Bob McNair Talks 2012 Texans' Draft

You've read what Smithiak has to say about your Houston Texans' 2012 draftees. Now let's see what The Man Who Brought Football Back To Houston thinks about his newest employees. Drew Dougherty asked Bob McNair a few questions, and McNair's answers are now up on the team's site. A snippet awaits you after the jump.

Drew Dougherty: First things first, what did you think about number one, Whitney Mercilus, the first-round draft pick of the Texans?

Bob McNair: Well, I like him. I’m surprised that he was available. Our people thought he was going to be gone between the 12th and the 16th pick. So, we were hoping we’d have a chance to get him but really didn’t think we would.

DD: What’s your role in the process during draft weekend?

Bob McNair: What I do is talk with our coaches and our scouts and with Rick about what our needs are and what are priorities are, and that’s the main thing that I focus on, to make sure that we’re all on the same page as to really what we think is most important to us. Then in the draft itself, sometimes they’ll ask me my opinion. If we’re looking at offense and defense, and I’ll express it. But really, I pretty much let them go ahead and make the decisions. That’s what I hired ‘em to do, and they’ve been spending 14-16 hours a day working on this and they’ve spent more time on it than I have, so I think that they’re in a better position to make good, objective decisions.

DD: What other players stood out to you that you’re going to be especially interested in seeing come August?

Bob McNair: Well, I like the speed of the wide receivers that we’ve got. I want to see Keshawn Martin in that slot position, see what he can do there, see if he can give us some quickness for those third down plays when it’s third-and-six, third-and-five. I think that’s exciting. But I think the big tackle that we took in the third round, also, [Brandon] Brooks, I met him, and gosh, what a man. He is 6-4 and 340-something pounds. He looks like he’s 300 pounds. He just doesn’t look that big. But he doesn’t have any extra weight on him and he’s fast. I think he ran a 4.9 40, and with that kind of speed and that kind of athleticism and to be that large, I mean, it’s just exceptional.