, $17,600,000.00 in total value, and a 12.6% increase over what the 10th player drafted in 2006 got. Amobi Okoye is getting big boy money. It's not unfair to ask for big boy production.
Now, if you want to chalk Amobi's underwhelming 2008 campaign up to nagging injuries, I'll listen to that argument. If you want to allege that he needs a planetoid defensive tackle next to him to fully take advantage of his skill set, I'm inclined to agree with you. Heck, you can even hit me with the notion that, to some degree, Amobi is a victim of his own success as a rookie (though that argument would seem to eviscerate any contention that Amobi's youth is somehow impeding him from being consistently productive as a Texan). In my mind, those are all fair talking points. Youth, though? I don't want to hear it anymore.
Wherever you come down on the issue, I think we can all agree on one thing: If Amobi has one more sack than a dead man AGAIN in 2009, your Houston Texans may have little choice but to address defensive tackle in the first round of the 2010 draft.
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Im gonna have to go with the approach of saying that he still young
sorry but have to…listen marios first year was not so great either…this will be okoye’s 3rd season in the league…yet he still younger than many rookies in the league…by now he should be good…if this season he continues to suck then we might have a little bit of a problem…i expect improvement 3 years into the league so if he struggles i will be disappointed…
Now Justice (really dislike him) said that Amobi has been the biggest bust so far as a texan….im sorry but Travis Johnson has been 1000 times worse than Amobi!
by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Aug 26, 2009 4:55 PM CDT reply actions
To young is no excuse...
Amobi Okoye has played college ball and has had two years in this league. It doesn’t matter if he was 19 when he came into the league. Has has TWO YEARS of NLF experience. His age has nothing to do with it. He is still a big guy that would have the same experience in this league as if he came out at 23 and was 25 now. These guys are professionals and as a 10th pick, he should have his job down. It has been bugging me too talking about age. He’s getting the reps and should be much improved. Hopefully he breaks out this year.
I play real sports...Not try to be the best at exercising.
Agree
Too young is no excuse. But I’m hopeful we start seeing good things out of him and if so, for a long time to come.
On a side note, is it too late for me to get in on the BRB Fantasy league??
Fantasy Football
Please e-mail Jake; I have no idea what’s going on with the fantasy stuff.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
there's 2 spots
left on the 3rd Division. I dont know if people just haven’t had the time to respond to the invites that Jake sent via e-mail or we just dont have enough people.
Not Everyone Has Responded
I’m giving them one more day and then they’ll be replaced
You know... for kids.
Sooo, what about college?
He wasn’t too young to perform then. If he could make the adjustment at the college level regardless of age, by now he should at least be playing at a respectable level in the pros. He’s not a rookie anymore. I like Okoye, and I want him to succeed here, but he needs to make the necessary adjustments – fast.
Simple truth
is that if you take a guy in the first round of the draft in the NFL you expect him to be able to contribute immidiately. His best season was his rookie campaign and ever since then he has been a disappointment. He needs to step up this year and if he does not then we should think hard about shipping him out. We have a soft interior defense and his poor play is part of that fact.
The worst part about the age thing ...
Is that if Okoye’s problems are because of his age, and he does turn into a superstar later on, there is a good chance the Texans will have just paid a bunch of money for his “development” but won’t necessarily get anything out of it as a result. If he suddenly and finally realizes his awesome potential at the end of his contract, the Texans will simply have provided a very expensive, very long-term on-the-field training program for someone who may well play his best years for some other team…
by killtacular on Aug 26, 2009 7:01 PM CDT reply actions 2 recs
If at first you don't succeed
Try, try again. Eventually we’ll draft one that works. I’m not done with Okoye yet. He has a season to improve. I hope he does. I expect him to improve on last year’s performance, and thought he showed potential his rookie year.
While age isn’t an excuse, to me it’s a mitigating circumstance. At 19,21 and 22 (until I met my wife to be) I was rarely focused/sober, let alone in a position to contribute to anything except next week’s liquor fund. That said, Amobi isn’t messing around in college, he’s making millions of dollars a year to play football. Still, I think it should give us some perspective on him. Because I know that if I had had 13 million guaranteed when I was 19, I’d probably have lose a lot of drive , and I think that’s partially the case with Okoye. There’s a maturity issue there that has nothing to do with his physical age. This is not an unfamiliar problem, particularly with Texan DTs. Which is deeply unfortunate…it’s not an excuse, but it might be a reality that until he gets older, he just won’t have that motivation.
Disagree
From a psychological stand point he is still maturing. The brain I believe is not fully matured till your 25 years old…ahhh screw it….I dunno what to think…the man needs to get some sacks!
by schillingb on Aug 26, 2009 9:29 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
It's year 3 and time to produce like a 1st rounder
Time for both Amobi and The Fred to build on the potential for solid play they displayed in their rookie seasons. Both had setbacks last year, and year 3 production superior to what they both flashed 2 years ago is what is expected from both. At least it’s what I expect. Now just do it.
It took the Astros 44 years to get to the Series, the Oilers-Texans are due to get to the big dance...Go Texans!!!!!
by oiler-texan diehard on Aug 26, 2009 10:21 PM CDT reply actions
I really think....
Amobi does need time. He has NFL experience yes, but mentally there are realizations and confidence issues a younger brain may not be able to handle. Trust me I hear you with the excuses I’m tired of it myself, but I’m just saying that in his “young” head he may be making this harder than it needs to be therefore the confidence is not there.
I did that as a 20 something professional and it wasn’t until my 30’s that I started realizing, " hey it aint that hard" and life became easier. He could have used a tougher road, but I do think mental maturity has a lot to do with it. He will be 29 when he is a 10 year veteran think about that. he will prob play for the colts or some shit by then.
GO TEXANS!!!!
This is the year.......
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
He may be paid, as you put it, “big boy money.” This does not change the incontrovertible fact that he is, by NFL standards, not a big boy (at least age-wise). What he’s getting paid has no bearing whatsoever on his physical or emotional development. No amount of money can rush that. It’s a rare athlete in any sport that excels at a young age, and it’s even rarer in the NFL.
His salary is irrelevant. Sure, he needs to improve. It’s understandable that fans have certain expectations on him. Those expectations are probably unrealistic, and that’s not Amobi’s fault. It’s the organization’s fault. There are huge risks to taking a player so young. Quite frankly, I’m surprised that he hasn’t done like bfd and gone on a six-day hash-and-bennies bender with a trunkload of dead prostitutes in his car down in Tijuana considering the pressure he is under.
The NFL isn’t like the NBA or MLB. This sport can destroy the soul of someone in a way that no other sport can. Drafting such a young player, particularly in the first round, is a huge risk.
Having said all that, I think he’s going to be fine.
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Aug 27, 2009 7:27 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
agreed.
if this was the NBA, people wouldnt even say that he was doing so bad, it’s just the nature of the sport. which is why the NFL does not allow for players out of “high school” to enter into the league. remember maurice clarett? back then age was a big deal… but okoye is not much older than maurice was when he was trying to get INTO the league… so physically he may be a “big boy” but learning how to prepare yourself mentally, as WELL as physically… is what makes a great NFL player. IMO.
Not done with Manchild yet.
Even when a consensus is reached that he’s a bust, the Texans aren’t just gonna give up on him. Just look at TJ! He’s still with the team eventhough he hasn’t been performing like a first rounder should. I understand that our front office is totally different from how it was back then. But as much as you hate it, the texans will keep him until his contract is done for the reason that he still has a lot of upside because of his youth.
I agree
They invested in him because of the potential for a huge upside that should develop in the next year or two. The Texans will keep him for the length of his contract.
The true test in the life of a Texans fan is how gracefully you endure it.
They'd be absolute fools not to.
Hell, they’re paying him a lot less than they paid Zoolander, and I’d say they’ve gotten more production out of Okoye. And look how long they kept Zoolander around.
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Aug 27, 2009 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions
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