MVN - Most Valuable Network

Texans Draft, Day Two

Steve Slaton (photo courtesy of SteveSlaton.org

It’s day two of the NFL draft, and there are five rounds of action today. A lot of the glory is given to the first day selections, but teams earn their money by being able to find gems in later rounds. Coaches, scouts, and GMs are looking to find the next Tom Brady, Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe, etc.

Without further ado, here’s what the Texans have done with their picks today:

Round 3, Pick 16 (79th overall) - CB Antwuan Molden, Eastern Kentucky. Molden has good size (6′1″, 200) and speed (4.38 40-yard dash). ESPN.com’s scouting report says he would have been a good value pick in the later rounds for a team looking to take a flyer on a small-school player with potential. That said, Molden is probably a work in progress, considering the level of competition he played at in college. CB was a position of need, though, and Houston made sure they got someone to provide depth in the defensive backfield.

Round 3, Pick 26 (89th overall from Baltimore) - RB Steve Slaton, West Virginia. Slaton showed flashes of his big-play ability as a Mountaineer. In his three seasons at West Virginia, Slaton rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and a school-record 50 touchdowns. Slaton s explosive, if nothing else, and with the proper coaching he has the ability to succeed in this league.

Round 4, Pick 19 (118th overall) - LB Xavier Adibi, Virginia Tech. As a senior, Adibi started all 14 games at inside linebacker, notching 115 tackles (12 for losses), three sacks, a forced fumble, two interceptions and five pass breakups. He projects to play the outside alongside Demeco Ryans, providing Houston another playmaker at the linebacker position.

Round 5, Pick 16 (151st overall) - DT Frank Okam, Texas. As a fellow Longhorn, I have had the privilege of watching Okam play the last two years. At times, he has been the most dominant defender on the line, but he sometimes fades out of the picture. As a senior, he started all 13 games, collecting 52 tackles (11 for losses), five sacks, a force fumble and five pass breakups.

Round 6, Pick 7 (173rd overall from Baltimore) - S Dominique Barber, Minnesota. As a senior, he played all 12 games and had a team-high 100 tackles (5.5 for losses), one sack, eight pass breakups, three fumble recoveries, including one returned for a touchdown, and three blocked kicks. Barber is the son of former NFL player Marion Barber II and brother to Dallas Cowboys RB Marion Barber III, so he has good blood lines. I don’t know a whole lot about him, but safety was an obvious position of need for Houston.

Round 7, Pick 16 (223rd overall) QB Alex Brink, Washington State.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 9:12 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.