McNair Talks Clowney

HPF Bob · #1 01-14-2014, 05:11 PM

CBS Sports.com

McNair looks like he's running interference for Rick Smith and Bill O'Brien this off-season. First he talks about trading down. Then he talks about drafting Clowney. Eventually, he'll get around to drafting a QB if the Texans are going that way.

I kinda think McNair wants to trade down but he needs to find a partner. Maybe he really wants Manzeil.

McNair better be careful though when he talks the "black athlete (Clowney) ...natural while white athlete (Watt)... worked hard" to be a star. That could rankle some people.

Keith · #2 01-15-2014, 02:24 AM

Either McNair really likes his Cocks or he is selling hard to get someone to move up for Clowney.

I tend to believe the latter.

nunusguy · #3 01-15-2014, 07:34 AM

I don't think the Texans find a partner to trade their number one pick with because there's just not the QB in this years Draft that has the appeal of a prospect like RGIII did for the Redskins a couple years ago.

Keith · #4 01-15-2014, 01:30 PM

I don't think so either, which is why McNair is talking about Clowney and not a QB. If he really wanted Clowney, I wouldn't expect him to say a peep.

Expressing interest in Clowney like this hopefully builds a market for a player he's not interested in if there's a trade to be made, and it hopefully helps him negotiate a contract with a QB (like Teddy B-H20) using another viable alternative like Clowney as leverage.

Warren · #5 01-16-2014, 08:02 PM

Smokescreen or not, McNair could get dinged by the NFL for tampering. McNair made his public comments on the 14th at the latest. Clowney is an underclassman. He declared for the draft but he has until 72 hours after the deadline to declare (which was on the 15th) to change his mind. Clowney hasn't been designated as draft-eligible yet, so that's tampering.

Nconroe · #6 01-17-2014, 12:54 AM

The Houstontexans.com news website has quite a bit of coverage on Teddy Bridgewater today. Claim they will cover one of top picks each week, but Bridgewater is going first.

From the writeup Bridgewater sounds pretty good.

popanot · #7 01-31-2014, 08:09 AM

Interesting following the mocks and what the twitter draft pundits are saying. It seems most of them have us taking Clowney now. I'm OK with Clowney, Bridgewater, Bortels, or Manziel as long as the Texans are confident he's the guy and they show they have a plan in place. I think I'm more concerned with the later RD picks and building back a solid foundation.

nunusguy · #8 01-31-2014, 03:03 PM

FWIW listening to 610 radio from NYC for SB week and guest Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says many in the league think the Texans take Clowney.
Here's a little clip of Clowney anchoring his high scholl relay team.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...he-4x100-relay

Warren · #9 01-31-2014, 05:04 PM

Clowney scares me. It’s not just the drop-off in production, but also the cracks from Spurrier about Clowney checking himself out because he was a little dinged up when Spurrier clearly believed he could have played. Last year the Texans took another SEC DE/OLB whose his commitment had been publicly questioned by one of his college coaches and that didn’t work out so well.

I don’t know much about the author (Russ Lande), but check out this scouting report on Clowney – very detailed, and apparently based on careful film study and discussions with scouts. It has links to reports on Bridgewater, Manziel, and some of the other top guys.