Chris Houston Film...

[mavfan2390]

...just makes me drool!!

The guy is strong and fast and has amazing recovery speed. He just doesn't step down from anyone, and is great at jamming at the line! If he's there at 24 I don't see how we pass up on him


http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/prospects?rank_type=2

click on the video camera next to his name

 

[sebman2112]

...just makes me drool!!

The guy is strong and fast and has amazing recovery speed. He just doesn't step down from anyone, and is great at jamming at the line! If he's there at 24 I don't see how we pass up on him


http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/prospects?rank_type=2

click on the video camera next to his name

Here's the link Directly to that video

Here's Houston's video on SI.com (Has some ST highlights, as well)

If you watch the highlights on SI.com check out Kenny Scott, Lorenzo Booker, Chris Davis, C.J. Gaddis, Josh Gattis, Sabby Piscitelli, Stewart Bradley, Desmond Bishop, Anthony Waters, Carriker, Spencer, Woodley, Harris, Harrell, Aundrae Allison, and Lynch.

 

[zippo59]

Is he the guy who shut down most elite receivers he played against but had trouble getting interceptions?

 

[sebman2112]

Is he the guy who shut down most elite receivers he played against but had trouble getting interceptions?

Yes,

Sports Xchange:

"Houston was again on the move in 2006, shifting back to field cornerback. He earned All-American honorable mention and All-Southeastern Conference second-team honors and was also a key component of Arkansas' outstanding special teams units. He registered a career-high 45 tackles (38 solos) with two forced fumbles. Considering that he generally covered the opponents' best receiver, he was challenged often. He allowed five touchdown receptions, but intercepted three passes and deflected 13 others. He even got to experience life on offense, catching a pass for 12 yards in the waning moments of the SEC title game against Florida.

In 33 games at Arkansas, Houston started 27 times. He recorded 86 tackles (69 solos) with five stops for losses of 8 yards. He caused three fumbles, had a 12-yard reception and returned one punt for a 1-yard gain. He also batted down 22 passes and intercepted three others for 129 yards in returns."

"Houston has good leaping ability and timing, but his poor hands have seen several potential interceptions turn into pass deflections"

His not being able to make INT's sounds like Asante Samuel of '04-05. He's got better man-to-man skills, though. Get him working with the nerf ball like Asante and he'll probably turn into a beast in NE's system.

 

[mavfan2390]

ET: How'd you feel about your performance during your position drills at your Pro Day?

CH: I did very well. To me there's a lot of things I could work on, but during the backpedaling drills I think I did very well. I wasn't planning on doing anything because I had personal workouts set up with the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans on the 27th and 28th.

Good interview with Chris here: http://nflexperts.scout.com/2/632697.html

impressive kid, I really really hope he's a Patriot soon

 

[SeanBruschi54]

Most would disagree with me but he is MY top ranked corner on my draft board.

 

[patchick]

OK, I haven't been high on Houston but I was hoping the highlight videos might help change my mind. Now I realize that I was probably biased in my viewing, but did anybody else see this:

- an outstanding ST gunner

- a CB who wasn't always in great position but had the blazing speed to catch back up with college receivers, without turning his head toward the ball, and hit the receiver hard enough to make him drop the near catch.

Maybe that's just what highlight films are made of, but it left me uneasy.

 

[SeanBruschi54]

OK, I haven't been high on Houston but I was hoping the highlight videos might help change my mind. Now I realize that I was probably biased in my viewing, but did anybody else see this:

- an outstanding ST gunner

- a CB who wasn't always in great position but had the blazing speed to catch back up with college receivers, without turning his head toward the ball, and hit the receiver hard enough to make him drop the near catch.

Maybe that's just what highlight films are made of, but it left me uneasy.

Ma'am the guy did 27 reps of 225. Thats more than some linebackers and defensive lineman.

 

[patchick]

Ma'am the guy did 27 reps of 225. Thats more than some linebackers and defensive lineman.

No question, his pure physical attributes are exceptional -- an embarrassment of speed and strength. It's his style of football that doesn't feel right to me.

 

[SeanBruschi54]

No question, his pure physical attributes are exceptional -- an embarrassment of speed and strength. It's his style of football that doesn't feel right to me.

?

Such as? The only thing not right for a Patriots style of play perspective is that he isnt a great tackler on run support. Neither was Samuel coming out but he changed that eventually.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

?

Such as? The only thing not right for a Patriots style of play perspective is that he isnt a great tackler on run support. Neither was Samuel coming out but he changed that eventually.

I think patchick is referring to the appearence of playing out of control, I believe the kid had a couple Pass Interference calls go against him, maybe more. The other aspect of being out of control is being out of position. This is coachable, I'd have to look to see how coachable he is, but the concern is he will be working against a different talent level, despite the SEC reputation, and will have some bad habits to break. None of these are deal killers, but they are part of the overall picture. Compared to Revis and Hall, it's discomforting and, if you are inclined to go CB in round one, discomfort can't be good.

 

[zippo59]

Well you can't argue with the results. He's shut down virtually every top WR he's played against, though his lack of ballskills are a drawback.

 

[patriotsdynasty12189]

The one thing that concerns me is that one play against Robert Meachem when he got beat inside on the jam. Erik Ainge is just trash and cant throw but Meachem had a good 5 yard open. Any pro QB would of hit him in the chest but Ainge threw it behind him.

 

[patsfan55]

ive been in his camp since the combine
i would LOVE him in a pats uni
he has that nastiness about him
he def takes risks and could get burned a few times early in his career, but i think put in the right system this guy could really develop into a great corner
plus he jus looks like an athlete, jus look at the way he moves and such

 

[PATSNUTme]

Hate to keep bring this name up. Nolan Nowrocki of ProFW said he is the Amand Carroll of this draft. All the triagle #'s you would want to see but is just not a good football player. He may end up being no more than a nickle back.

Nowrocki may be wrong but I don't have him on my list of Db's.

Edit: Scouts Inc confirms Nolan's thoughts by ranking Houston as a late day one pick.

 

[zippo59]

Hate to keep bring this name up. Nolan Nowrocki of ProFW said he is the Amand Carroll of this draft. All the triagle #'s you would want to see but is just not a good football player. He may end up being no more than a nickle back.

Nowrocki may be wrong but I don't have him on my list of Db's.

Edit: Scouts Inc confirms Nolan's thoughts by ranking Houston as a late day one pick.

Didn't Belichick really like Ahmad Carroll?

 

[mavfan2390]

Perceived as mouthy, immature and not nearly as good as he portrayed himself to be

describing Ahmad Carroll here: http://www.myfantasyball.com/players.php?player_id=5172


The only similarity is that they went to the same college. Houston has better strenghth, and did better in college. Houston also has his head on straight and is dedicated. Carroll is nothing like Houston.

 

[patchick]

Such as? The only thing not right for a Patriots style of play perspective is that he isnt a great tackler on run support. Neither was Samuel coming out but he changed that eventually.

True enough. Here's my best stab at explaining why, despite his talent, Chris Houston isn't on my 1st-round Pats board.

In an earlier thread I gathered excerpts from every available profile on nfldraftscout.com of Pats-drafted DBs:
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showpost.php?p=341357&postcount=21
The summary:
"In short, there appears to be a clear profile for a Pats-drafted DB. It's not a physical profile, it's an on-the-field profile. Good hands, strong in run support, excellent field awareness and read-and-react/ball-tracking skills."

Meanwhile the profile of a Pats #1 draft choice is a sure thing, a guy who doesn't have any huge question marks about his size or his position fit or his college productivity or his character or, well, anything. It's not their round-1 MO to swing for the fences on guys with huge athletic upside who would be expected to play very differently than they did in college. (Other teams certainly do take this approach, witness a Matt Jones.)


Here are some things that have been said about Chris Houston here recently:

"fastest time by any DB"
"has amazing recovery speed"
"the guy did 27 reps of 225. Thats more than some linebackers and defensive lineman"

and

"hands can be fixed"
"The other aspect of being out of control is being out of position. This is coachable"
"Plenty of learning to do. As strong as he is, and as aggressive as he appears in the vid, I can't see him not taking to supporting the run."
""Get him working with the nerf ball like Asante and he'll probably turn into a beast"


From clips, from stats and from scout analyses, I think we all agree that Houston is the best athlete at CB in the draft. I think we also agree that he has hands of stone (one poster noted that Arkansas moved him to gunner rather than have him return kicks or punts for this reason). Some feel this isn't a big deal because it's teachable. He also showed little interest in run support in college, but this is also felt to be teachable. I and others have questioned his read-and-react and and ball tracking skills, but once more, teachable. But that's a clean sweep of all the skills the Patriots have valued most in their DBs!

To me, that makes Houston far too speculative a pick for the first round. His extraordinary athleticism -- and effort and aggressiveness, I'm not slighting him -- made him tremendously successful college, but he has a lot to learn to play in the Patriots backfield. That makes him intriguing, but not a #1 pick.

 

[mavfan2390]

Good post Patchick, the only problem I see is that your profile for a Pats CB is the same as a profile for the perfect CB. No prospect is going to have everything...the closest things in the draft are Calvin Johnson and Laron Landry, but where we're picking we're not going to find a complete prospect. Everyone has holes, and in my mind Houston has two major ones, he can't catch and he won't help in run support, everything thing else about him is great. Dwayne Bowe said he was the best corner he faced in his college career. He's the rare prospect who has amazing physical skills AND the production to match it. We know he'll succeed in the NFL because he already succeeded against NFL recievers! He shut down Robert Meachem and Dwayne Jarrett and Dwayne Bowe!

Everything else indicates he will succeed, he has a strong work ethic, and confidence.

 

[PATSNUTme]

With with the question marks that McCauley has, I would pick him over Houston. I would take a chance on McCauley in the first round, I would not take a chance on Houston.