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Texans take Mario Williams (Merged)

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Just to satisfy my own curiosity, what is it that the folks that don't think Bush will be all that great see that I missed? Watching him last year, I saw one of the most explosive, innovative talents in CFB since I can remember. Some may say he played against soft Pac-10 defenses. Well, who did Marshall Faulk (mentioned earlier) play against at SD State in the friggin' WAC (I think it was)? I've heard he's not going to be durable. How do we know? He never HAD to carry the pill 25 times in a game on a regular basis. I've heard Texas contained him. That's ONE GAME he was contained all season, and I'm prety sure Texas had a pretty damn good D. His performance in that win over Fresno St. blew my mind, at the end of the season. I've never seen one player take over one game like that, including Vince Young. From what I've seen, he is an athletic freak with blazing speed, great vision, he can stop and start on a dime and seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. I'd love for him to be on my favorite NFL team and I think Houston made a HUGE mistake.
 
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Really seems like a stupid deal to me. Maybe there's more to the house thing than meets the eye. NFL talent guys know their stuff though, I'd just like to know the real reason, maybe Bush didn't want to play there. It will make the rest of the top picks interesting, and, wait till Bush gets drafted and starts salary neg. all hell will break loose. Betcha he won't sign for a penny less than Williams.
 
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Apparently Houston fans are taking the news well. This post from the Houston Chronicle message board cracked me up.

An Angry Houston Fan said:
Here's a good one. A friend of mine calls me from Houston tonight to tell me there's "breaking news in Houston" and that the Texans had signed Mario Williams. Now I've had a few this afternoon at the Kinkos Classic in Austin so I shrug off the lunacy of that comment without much thought. Only, he wasn't kidding... Suddenly, I'm sober. This isn't a joke. OMG they went and screwed up a virtually unscrewable situation having the FIRST FREAKING PICK in the DRAFT!!!!!!!!!

In the name of all things holy and sacred WTF are the Texans thinking please? Justice? McClain? Robertson? Peter King? Hell, anyone... please explain this to me. PLEASE!!!!!!! When I get to heaven, this might be the first question I ask Jesus. WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ARE THEY THINKING????? DO NOT TELL the fans that a DL will have as much of an impact on the game as the supposed "once in a generation RB" Bush! Are you freaking kidding me????? Is this what the offensive mastermind brilliant Kubiak wants? DO NOT sit here and tell the fans that Kubiak's first choice was THIS guy?

This was a money move, the Texans getting scared off by a potential "character issue" with the Bush house story this week, and a CONVENIENT option so they didn't have to take Vince. And Charley Casserly, thanks for playing pal- you're FREAKING FIRED!!!!!!!!!! Good God why did they let that guy near this process? WHY? I thought Kubiak had the final say on this?

This kid better damn be the second coming of Reggie White for what we've lost in Bush. We go 6-10 next year at best; Reggie gave us a chance to win immediately- this is going to cost us for YEARS to come.
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:slappy:
 
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NFBuck,
I'm among those that don't think that Reggie was worthy of being the number one pick. I'm just not convinced that he's worth it. It all depends on how you use him. Is he going to be able to get enough touches to warrant $28-$30 million? He's not an every down back.

Remember Leeland McElroy from aTm? He was explosive and a threat to go every time he touched the ball. But he was not very big. Where is he now? Reggie Bush is better than McElroy, but I stand by my argument. Are you going to pay that much for Bush and then use him as a passing down back and return man??

USC had enough weapons that a team could not afford to make Reggie the sole focus of its defense. Even then, he only got about 15-16 touches a game. And he wasn't on the field for USC's most important offensive play of the season against Texas.

Don't get me wrong, it was stupid of Houston to take Mario Williams. This is a guy who was invisible at times in his career despite being the best athlete on the field. Trade down, take D'Brickashaw Ferguson to protect Carr and call it a day if I'm Charlie Casserly.

EDIT I also am of the belief that you just can't discount the competition that Bush played against. The defenses he played against were just completely overmatched by the entire USC offense. Mario Williams is also going to be the next Mike Mamula. He had a great combine and an unbelievable game against Maryland. That's why he's the number one pick. I think the Texans are going to be very sorry.
 
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BuckWrestler141 said:
This is good for all the teams. MArio probably signed for less then Bush would have at 1, so all the draft picks will make less this year because of it.
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I had the same thought about the money. Thinking that they must have signed Williams for somewhere in between what the expected contracts for #1 and #2 overall would be.

But I saw a graphic last night that showed that Williams signed for 6 years at $54 million, while last year's #1 (Smith) signed for 6 years at $45 million. So it doesn't look like the choice saved them any money.

$54 million to a guy that has a questionable motor, that's the unbelieveable part to me.

As far as selling tickets in Houston, they're going to sell out virtually all the time anyway. They didn't need to select Bush or VY to help ticket sales.
 
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BB73 said:
I had the same thought about the money. Thinking that they must have signed Williams for somewhere in between what the expected contracts for #1 and #2 overall would be.

But I saw a graphic last night that showed that Williams signed for 6 years at $54 million, while last year's #1 (Smith) signed for 6 years at $45 million. So it doesn't look like the choice saved them any money.

$54 million to a guy that has a questionable motor, that's the unbelieveable part to me.

As far as selling tickets in Houston, they're going to sell out virtually all the time anyway. They didn't need to select Bush or VY to help ticket sales.
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I just saw that also. I can't believe he is getting paid that much. The Texans had too much power to allow for a contract like that. Glad the Bears don't have an early pick this year, if it's going to cost that much. I don't need another Cedric Benson hold-out.
 
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If the Texans want a defensive player to build around, they should have traded down and drafted Hawk, who's work ethic and game intensity is far superior than that of Mario Williams.

I have a feeling that there was more to this story than what meets the eye, but still, I guess there is a reason why the Texans are considered the joke of the league.
 
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BB73 said:
I had the same thought about the money. Thinking that they must have signed Williams for somewhere in between what the expected contracts for #1 and #2 overall would be.

But I saw a graphic last night that showed that Williams signed for 6 years at $54 million, while last year's #1 (Smith) signed for 6 years at $45 million. So it doesn't look like the choice saved them any money.

$54 million to a guy that has a questionable motor, that's the unbelieveable part to me.

As far as selling tickets in Houston, they're going to sell out virtually all the time anyway. They didn't need to select Bush or VY to help ticket sales.
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It is not all guaranteed tho, so if doesnt pan out then he wont get all that money.
 
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Here is the bottom line for me. Set aside the money, though its clear to me the Texans were more concerned with sealing a deal before draft day than with getting full value from the first pick. Set aside the questions of Reggie's recent off-field problems and any influence - however minimal - that may have had in their decision making.

The really important question is how much of the praise Mario Williams is now getting comes as a a result of his performance, on the field throughout his college career, and how much is coming from a limited number of work-outs or Senior game appearances.

As Williams was a Junior he was not granted the option to go up against the best Senior Offensive Linemen in the nation post season. Thus we are left with his work for NC State in his final collegiate season, plus the work-outs at combines and elsewhere.

Williams had 14 1/2 sacks and 27 1/2 tackles for loss for the Wolfpack last season. Sounds impressive.
Williams 6-7, 295-pound, ran a 4.70 40-yard dash at the Indianapolis scouting combine - again sounds impressive.

Let's dissect the NC State season then.

11 and 1/2 of those 14-1/2 sacks came against just three teams.
vs Maryland (5-6) - 4 solo. Against Southern Miss (7-5) - 3 1/2, against Wake Forest (4-7) 3.
That means is the remaining 9 games the Wolfpack played in 2005 Williams netted exactly 1/3 sacks per game. It also means Williams fed of the weak or relatively weak. He did net sacks or assists on sacks in games against Middle Tenn State (1), Southern Florida (1-1/2) North Carolina 1) and Florida State (1/2).
The distribution of his tackle totals are similarly tilted to favor higher numbers versus "sisters of the poor" like Middle Tenn State or Maryland.

This easily dissected asymmetric distribution of performances is indicative of weakness against better lines . OK, but that is one year, what about his performance over the long haul
2004 - 6 total sacks (though 3 came against FSU), 15 tackles for loss.
2003 - 5 total sacks, total of 56 tackles in all games.

The bulk of the hype is confined to one year of production, wherein the bulk of that production is against relatively weak opponents.

IMO - Over-rated.
 
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I agree D-Brick would have been my first choice , then IMO the next two best players are AJ and M Williams - No RB or QB is worth a #1 overall IMO unless there is NO talent at any other position. The Most Imp positions IMO are the lines (LT, and DE) You win games in the trenches. Super Mario makes sense for the texans because they had what 8 sacks last year from the entire line?
 
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Grant it, the Texans could have traded down a pick or two and still got Williams. But...This pick isn't looking so bad a year and a half down the road. Bush hasn't proven he can be an every down back and Young hasn't seemed to improve much this year. In the meantime, Williams is becoming a force and a player you need to gameplan around. I believe he's currently 2nd in the NFL in sacks after Thursday's game.

The rants on Houston sports talk radio were exhausting about this selection. The fans and media were just brutal to Williams. This decesion was really the rallying point around firing the GM. It's been interesting, this year, to see this issue play out the way it has.
 
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