Official Texans Facebook Page Claims David Carr Was Not a "can't miss" Draft Pick

[Keith]

Found this today on the team's official Facebook page:

As with the other two times the Texans had the first pick in the draft, there's no apparent clear cut 'can't miss' choice at quarterback, or any position.

Quite some revisionist history as the team clearly thought David Carr was a can't miss choice at quarterback. I seem to recall thinking Julius Peppers was 'can't miss' at another position, too...

[WMH]

Originally Posted by Keith

Found this today on the team's official Facebook page:

Quite some revisionist history as the team clearly thought David Carr was a can't miss choice at quarterback. I seem to recall thinking Julius Peppers was 'can't miss' at another position, too...

Very few will admit it now, but there weren't many people that agrued with the Carr pick at the time of the draft.

[HPF Bob]

Yes, but somehow it didn't sink in that a 1-1 quarterback also needs some blockers in front of him to have a chance. With better coaching and better surrounding talent, I think he could have been worth the pick under the right conditions. Better than Peppers? Well, probably not but would you have wanted to watch Tony Banks the whole inaugural season?

[chuck]

I think the idea that Carr could have been a good NFL quarterback under any circumstance is ridiculous. Half of the sacks Carr took were his own fault. And he never found playing time anywhere else he went. Hell, the Panthers had to sign a 45 year old Testaverde out of retirement Carr was so useless.

Carr was a terrible pick and not an NFL talent. That's what having Casserly in charge will get you. But no, there wasn't a lot of dissention surrounding the pick at the time.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by chuck

I think the idea that Carr could have been a good NFL quarterback under any circumstance is ridiculous. Half of the sacks Carr took were his own fault. And he never found playing time anywhere else he went. Hell, the Panthers had to sign a 45 year old Testaverde out of retirement Carr was so useless.

Carr was a terrible pick and not an NFL talent. That's what having Casserly in charge will get you. But no, there wasn't a lot of dissention surrounding the pick at the time.

Or on the other hand it will get you Mario Williams instead of Vince Young or little Reggie.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by chuck

I think the idea that Carr could have been a good NFL quarterback under any circumstance is ridiculous.

So you're saying that practically every NFL and QB scout back in 2002 was a total idiot, right? Not everyone thought he deserved a 1-1, but almost all thought he was first-round material.

I thought he played well in '03 and '04, all things considered, but regressed after that to the point that he no longer trusted his blocking or his receivers. Compare him to Tim Couch who also was drafted 1-1 by an expansion franchise and was out of the NFL after five seasons. Sacked 56 times as a rookie and 51 times the following year. Intercepted 67 times for a 3.9 INT %.

Carr, in five seasons at Houston, was sacked 76 times as a rookie and had brought it down to 49 two years later. His INT % was 3.1. So, Tim Couch, thrust into the same type of situation as Carr, actually totalled slightly worse numbers and Couch was more highly-touted than Carr, coming out of an SEC school.

I think Carr was mistreated in Houston and was damaged goods by the time he left. But if you look particularly at his numbers in 2004 when the team went 7-9, and had a running game to work with and AJ to throw to, he was becoming a competant NFL quarterback before his regression.

I don't think the scouts were wrong about Couch or Carr. I think they were put in impossible situations and were eventually beaten into submission. If we do take a QB in the first round, at least he'll have some veteran pieces in place and I sure as hell hope they find better players at RT and RG so he doesn't have to run for his life the way Keenum often did.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

So you're saying that practically every NFL and QB scout back in 2002 was a total idiot, right? Not everyone thought he deserved a 1-1, but almost all thought he was first-round material.

I thought he played well in '03 and '04, all things considered, but regressed after that to the point that he no longer trusted his blocking or his receivers. Compare him to Tim Couch who also was drafted 1-1 by an expansion franchise and was out of the NFL after five seasons. Sacked 56 times as a rookie and 51 times the following year. Intercepted 67 times for a 3.9 INT %.

Carr, in five seasons at Houston, was sacked 76 times as a rookie and had brought it down to 49 two years later. His INT % was 3.1. So, Tim Couch, thrust into the same type of situation as Carr, actually totalled slightly worse numbers and Couch was more highly-touted than Carr, coming out of an SEC school.

I think Carr was mistreated in Houston and was damaged goods by the time he left. But if you look particularly at his numbers in 2004 when the team went 7-9, and had a running game to work with and AJ to throw to, he was becoming a competant NFL quarterback before his regression.

I don't think the scouts were wrong about Couch or Carr. I think they were put in impossible situations and were eventually beaten into submission. If we do take a QB in the first round, at least he'll have some veteran pieces in place and I sure as hell hope they find better players at RT and RG so he doesn't have to run for his life the way Keenum often did.

I don't know how you can type that with a straight face. You mention that with a running game and an all-time great at WR he was "becoming competent", but then you say the scouts were not wrong about him being a 1st round pick.

Casserly was as wrong as the rest of the NFL about Carr. He was not alone in that judgment, but that doesn't make him any less wrong. Or does a bunch of teams thinking Ryan Leaf was worth a 1st rounder make the Chargers GM less wrong?

[Joshua]

Pull up the first round of basically any draft you want. It's littered with busts. In most years, a full half of the first round don't live up to expectations. Simply because most teams graded Carr out as a high pick is meaningless and to suggest that pre-draft prognostications are a better indicator of what he was capable of than what he actually did is laughable.

[chuck]

My basic premise is that if a guy is so brittle emotionally that he gets ruined by playing on a couple of bad teams then in an optimal situation there is no way that he would ever scale the heights predicted by his physical talent. Carr was always going to suck. Couch was always going to suck. Good line, bad line, good coach, bad coach. Those guys were never going to be any good.

Anyway, I'm no closer to having any real idea of what I want the Texans to do.

[Warren]

The Texans encouraged Carr to work out at the combine by telling him he'd be their pick no matter how how he performed in Indy. If that doesn't mean they considered him a clear cut, can't miss QB then I don't know what would.

I liked the Carr pick at the time, FWIW. He had the physical tools but just couldn't make decisions quickly enough, and he seemed more satisfied with being an NFL QB than pushing himself to be a great one.