Houston, You Have A Problem

It’s hard to believe that Charley Casserly has enough sway and enough juice inside the organization to make the kind of moves he has over the last year, but he must. From getting rid of Dom Capers to switching tracks at the top of the draft, Casserly has his imprint on the Texans franchise. The problem is, the franchise isn’t very good, and it’s not going to get any better.

For now. Mario Williams is a good player. He’s probably worthy of a first round pick, and maybe even the top pick. But not versus Reggie Bush. Bush is a once-every-ten-years player. Williams comes along every year with some kind of comparisons to Julius Peppers and Lawrence Taylor. But Bush with his versatility and explosiveness gives you a home run hitter that has to be recognized every time you snap the ball.

Let alone the ticket selling potential and the “buzz” factor.

Bush apparently was trying to milk the Texans for an extra $6 million or so leading up to the draft during the negotiations. Casserly balked at the number and moved to Williams, perhaps because of his “signability.”

“We thought there were two number one’s in this draft, Reggie Bush and Mario Williams. We couldn’t make a deal with Reggie so we signed Mario,” is how the Texans General Manager explained it. If I were a Texans season ticket holder, I’d be pretty angry. Angry enough to try and sell my tickets, or burn them in front of Reliant Stadium when I knew that Owner Bob McNair was watching.

Everybody in Houston apparently wanted the Texans to draft Vince Young from Texas. But Casserly said the team “assessed the situation and decided that we didn’t need a quarterback so we moved in another direction.”

So David Carr is their quarterback and they decide that Mario Williams is worthy of the top pick. Surely they will take an offensive lineman at the top of the second round! But no! Instead they go defense again, taking DeMeco Ryans, a linebacker. Can he block? Carr certainly hopes so.