One of the traditions over at Football Outsiders is to compile all the draft grades that they can and see who was, overall, viewed as the best and the worst.
The Texans can’t claim the top title this year, as that belongs to the Detroit Lions, but they did claim fifth place in the wide sampling of grades made by draft experts:
GPA: 3.39
Highest Grade: A (Prisco, Caplan, Byrne)
Lowest Grade: C+ (Rosenthal)Comments: Using their first five picks to fix a “woeful” defense drew applause from Caplan, and Prisco thinks second-round linebacker Brooks Reed “can be a lot like Clay Matthews” of the Packers. Byrne gave the Texans an “A” for addressing their needs, but based on previous investments in defenders in the draft, he doesn’t think they’ll pan out. Rosenthal has issues with an uneven draft approach and justifiably wonders why the Texans didn’t address their needs in the secondary.
Ultimately the weight of this class probably falls on Arizona linebacker Brooks Reed. He doesn’t need to be Clay Matthews, but he’ll have to at least justifiably be called Clay Matthews-lite for the Texans to come out of this draft with a smile on their face. The rush linebacker in Phillips’ 3-4 front is probably the most important position on the field, and handing it off to the rookie means that instant success for the Texans defense will likely depend on Reed.