FanHouse Charley Casserly

The Houston Texans are dead last in total defense. It is no surprise given the big touchdown runs given up by the Texans defense to Thomas Jones, Chris Johnson and Maurice Jones-Drew. Fantasy football players have been feasting on the Texans defense for years, and certain offensive players in the AFC South probably should owe a part of their paychecks to them.

Explanations for the predictable struggles are easier to identify than the solutions:

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In the days following the 2001 draft, when a still unproven Bill Belichick drafted defensive tackle Richard Seymour with the sixth overall pick, then-Boston Globe columnist Ron Borges writing for MSNBC.com cemented his place in Boston sports history by writing these words:

Word for the week: smokescreen. Expect to hear it roughly four million times between now and Saturday afternoon. Yesterday, FanHouse draft analyst Bruce Ciskie pointed out that the Lions -- at least to hear Mlive.com's Tom Kowalski tell it -- had a deal in place with linebacker Aaron Curry just in case negotiations fell through with quarterback Matthew Stafford.

That's certainly believable, even amid all the pre-draft misdirection. What's harder to fathom, though, is the idea that Curry, should the Lions pass on him, might not be a top-10 pick or the first defensive player drafted. If Detroit takes Stafford, NFLDraftScout.com's Rob Rang has a theory:

NFL Network's Charley Casserly and Brian Billick talked to the media today about the upcoming NFL Draft. Choicest nuggets below.

On the news that B.J. Raji didn't fail a drug test as reported by SI.com and NFLDraftBible.com...
Brian Billick: "This is of great concern to me, as I think it is to the league and a number of different people. The vetting process that these rookies go through, particularly at the combine, and to have the misconception, or the rumors or the innuendo about some of these young people ... it sounds like there has been some misinformation put out there.

Three years ago, NFL Network draft oracle Mike Mayock was pimping Jay Cutler's NFL prospects before it was fashionable. Now that Cutler has whined his way out of Denver, Mayock thinks the Broncos should use this month's draft to find their next franchise quarterback.

Hardly earth-shattering news; the depth chart currently lists Kyle Orton and Chris Simms. Both serviceable players (and I'm on record saying Orton can handle the gig), but neither the type you build a team around. Plus, Josh McDaniels was an offensive coordinator with the Patriots before taking the Broncos job; he's not going to be content to rely on his defense to win games. This ain't Baltimore.

Marvin Harrison has been out of work for six weeks now, and there's no reason to think that'll change anytime soon.

Teams have shown no interest in the 36-year-old, 13-year veteran and Hall of Fame lock. He barely cracked the top-10 in FanHouse's list of top available free agents, which is remarkable when you see such luminaries as Byron Leftwich, Cato June and Dre Bly ahead of him.

Former general manager and teevee talking head Charley Casserly seems unfazed by Harrison's unemployment.

In the weeks and months leading up to the 2006 draft, the media buzz centered around Matt Leinart (he stayed for his senior season!) and Vince Young (he can do no wrong!). Jay Cutler, most often referred to as "that guy with a rifle arm who took A TON of hits at Vandy," was an afterthought -- a consolation prize for the NFL team that wouldn't be in position to take the two franchise quarterbacks ahead of him.

Two years later, Cutler is, by miles, the best quarterback from that draft class, and the Broncos look prescient for trading up to grab him. (Even if a lot of people were confused by the move at the time. And by "a lot of people" I obviously mean "Jake Plummer, his family, and friends.")

SI.com's Bucky Brooks agrees, and explains why Cutler has been so successful.

Yesterday, the Texans announced that GM Rick Smith signed a contract extension with the Texans through 2012. Coach Gary Kubiak's five year contract expires after the 2010 season, and he is line for an extension if the team keeps progressing. (A good HoustonTexans.com video discussing the move is above).

Smith, the youngest GM in the league is an illustration of how often careers are built with luck and making your own luck. This is what Kubiak had to say about Smith's start in the league:

I'll tell you how Rick was hired: We were in Denver, we were going to camp, and we were looking for a defensive assistant to come in and help the defensive staff. We didn't have a guy, and we were sitting in the staff meeting, and our running back coach raises his hand. He said, 'I've got a great kid that's on his way to TCU right now. He's going there to work there as a (graduate assistant).' And Mike (Shanahan) said, 'Can you catch him halfway and tell him to come to Colorado? We'll hire him.'

So far, the general consensus of the Texans blogosphere is that folks are happy with the partnership of Smith with Kubiak. The Texans-focused BattleRedBlog conflates their name into the word "Smithiak." Why wouldn't they be pleased with the duo?

I can't speak for Redskins fans but as a Texans fan, I find it very difficult to listen to former Houston GM Charley Casserly act as a draft analyst. It strikes me a bit like getting parenting lessons from Britney Spears.

His latest gig is being a professor at George Mason University, teaching students on how to get a job and keep it. The advice is pretty sound--finding a job, paying your dues, impressing bosses, finding mentors, volunteering to do harder jobs. Of course, he missed one of his steps that the Houston media would probably point out right away--put blame on other people in case things don't work out.

For young job seekers, I would suggest it is also important to look older and more responsible than you are when you are looking for your first job. And just looking at Casserly, never ever get gray in your helmet hair as you get older and make sure Wikipedia doesn't know your age. Having non-stop BS skills is a plus, and always sound confident in what you are saying, even when you don't know what the hades you are talking about. "See, that's the way we do it in the NFL see....."

All GM's make mistakes on players. But you would hope that those GM's would learn from some of those mistakes. One of the biggest problems I had about Casserly is that he completely discounted the value of middle round picks in building a team in the modern salary cap era. The Texans are still paying for that mistake in the lack of depth on their team.

Hey, it's just like 2006 but with none of the excitement. In the days leading up to that draft, we all just figured the Houston Texans would take Reggie Bush because, according to ... well, everybody, he was the best player on the planet.

Instead, the Texans, Charley Casserly, and his hair negotiated a pre-draft deal with defensive end Mario Williams, signed him the night before, and the rest of us were left to wonder who the Texans would take with their sure-to-be 2007 first-overall pick.

There's a reason fans and the media typically don't work as NFL general managers: they have no idea what they're talking about. Two years later, Williams is one of the best young defensive ends in the league and the highlight of Bush's career is that he's yet to contract a sexually transmitted disease from Kim Kardashian.

This year, the Dolphins have been reportedly negotiating with tackle Jake Long and linebacker Vernon Gholston. And so far, it's been pretty boring. Today, though, the Palm Beach Post's Tim Graham is spicing things up. Or something: