Despite my earlier reservations, the Michael Vick debacle actually provides some hope for the Houston Texans’ draft strategy:

In 2000, [the San Diego Chargers] stunk. Fan apathy grew like dandelions. The Chargers had gone 1-15, almost impossible in the modern-day NFL. Ryan Leaf was their starting quarterback, fading away like bad smoke, soon to get into coaching (of all things). They needed oomph. They needed star quality. They needed box office.
The quarterback situation was beyond dismal. So, what did they do? They didn’t take my advice (as usual), which was, in 2001, to draft electric Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick. That’s why I’m a sportswriter, not Lombardi.
But they almost took Vick. They came this close. So the worst team in the NFL sent its No. 1 overall pick to Atlanta for the fifth selection, who turned out to be just a guy, a someone, a nice fellow, a tailback named LaDainian Tomlinson, who has scored 111 touchdowns and thrown for six more since that fateful day.
LT now owns San Diego. Vick now owns a set of tremendous problems. He makes Leaf look like Johnny Unitas.

Read the entire column. The Chargers are now one of the elite teams in the NFL, while the Falcons are trolling quickly to the bottom. Maybe that Texans 2006 draft wasn’t so bad after all.