With the previous week’s last-second heartwrenching loss to the Buffalo Bills and last Sunday’s dismal effort in a 26-11 defeat by the New York Jets; even I, Mr. Superdiehardfan, can safely call this year a bust and start looking toward next year’s draft and off-season maneuverings. So, glass-half-full time. The Texans 2006 draft class is the strongest in the league. Straight up. Gary Kubiak‘s squad currently resides at 3-8, but he did his job when it came to drafting a solid core for Houston’s hopefully bright future. In hindsight, not re-signing David Carr and drafting hometown hero Vince Young would have not only made the team a mint in jersey and ticket sales (and I guarantee you all those empty, paid-for seats at Reliant on Sundays would be filled), it would have been the best football decision as well.
Putting that behind us, Mario Williams has played admirably, especially considering the intense scrutiny he’s under and will hopefully continue to progress into a Julius Peppers-esque domineering defensive end. By the way, I said it then and I’ll say it now; the Texans should have drafted Peppers instead of Carr as their first-ever draft pick. It’s much easier to find a quarterback of Carr’s talent than it is a D-lineman of Peppers’. But, I digress. Williams has amassed 31 total tackles and 4.5 sacks while playing with the painful foot injury plantar fasciitis. He can hardly be considerd a bust and is arguably having a much better rookie campaign than Reggie Bush.
For the first pick of the second round, the Texans chose Alabama middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans who has exceeded all expectations and should be in the running for defensive rookie of the year. He leads the Texans with 99 tackles and along with wide receiver Andre Johnson has been Houston’s best overall player. Pretty good for a first-year player not expected to even make the starting lineup.
With the first and second picks of the third round the Texans finally addressed their porous O-line drafting guards Charles Spencer and Eric Winston. Spencer had already penetrated the starting lineup before going out for the season with a fractured left leg and Winston has seen plenty of playing time of late due to Houston’s spate of injuries. Both of these players should be fixtures on Houston’s front five for years to come and have shown glimpses of their upsides in their rookie season.
Fourth-round pick Owen Daniels has had an excellent first year tying Johnson for the team lead with five TDs and being David Carr’s third-favorite target behind Johnson and Eric Moulds with 31 receptions and 318 yards receiving. The addition of Moulds and Daniels has allowed AJ to blossom into one of the best receivers in the game.
Running back Wali Lundy, taken in the sixth round, leads the Texans in all major rushing categories with three TDs, and 415 yards on 106 attempts, averaging a healthy 3.9 yards per carry. Lundy’s presence doesn’t make up for the loss of Texans all-time leading rusher Domanick Davis due to a lingering knee injury, but certainly has to be considered a solid sixth-round pick.
The Texans traded their fifth-rounder for Moulds, another excellent move.
This article appears in November 24 • 2006.