Take the flashy runner. Take the hometown quarterback. Take anybody but the defensive end.
Charley Casserly heard it all. When the Houston Texans owned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, Casserly was the team's general manager, a man looking for the best way to improve the worst team in the league.
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| Mario Williams paid a price for being chosen ahead of Reggie Bush and Vince Young. (US Presswire) |
Casserly defied conventional thinking in taking Williams, and that led to an uproar around the league, and especially in Houston. He was vilified on the talk-show circuit.
People love offensive highlights, which Bush and Young provided in college. They don't get excited for defense. "We took a lot of abuse for that pick," Casserly said.
That might change now. And here's why: The Texans indeed picked the right player. And I'm not just saying that because Casserly is now writing for this website or works as an insider for The NFL Today on CBS.
I've been saying that for the past year, after initially saying Bush should've been the choice.
The first weekend of the 2007 season shows why. Williams showed star potential in the Texans' 20-3 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. He had two sacks, a fumble recovery and a touchdown.
That was the same number of touchdowns that Young scored in his opener, and one more than Bush had in his.
Young struggled to throw the football against the Jaguars in his season-opening victory, while Bush seemed to tap-dance to nowhere in his team's loss to the Colts. In talking to some scouts around the league this week, some thought Bush looked tentative at times, which is not what you want from a supposedly star back.
Casserly left the Texans after the 2006 draft, so he wasn't there to take the constant abuse handed out when Bush (New Orleans Saints) and Young (Tennessee Titans) had amazing rookie seasons, while Williams had only 4 1/2 sacks as a rookie.
In Houston, Young mania was the talk of the city.
Every week, it was, "Did you see Vince? Did you see Reggie? And we got a defensive end?"
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"It was tough at times," Williams told me earlier this year. "But I expected it."
Williams' performance against the Chiefs was one that many in the Houston organization expected, but fans questioned. Casserly expected it to come.
"We liked Mario a lot and he was only 20 years old when he came to us," Casserly said. "The potential for stardom was there."
The Texans passed on Young and Jay Cutler and Matt Leinart at quarterback in that draft because they thought David Carr was the long-term answer. They decided he wasn't after the 2006 season. So the decision was basically Bush or Williams.
"It was always between Reggie and Mario," Casserly said.
Taking a defensive end over the running back makes too much sense. The life expectancy of a running back is short compared to the defensive end position. Plus, the value of a pass rusher is greater.
Doubt it?
Here's a good comparison for thought. Dwight Freeney is arguably one of the two best at his position of defensive end. Larry Johnson is considered second by many in the running back ratings. Freeney is in his sixth year, Johnson in his fifth.
The Colts gave Freeney $30 million in bonus money on the new deal he signed this year. Johnson got $19 million.
Score one for the defensive ends.
"At the end of the day, we valued the defensive end being on the field every play," Casserly said. During my summer visit to the Texans training camp, both coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith praised Williams and expected a big year from him in terms of sacks. They also said he was hurt by playing with a bad foot in 2006 and was also moved around the line way too much. Now that he's settled in at right end, he looks much more comfortable. And he's healthy.
"Well, y'all know Mario (Williams) had some numbers with the sacks and of course the fumble recovery, but the great thing was when you went back and watched the film, he was even better than you thought," Kubiak said this week. "That's what I felt really good about. When a guy has good things happen to him and he gets the numbers that people talk about on a week-to-week basis, that's a good thing, but when you flip on the film and you watch that he played down in and down out, he was definitely a factor in the game every play. He played extremely well, so he stood out to me."
Scoreboard for Week 1 goes to Mario Williams over both Young and Bush. Young won, Bush lost and Williams won. But it was Williams whose play stood out over the other two.
"He was a factor, he was a force," Kubiak said.
So let's hold off on the ripping of Casserly and the Texans for making the pick. Williams, like I've said since he came out for the draft, will be a star. Aside from quarterbacks, star defensive ends, especially in this passing era, are the next most-valuable players.
That's not to say Bush won't be a good player, but he's a player that the Saints will have to scheme to make good. You can't just line him up and hand it off to him 25 times.
Casserly wouldn't admit that he felt some satisfaction in Williams' first game, but you could sense through his words that he was happy. That's his guy. Even though he doesn't work for the Texans anymore, Williams is his pick. He will always be his pick.
"I think you're always tied to the picks you make," Casserly said. "That means all of them. Not just Mario, but all of them."
But when it's the first overall pick, it's intensified. Take solace, Charley. You did the right thing.
Mario Williams will be a star.
So stop the Vince Young and Reggie Bush talk in Houston. Williams is your guy, Texans fans, and his Week 1 performance helps validate his being the first overall pick.
