Michigan State is one of the better tackling schools in the country. If he could be taught to tackle, I would think he'd have learned it by now. Some guys get Deion Fever where they don't want to stick their nose in the pile. I really respected Dunte Robinson's game before he was injured. He would pile drive guys to the ground. I think he enjoyed it.

Speaking of Michigan State. They have some ballers.....Kurtis Drummond, Jeremy Langford, Taiwan Jones, and this guy who might be one of the steals of the draft. Excellent Pro-Day numbers, he wasn't invited to the Combine.

OLB Marcus Rush Mich St 6'2" 247 4.69 6.75 4.24 34 24 9'9"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i3oitcKLxM

I'm not sure that video helps him, Roy.

I will admit that the guy narrating isn't the most eloquent speaker and it could have been better rehearsed beforehand, but there's plenty of good content that showed that Rush can play. Some key elements jumped out at me. I'm projecting him as an OLB, but he played DE at Michigan State.

6:00 into the video he beats Donovan Smith.
7:30 beats the RT.
9:11 demonstrates a spin move like Freeney.
10:02 beat Jessie James
16:30 taking on a pulling Guard
18:00 Double swim moves against a TE then the RB
19:50 beat RT
23:05 beat Tackle inside
24:50 demonstrated Rip move
25:30 pancakes the Center while splitting the C & RG on stunt.
This is a player who is not talked about even being drafted and I hadn't heard of until his Pro day. Could be a nice late round guy to get in case we don't draft Beasley or Chickillo and Clowney isn't 100%

Sure, there's always roster depth and a few UDFAs. Bulloch can probably tell us all about him.

If we drafted say, OLB Bud Dupree in the first, who would you rather have with the 2nd pick : WR Devin Smith or ILB Stephone Anthony? :

Getting closer and I am thinking outside the box. The General is standing for the Texans taking OLB, which usually means we go somewhere else. Also BoB has been vocal for guys that are able to play multiple positions and are smart.
My Outside the box mock

16 Cameron Erving C Florida State rSr 6-5 313
51 *Devin Funchess WR Michigan Jr 6-4 232
82 Jaquiski Tartt SS Samford rSr 6-1 221
116 *Jesse James TE Penn State Jr 6-7 261
152 Taiwan Jones ILB Michigan State Sr 6-3 245
175 Malcolm Brown RB Texas Sr 5-11 224
195 Joey Mbu DT Houston Sr 6-3 313
211 *Deion Barnes OLB Penn State rJr 6-4 257
216 Quandre Diggs CB Texas Sr 5-9 196
235 Deshazor Everett CB Texas A&M Sr 5-11 188

Erving can play at OC or OT. Has also played defense. Funchess is a project with great height and speed. Has been a move TE and an outside WR. Tartt is a former basketball player who tracks the ball well, has the size to play up in the box in nickle. James has excellent size, and has played for BoB at Penn St. Jones is a 3-4 ILB who can thump.

I missed on OLB who could push to play today. Not my worse effort.

Nice. I am also thinking outside the box. Devin Smith in the first and Stephone Anthony in the 2nd and Bryce Petty in the 3rd, then Anthony Chickillo in the 4th. Jesse James in the 5th.

Unlike Clowney & Mercilus, from what I've read Dupree would be able to play strong side over the TE and cover him in passing situations which makes him an obvious choice for us if OLB is our top priority, but I doubt he's still on the Board at #16.

The drafting of Dupree was the premise, the real question was who would you draft in the 2nd round, D. SMITH or S. ANTHONY?

No question I'm drafting Anthony in that proposal because I don't think Devin Smith will be that great a player at the next level. Reminds me of Marquise Goodwin - terrific speed but that's all he has.

4/17 CBS Draft board
 

1. Traded 1-16 to Carolina for 1-25, 2-25 and 4-25
2. Traded 4th, 5th and 6th to Green Bay for 3-30

25 - R1P25 WR KEVIN WHITE WEST VIRGINIA
51 - R2P19 CB ERIC ROWE UTAH
57 - R2P25 OLB LORENZO MAULDIN LOUISVILLE
82 - R3P18 C REESE DISMUKES AUBURN
94 - R3P30 TE JESSE JAMES PENN STATE
124 - R4P25 ILB TAIWAN JONES MICHIGAN STATE
175 - R5P39 DT DERRICK LOTT CHATTANOOGA
211 - R6P35 DE DEION BARNES PENN STATE
216 - R6P40 CB QUANDRE DIGGS TEXAS
235 - R7P18 WR ANTWAN GOODLEY BAYLOR

Yeah, no way White falls to 25 but - whatever.

I get it.
But IMO, his talent is worth his potential risk at 16. Again, some people wouldn't, but I'm not one of those.

I did the Composite Board and came away with this :

#16 WR Kevin White (I did make sure it was the WR, not the CB)
#51 ILB Stephone Anthony
#82 RB Jay Ajayi (BPA)
#116 OLB Anthony Chickillo (I think he's a 2nd round talent) (Petty was drafted #111 by Cleveland)
152 WR Justin Hardy
#175 TE Blake Bell
#195 DT Derrick Lott
#211 FB Tyler Varga
#216 WR Ty Montgomery
#235 QB Shane Carden

Just realized that this was the first time I was able to draft both of them at the same time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drxxGVMn1Y0

If I'm the GM, I'm going to operate (under the illusion?) that the Texan defense is going to be OK. If you'll recall, they were really coming on at the end of last season. Added Moore and Wilfork..... But, I would still like to see a possible starting LB drafted within the 1st two rounds.

OTOH, the offense was downright inept at times last year. So, IMO, the offense needs lots of help. Is it possible to get the offense a couple of starters in the 1st three rounds? WR, TE, RB, C/G are probably the positions to go after....

So, in short, I'd like to see the Texans go heavy on offense in the draft but wouldn't mind seeing a good LB in the first two rounds...

The team needs an OLB in the worst way. I'll be very surprised if they don't go in that direction first.

OL Cameron Erving
WR Devin Smith
TE Clive Walford
OLB Anthony Chickillo
ILB Jake Ryan
RB Cameron Artis-Payne
WR Justin Hardy

I'd love to see them upgrade at RT and CB but the front office decided to hand big contracts to the incumbents instead of letting them leave. Meanwhile, they jettisoned the best receiver in franchise history (probably a good decision despite him signing with Indy).

IMO, we need to replace AJ with a top WR, preferably Jaelen Strong if Cooper and White are gone as expected. The second guy on my must-get list is OLB Lorenzo Mauldin who would fit perfectly in a 3-4 since he has experience both as DE and OLB.

If we came away with those two, I'd feel the draft was a success. There are other holes to fill but those two could be critical.

I'd love to add help at KR, NT, ILB, C, S but those can come from later rounds.

Bob, what do you think about best available OLB in the first and this WR in the second.

https://youtu.be/dVBfdOafAVs