In just over a month from now, Owners, General Managers, Coaches, and college prospects of the NFL will all travel to New York City for the annual Draft Day. With a league-worst 2-14 record last season, the Houston Texans have the bittersweet pleasure of selecting first-overall pick. The biggest question of controversy is: What will the Texans do with this pick?
The first, and probably most popular, option is to select a quarterback. When discussing this option, the 3 best candidates that come to mind are UCF’s Blake Bortles, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. While each one of these players are very solid, the media frequently knocks on each of them for having a certain weakness.
Bortles constantly gets criticized for his off-balance throws, and for not playing at a “big name” school. Bridgewater’s media criticism roots from his small frame, and lack of competition faced in college. Though Manziel won the Heisman Memorial Trophy as a redshirt freshman, he is always getting hammered by sports analysts because of his small size, awkward style of play, and the immature, off-the-field issues (underage drinking, signing autographs for money, etc.) he had in college. Each one of these quarterbacks are well worthy of being selected by Houston, but the media will never let these issues go.
Another is to go after a really talented player, such as the former South Carolina Defensive End, Jadeveon Clowney, who is primarily remembered by his Outback Bowl hit against Michigan. After a stellar 2012 campaign at USC, his 2013 stats did not live up to the same hype. However, Clowney’s amazing performance at the 2014 NFL Combine will keep his draft stock in the mix for the number one overall pick.
Houston could also trade the pick, but only time will tell as the 2014 NFL Draft nears.