It was a busy day Sunday at Reliant Stadium. After a slow Saturday, the picks were coming fast and furious yesterday, especially after the Texans traded down in the fourth and picked up another selection.
Reviews seemed to be mixed on the Texans draft class. I wish I could tell you that I've studied Brandon Harrison and Fred Bennett and the rest of Houston's second day selections, but I haven't.
I've seen snippets of them here and there, but after last year's draft class, I'm willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt. We haven't seen these players play. This time next year we should know how well the last two days went for Houston.
Thanks to all of you who submitted questions to our live chat over the weekend and of course, we always encourage comments on our stories. Many of you seemed to be pushing for Troy Smith to be selected on Sunday. I don't understand why.
By trading second round picks this year and next, the Texans essentially drafted a quarterback in Matt Schaub. Would a team ever draft two quarterbacks in the same draft class? I doubt it.
That's not a knock on Smith. I think he took too big a hit for one bad game against what was obviously a better coached Florida team in the BCS Championship Game. He's certainly going to have a chance to develop in Baltimore.
Others of you seem panicked that it took Houston until the fifth round to address the offensive line. I don't want to make this an overall theme of this blog, so I'm going to say this just once.
The Texans offensive line is better than most people think. Don't take my word for it, you'll find out next season. Ask Indianapolis how "bad" the Texans offensive line is.
That said, Houston still added some depth in the draft and if I had to pick one player that I think is going to surprise some people from this class, I'd have to go with Brandon Frye.
Frye appears to be a special athlete and if he can stay healthy, Frye could have a similar development to Charles Spencer last year. Both players played on the defensive side of the ball first in college (Spencer at tackle, Frye at end) and both are just athletes in very large bodies.
I'm sure all you Longhorns are pleased with the addition of Kasey Studdard. Kubiak's relationship with the Studdard family surely played a role in his selection, but anyone who starts 38 consecutive games in the Big 12 has to be a player.
Studdard was also a captain at Texas his senior year. How many guards do you know that are named team captains? That has to be a good sign.
Studdard and Frye also fit into a theme that I saw develop among Houston's draft class. Aside from Jacoby Jones, all of Houston's draft picks played at big-time college programs.
I don't think too much can be made of that. All of these players have played against elite competition and excelled. That bodes well as the group prepares for their first NFL workouts on May 16 when the Texans begin OTA's.
