With the #11 pick in the 2011 MHR Community Mock Draft, the Houston Texans Select OLB Aldon Smith, Missouri

by Jeremy Bolander on Mar 5, 2011 5:30 PM MST in 2011 MHR Community Mock Draft

From General Manager rg2247: With our new DC Wade Phillips switching to the 3-4 defense, we have lots of peices to acquire. Probably our biggest need, is a Rush OLB, as we currently have just one player on our roster (Connor Barwin) that fits the position well. Aldon Smith is a beast at rushing the QB, & even though he still has a lot to learn, he is young & has incredible potential. This pick came down to Aldon, or a five-technique DE, but with several possibilities at DE, already on our current roster, we felt that Aldon was the right pick for us at this pick.

From the Commish

Sayre: This is a decent pick for the Texans. Smith has a ton of upside, and could most certainly play higher than his draft status winds up being, but this is just an okay pick for the Texans for me. Aldon Smith didn't show exceptional athleticism at the Combine, but he's got a great frame and in Wade Phillips' defense could develop into a very strong player.

The Texans' next best alternative to covering up the worst pass defense in the NFL is to improve their pass rush drastically, and this move on paper gets that done.

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Comments

He's pretty high on my bust list

but I could see this pick

If you reply to a comment/post/fanshot of mine, I will more likely then not respond to it, unless you come off like a d-bag.

by DBroncs1414 on Mar 5, 2011 5:33 PM MST reply actions

Has a lot of growing to do..

But the potential is there. He fractured his leg this season, & came back to play after just 3 weeks. The rest of his season was far from 100%. This was probably still true at the combine. I look for big things from him in the future, but it may be his 2nd year as a pro, before he fully blossoms.

by rg2247 on Mar 5, 2011 6:49 PM MST reply actions

I have not heard much about him

so I have nothing to add lol

Just because I flirt doesn't mean that I'm interested. ;) <3

by Sydney Johnson on Mar 5, 2011 6:58 PM MST reply actions

Where Houston seems to need the most help

is in the secondary. Unfortunately for them, Peterson and Amukamara are gone, and I personally don’t trust any of the rest not to bust or at least be mediocre. I wonder whether Rahim Moore would make sense here. I know he would be a bit of a reach, but my concern would be, not what a player’s generic draft value is, but how much better he would make a given team, and it would seem to me he would have more immediate impact in that way than a linebacker who seems a project to me?

BILLY THOMPSON GOT SHAFTED!!

by AZDynamics on Mar 5, 2011 7:01 PM MST reply actions

Jimmy Smith would probably be the next pick but not until mid first?

by bfree2bronc on Mar 5, 2011 7:59 PM MST up reply actions

Agree they need secondary help..

There was just no one left out there that is worth the #11 pick. Rahim is a good player, but could be had in the 2nd or 3rd round. Houston is switching to a 3-4 defense, & their cupboards were pretty bare at OLB. As I have read, without a rush LB, you have no 3-4 defense.

by rg2247 on Mar 5, 2011 9:22 PM MST up reply actions

Wow, I think they're making a dastardly mistake . . .

the same kind of mistake Denver made: going to a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel. Wow, I am just incredulous.

But in that case, I can see where you are right, RG, and I like the pick better now. But I see in them the next 4-12 team, not
because of your pick, but because of the mistake they are making. . .
-

BILLY THOMPSON GOT SHAFTED!!

by AZDynamics on Mar 6, 2011 1:23 AM MST up reply actions

Your taking a chance with Aldon who is coming off of a right tibula fracture in October 2010...

Especially when JJ Watts, Ryan Kerrigan and Brooks Reed are there…By the way, Reed tore it up at the Combines with a 1.51 second burst off the line in the 40 yd…Explosive!

by bfree2bronc on Mar 5, 2011 7:57 PM MST reply actions

1.51 second burst?!?!.....WOW!!

"I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness."--Henry Rollins

"Victory belongs to the most persevering." --Napoleon.

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by Dustin Maul on Mar 5, 2011 8:07 PM MST up reply actions

Almost...

I almost pulled the trigger on JJ Watts, but their need was so much greater in my opinion for a rush LB, & the talent at that position drops off dramatically after the top 3 or 4 players.

by rg2247 on Mar 5, 2011 9:16 PM MST up reply actions

You are right, don't get me rong I like the pick...

Switching over to 3/4 will be a challege for them and somewhere down the line they will need a NT…Maybe in the 2nd.

by bfree2bronc on Mar 6, 2011 7:19 AM MST up reply actions

Here is an interesting stat on Reed from NFL DraftScout...

His 4.65 second time in the 40-yard dash, in fact, was faster than 18 of the 24 linebackers tested there. Perhaps his most impressive total came in the most important test for defensive linemen (and, some would say, linebackers) in the ten-yard split. Reed was timed at 1.54 seconds over the first ten yards, demonstrating a degree of explosiveness typically reserved for much smaller men. Reed’s 1.54 seconds not only was the fastest of all defensive ends (North Carolina’s Robert Quinn was second at 1.61), his split was also faster than some of the more highly touted athletes of the Combine, including Nevada OLB Dontay Moch, Tennessee-Chattanooga CB Buster Skine, Kentucky WR Randall Cobb, Georgia WR AJ Green, Troy WR Jerrel Jernigan, and Texas A&M OLB Von Miller. Each of these players weighed in at less than 250 pounds and all ran the 40-yard dash faster at 4.48 or faster, but weren’t as explosive in their initial start as Reed. The initial start, is of course, a highly valued trait for pass rushers. – Rob Rang, NFLDraftScout.com

by bfree2bronc on Mar 6, 2011 7:32 AM MST up reply actions

I like this pick

Like Sayre said, he’s got some issues, but Phillips is a master scheme guy, and will mold Smith into the guy he needs and get the most out of him. While I’d like to see Houston address secondary issues, there’s no real players worth this value.

I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.

by Topher Doll on Mar 6, 2011 12:30 AM MST reply actions

Another pick I think is wise. Good upside on this player. This is a good draft thus far.

No one wants to read your 19th attempt at a mock draft and it's only February for goodness sakes.

by McGeorge on Mar 6, 2011 5:59 AM MST reply actions

Both Smith and Gabbert gone in the first.....

Mizzou is going to have a hard time replacing that talent. This pick will pay off in the end!

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
John Adams

by Broncotodd on Mar 6, 2011 8:01 AM MST reply actions

Nothing against the pick,

but I really think if any team has to move up or down in this draft, it’s the Texans. They should either A. move up for Dareus or Amukamara or B. move down for Smith or Taylor and another pick.

by Digger24 on Mar 6, 2011 9:31 AM MST reply actions