Although perhaps not always fulfilling, things are certainly always interesting over at Texansville.
In a stunning development, the Texans ignored conventional wisdom and threw today’s National Football League draft into chaos by signing North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams instead of USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush as the no. 1 pick in the draft. The ESPN.com report is here and the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain’s story is here.
Although Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice is typically apoplectic (see also this blog post) about the Texans’ decision to select Williams over Bush, the decision is not all that surprising. For their entire existence, the Texans have come into each season with the same basic problems — the team could not protect its own passer and could not put pressure on the opposition’s passer.
Despite those constant problems, the Texans were able to muddle through their first three seasons with the appearance of overall improvement, but then backslid in Season Four last year as the chronic problems became too much for the undermanned franchise to overcome. Thus, when contract negotiations between the Texans and Bush’s agent stalled this past week, the decision to attempt to address the Texans pass rush problem with the 6′ 7″, 295 lbs. Williams — who is about as fast as Texas QB Vince Young — was really not unreasonable at all.

Continue reading →