2007 Draft Grade

Our 2nd round pick was part of acquiring him.

I was going to do the same thing.

I actually think this was a fairly solid, if unspectacular, draft. Getting as much as we have from Studdard and Diles is a huge plus no matter what you think of them. Diles keeps beating out guys who appeared to be brought in to beat him out. He just keeps finding a way. Frye and Harrison were misses, but Jacoby has provided plenty of sparks and appears to be coming around as a more polished WR.

One of the knocks on Okoye was that with his age it was going to take a few years to see what kind of DT he could be. Three years down the road and we still don’t have a consensus. I think he’s improved against the run. BFD said he was 4th among DT’s in QB pressures in another thread. Depending on how generous whoever was keeping that stat was we may not be giving Okoye enough credit. I’m not exactly happy with the Okoye pick, and I have heard LZ mention that some of the Texans staff are less than thrilled about him as well. That being said he’s probably also the victim of being a high first round pick failing to live up to lofty expectations. If you just look at him without the #10 overall tag, He’s a decent player who is still getting better. I don’t like the look who was taken after him game unless you do it both ways. We could have done better, but we could have done worse. The next DT taken was Justin Harrel. We could have also taken Jarvis Moss.

The only thing really missing to make this a good draft is a star player. I think you have to at least consider Schaub as a part of this years haul. That make this draft better. Even without Schaub it is still a decent draft. 4 out of 7 picks either are starters or play major roles with another player who contributed early and then fell off a cliff. We could do a lot worse.

so much for drafting being a science.

Jacoby came on strong last year and could up the grade, but right now this draft has yielded not much. I give it a C-

This draft is was still mediocre. If Schaub can stay healthy this season then I might change my tune – because he has been a great QB when healthy.

I would give this draft a C+, and I will upgrade it to a B- and perhaps a B if Schaub can stay healthy.

If you add the schaub, you have to consider him a 1st rounder ie 2 * 2nd = 1st. He still measures up quite well if you consider him a 1st, who has now been the pro-bowl mvp. That is a solid draft!

Amobi Okoye – D-
:: He avoids being an ‘F’ because he had those 5.5 sacks his rookie year and gave everyone a lot of hope.

Jacoby Jones – C+
:: It looks as though he might permanently lose PR duties to Holliday, but showed some promise as a solid #4 receiver. His immaturity and lack of focus are cause for massive concern, but the man is dangerous (unfortunately, for both teams) when has the ball in his hands. If he ever gets his head on straight, he could be a valuable Texan for the remainder of his career.

Fred Bennett – F
:: He simply cannot flip his hips. He only ever looked good in the Cover 3 shell we had to revert to when Dunta went down in 07. He cannot play corner in any system that uses man. The fact that he was never moved to SS is one of the reasons I hate this coaching staff. He hits hard and can play a deep zone. Sounds like a safety to me. But he’s not. He’ll likely receive the axe before the season begins.

Brandon Harrison – F
:: He was given every opportunity to be a contributor and squandered them all miserably. Not only was he a liability at ever point in coverage, he was a mediocre special teams player.

Brandon Frye – F
:: I believe he’s the first in a pipeline Smithiak created in drafting players from Virginia Tech. He had the athleticism to succeed as a tackle for this scheme, but never seemed to “get it.”

Kasey Studdard – C
:: No, he’s not a starter, but peoples’ blind hatred of him belies the fact that he improved tremendously over his 14 starts last season. He’s valuable depth and somehow managed to overcome his glaring lack of athleticism to be a decent spot starter. He was only drafted because his father played with Kubiak.

Zac Diles – A+
:: I know BRB hates this guy, but he’s a very, very good linebacker. He’s criminally underrated here, and is reliable for a few big plays a game. He’s better in coverage than DeMeco Ryans. One of the best 7th round picks of any team in recent memory.

Overall: D-