The Houston Texans currently have the first pick in the 1st round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and with that position comes comparisons to the situation the Texans found themselves in before the 2006 NFL Draft: offense versus defense, or Reggie Bush versus Mario Williams, back then; Johnny Manziel versus Jadeveon Clowney today.
In 2006, Zennie62 on YouTube was the first YouTube Channel to cover the NFL Draft. One of the highlights was my interview with Houston Texans Owner Bob McNair. Here, he says that one major consideration in who they picked would be signability: will that player sign a contract and not hold out if talks don’t go the way he wants?
Also, McNair said that there’s a preset level of pay for rookies and they will offer each player that amount. The question, again, is who will sign up for that, but then hold out of contract talks?
Here’s McNair:
Another consideration was Vince Young. The Texas QB hero was the favorite of many Texans fans as the pick for the team. In a big way, that’s much like the Manziel situation, today: will the Texans keep a big Texas player in the state?
Eventually, the Texans selected Mario Williams. Here’s McNair saying it came down to “offense versus defense” …
…or what was the best way to beat the then-powerful Indianapolis Colts with Peyton Manning: having a powerful pass-rush, or having a fast running back, in the hopes of outscoring them?
To the Texans, the answer was the very signable Mario Williams.
This year, the Texans have a different general manager in Rick Smith, but the one constant is Bob McNair – he calls the shots and meets the press to talk about the shots that were called.
I think McNair will push for, and the Texans will draft, Clowney. I think Manziel’s the better choice for the Texans, and on the subject of Teddy Bridgewater, his agent Kennard McGuire has played harball with the Texans regarding a new contract for Andre Johnson. Johnson fired Don West in 2010, and hired Mr. McGuire – the result much more to Johnson’s desires at the time.
Something tells me McNair and Smith don’t want to be in that situation, again.
Stay tuned.