While the Broncos are on the clock I managed to catch up to the Houston Texans GM who was recently celebrating with his scouting staff on their selection. Let's take you to our interview now...
You and I don't agree on your selection of Jonathan Stewart because of his obvious health concerns and the fact I disliked the idea of trading Andre Johnson, how do you defend that deal and using the eleventh selection to draft Jonathan Stewart?
Well, I think you graded it a B Peter, so to say we completely disagree would be incorrect. Last year, he was 100% healthy until the toe injury. And, it's an injury, it's not a degenerative condiiton. It's something that with surgery will heal and he'll be 100% again in time. He elected to have the surgery now rather than miss training camp and games. We applaud him for that, and we'll stand by him as he rehabs. When I look at Jonathan run, he reminds me of Ricky Williams.
As for the Andre Johnson trade. That trade along with the Matt Schaub trade were designed to leverage us versus what we accomplished in free agency to be better in the short and more importantly long run. We signed Bernard Berrian to be our #1 receiver. You complement him on the other side with Michael Clayton. Now that you have him outside of Tampa and the mess they have had at quarterback the last few years, you'll see him return to the numbers he once posted his rookie season. We also have Jacoby Jones, with the one year of experience, he'll be ready to step in as our third receiver and perhaps push Clayton for playing time in our two wide sets.
So, we obviously felt we could move Andre and get the highest possible compensation for him, which we did in acquiring not just the 11th overall but also two third round picks and a sixth. We ended up using those two thirds to acquire Kevin Kolb, which in my opinion is an absolute steal.
With the selection of Jonathan Stewart, we feel we have greatly improved our offense and the ability to win football games. You can't win late in the season unless you can run the football.
So far after eleven picks who do you think has had the best draft thus far?
You mean outside of the Texans? That's tough. I actually question a lot of the selections ahead of us. Sure, they've drafted players with tremendous ability. But when you look at their overall plan, I can't help but think many of the GM's are out of touch with what their team should be doing. I mean at 1, you had the Raiders, after acquiring AP, they turn around and trade him for the first overall, and then select Dmac. Then they say he's available for trade too. At 2 you have Matt Ryan taken by the Browns who desperately needed a qb, yet why were they put into this position to begin with when they started off with Anderson and Quinn? You know, that's the one thing I wanted to stay away from. Trading away a player, like an Andre Johnson, then selecting his replacement in the draft with our 11th pick. Just didn't make any sense at all. Again, I think we've done a tremendous job of maneuvering ourselves into being a much better football team. Have you seen our defense yet? And we're not done. Anyway, I think the Chiefs and Saints have done well in selecting their LT's at the positions they were drafting. Two teams that IMO have done the best so far, outside of us of course!
What do you feel was a stretch or didn't really fit a team as a selection?
Well see my answer above I suppose. But to add to that since you asked... I think the Rams taking Chris Long, when they took Carriker last year is a bit puzzling. They should have taken a LT or DT. Maybe they are switching to a 3-4. The Vikings had perhaps the best run defense in the NFL, and they trade away an important piece, yet select his replacement in Glenn Dorsey. They leveraged themselves into replacing him with their top five selection. I'm sure they could have gone many different ways. Who is playing receiver for them? Again, this is the team that traded away AP originally....
Hopefully we can talk to you again when the eighteenth pick rolls around. Good luck on your next selection.
Look forward to it.
