Houston Texans scouting staff needs to be… re-evaluated
When it comes to making first round picks, the Houston Texans are almost guaranteed to snag a great player.
Jadeveon Clowney is coming back from injury (and flashing freakishness). Kareem Jackson has made a name for himself as a reliable corner. DeAndre Hopkins is looking like a top tier wide receiver.
That’s not even including the greatest defensive player of the decade, and possibly all-time, J.J. Watt, the freakish defensive end who at some times seemed to be carrying the Texans on his own.
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There have been some really good players taken by the Texans staff in the first round of the NFL Draft over the past 6 years. Unfortunately, there are usually 6 not-so-great picks that follow these.
It seems that whenever the Texans get passed the first round, they always find themselves underachieving. Some players get hurt, and then stay that way. Some never find their way up the depth chart. And some of them turn out to be plain-and-simple bad picks (looking at you, D.J. Swearinger).
The biggest name you can associate with being injury-prone over the last few drafts is probably 2014 3rd round pick Louis Nix, who was cut this offseason without playing in a single regular season game. But there has been another player who’s quietly walking himself down the same road: 2014 2nd round pick Xavier Su’a-Filo.
XSF has been out all offseason with nagging injuries, and while he was projected to start at left guard when Ben Jones moved over to center, he has now been beaten out by a player that has been on the team for less than a month. When you’re selected with the 33rd overall pick, people expect you to start, especially when there is a need.
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Another pick has been hindered by injury problems with 2015 3rd round pick Jaelen Strong. While many draft analysts praised the Texans for snagging a potential 1st rounder in the 3rd, Strong has not been able to make an impact on this team. He currently finds himself as the 5th receiver, behind fellow rookie Keith Mumphery.
The most significant example of the Texans inability to draft well outside of the first pick is the dreaded class of 2013. In this class, there were 9 draft picks. Wanna know how many of those picks are on the 53 man roster today? Just one. DeAndre Hopkins. Two of the Texans’ four 6th round picks are out with injury (David Quessenberry and Ryan Griffin), but the results have nonetheless been outrageous.
In fact, Houston has been so bad at drafting player during the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the draft, I would almost consider begging the Texans to trade away these picks every year for a first rounder, since the odds show that they Texans are way less likely to screw up there.
If the Texans are going to improve, they’re going to need not only a fresh, hotshot player to boost the team, but quality depth players that in time can train to become solid foundational picks. But in order to get this fresh crop, the Texans are going to need to draft better. The team should give some serious thought to their scouting personnel come 2016.