Super Mario? Super Mistake....

Houston Texans 2006: Better than Bowie....

Let me begin, by saying in all honesty, I am not a Houston Texans fan. I was not a Houston Oilers fan. My loyalties, for better and for worse will always be tied to the San Francisco 49ers. Yet, for the last 72 hours, I have been living in total agony with the knowledge that a team that I thought I didn't have any emotional attatchment to, had passed on not one, but two franchise altering athletes. Reggie Bush, though apparently not a Saint, will play ball in New Orleans. Vince Young will suit up for Satan...I mean Bud Adams', Tennessee Titans.
I have nothing against Mario Williams as a football player. He certainly looks the part of an imposing force on the defensive line. The Texans pass rush was probably as big a concern as their offensive line entering the 2006 draft. But ask yourself, is Mario Williams going to make Robaire Smith a better pass rusher? How about Seth Payne? Will Travis Johnson or Anthony Weaver suddenly put the fear of God into the opposing interior linemen simply due to the attention paid to Super Mario? Only time will tell.
If you are like every other person on the planet, not currently sipping the Texans' kool-aid, you've probably seen Reggie Bush and Vince Young make their teammates better every week. Young, much like Mario Williams does not make financial sense as a selection due to the $24 million commitment to QB David Carr. Perhaps the Texans would be interested to know that they now have over $80 million tied into 2 defensive ends who have never had more than 5 sacks in a season.
Gary Kubiak and the rest of the Texans' brain trust should have done themselves a favor and not opened their mouth to justify a pick that everyone else knew was not a value selection. For Kubiak to say on saturday, "Both of these guys are worthy of the #1 pick, but let's be honest. We went with Mario, so he was #1 on our board," either undermines the new coach's credibility or strongly suggests that he has similar talent evaluation skills of his current and soon to be former general manager. Twenty nine teams in the NFL had Reggie Bush as the top player on their boards. Two others who were in need of a QB had Vince Young or Matt Leinert #1 followed by Bush. Those 31 teams share something else in common. They all finished with a better record than the Texans in 2005.
Look, Bob Mcnair paid $700 million to bring football back to Houston, so who am I to tell him how to spend his money. Mario Williams might be Jevon Kearse his rookie season. He might develop to be a better player than Julius Peppers, and redefine the DL position. However....he's no Reggie Bush, and the Texans just declined a heart transplant for their stagnant franchise, which appears to be one more 2-14 season away from being put on life-support.