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Who will the Houston Texans draft at Number 1?- Sports Talk with the Straight Shuter

by Jesse Shuter

Staff Writer

 

Photo courtesy of http://image.123tagged.com/images/h/houston_texans_wallpaper-29894.jpg

With the NFL draft fast approaching the question on everyone’s mind is, who is going to go first? The Houston Texans are the proud, or embarassed (depending on the way you look at it) owners of the first overall pick in the draft. Similar to the 2012 Indianapolis Colts, they are actually a pretty solid team, they just need a quarterback. Unlike the Colts, there is no easy no brainer top notch quarterback in the draft this year. The best player in the draft is South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, the Texans already have the best defensive end in football in JJ Watt. The next best players are Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins, Buffalo outside linebacker Khalil Mack, and Auburn offensive tackle, Greg Robinson. The Texans could use any and all of these men, but do not need one the same way that that they desperately require a new quarterback. This leaves the Texans with four options:

1) Draft Jadeveon Clowney

Clowney is clearly the top player, the Texans might be able to trade up and even wait for a quarterback in the second round, but there is no other player like Clowney. With Clowney across from Watt, the Texans would have the best and scariest pass rush in all of football, and would completely dominate on defense. The Texans are no stranger to taking a defensive end first overall as they did with now Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams.

2) Draft a Quarterback

At this point this seems to be the least likely option of the four. The top quarterbacks in this draft are Texas A&M’s Johnny “Johnny Football” Manziel, USF’s Blake Bortles, and Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater. At this point the only two I could see the Texans taking are Manziel and Bortles, and both of these men come with a huge risk factor. It would be a shame and a waste if they pass on Clowney, and take one of these men and they end up being a complete bust (which has happened to the Texans before with now free agent quarterback David Carr).

3) Draft a Different Top Prospect

The Texans have expressed interest in Khalil Mack, and could even be interested in Sammy Watkins here. Both of these men fill more of a need than Jadeveon Clowney, although may not be as talented, as Clowney has the very possibility of being the most elite defensive player in all of football.

4) Trade the Pick Away

This is looking more and more like what the Texans would love to do, although at the same time it is looking less and less likely to happen. The Texans have expressed interest in Khalil Mack, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles, and would be open to a trade so that they can grab one and stockpile extra draft picks in the process. The problem is, no one want to give the Texans their picks since this is one of the deepest most talented draft classes in ages, and perhaps ever.

 

Photo courtesy of http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0224/nfl_a_clowneyj_600x400.jpg

My Advice: Option 1, take Clowney. A player like this doesn’t come around every day, this would give the Texans the best pass rush in the league, and they can draft someone in the second round. Who knows maybe the quarterback they get end up being a star. At the very least they still have quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who can hold them over until next year.

 

 

 

 

Flyers Down…..But Not Out- Sports Talk With the Straight Shuter

by Jesse Shuter

Staff Writer

 

Photo courtest of http://www.greatermediaphiladelphia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/975-the-fanatic-home-of-the-flyers-1170×600-1170×450.jpg

 

The Philadelphia Flyers have been battling the New York Rangers in the playoffs for a total of five games now in the first round of the 2014 NHL Playoffs. After the game sunday, the Rangers lead the series 3-2. That means that the Flyers will be once again trying to tie the series at home on tuesday the 29th of April.

The Flyers are in a bad situation because, had they won on sunday, they could win the series at home. Now the best case scenario is that they win at home on tuesday. Then they would have to win in New York, which they have only done once in the last eleven attempts, for them to win the series.

The Flyers biggest issues in the past, have been defense and goaltending. The interesting thing is that these are not their problems this time around. In fact one could argue that there goalie and defense situation is as good as it has been all season long. The issue is their offense. The Flyers get a lot of scoring chances that they fail to convert on. Some chances are even easy shots that players should be able to make, and stupid mistakes cost them the goal, and therefore them game.

Recently, many people have said that thing that the flyers are lacking is another all star forward. Many teams have there one-two punch of two incredible players that make their teams phenomenal. The Pittsburgh Penguins, for example, have Sidney Crosby (booooo) and Evgeni Malkin (booooo). The Chicago Blackhawks have Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. The Flyers have Claude Giroux and………..who else?

With forwards like Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Scott Hartnell, Wayne Simmonds, Vincent Lecavlier, etc. the Flyer have a pretty stacked core of forwards. But I agree that they need there star. The Flyer like to pass the puck. They like to pass the puck a lot, and sometimes that’s great, it sets them up for a goal. Other times, they pass and pass and no one scores and they lose. If they had an Alex Ovechkin, or Steve Stamkos, someone that they can get the puck to and trust them to fire the shot for a goal. That would be a Stanley Cup championship team. So now I have good news and bad news for Flyers fans. Bad news first, I don’t see a Steve Stamkos in our immediate future. The good news, the Flyers are still a Stanley Cup Caliber team without one.

Anyone that watches the Flyers will agree with me that lately the Flyers have been playing there best when they are down. That’s great, that means I am very confident we can win at home one tuesday. The Flyers then need to figure out how to translate that fighting power they get when they are desperate to a game where they are not in fact desperate for points. If they can do that, they can win it all.