Do you want to know a secret fact that no sportswriter will admit? Whining about having to grade raft when it takes "at least three years" to figure out how solid a class is has become almost as cliche the draft grades themselves. It's a nice gimmick, but there's seldom any followup.
↵Well, Mel Kiper Jr. doesn't play by those rules. Mel Kiper Jr. does whatever he damn well pleases and he's changing those grades after a season's worth of data. How did Houston end up? Moving from a B to an A- of course. Here's the money quote:
↵↵↵After the draft, I wrote, "Yates could be a good one if given time to develop." I wouldn't exactly call his current experience a nice incubation period, but he has made what was already a good draft look somewhere closer to exceptional, at least in the short term. Good draft for Houston right now and for the future, which deserves a bump.
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Only two teams (San Francisco and Cleveland) had higher grades than Houston's and only four other teams finished with grades of A- or better. That's pretty impressive and just shows how successful a season Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak had.
↵The defensive imports have made the biggest impact and it appears J.J. Watt could be a very good pick for the next few years. We'll still have to wait and see if T.J. Yates proves valuable, but for now, the accolades are pretty well-deserved.
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