Tag Archives: Houston Texans

Johnson, Andre

Cards: Score 2009 Franchise,Score 2009, Apex 2010
Acquired: TTM 2009,2011, Texans Blitz

With the 3rd pick of the 2003 draft, the Houston Texans select: Charles Rogers, WR ,Michigan State. One shudders when they think that the Houston Texans draft could’ve gone down like this. With Carson Palmer being a slam dunk to the Bengals, the question now was: What would the Lions do? Leading up to the draft, the Lions (who were embarking on a love affair with wide receivers under Matt Millen) and the Texans, held the #2 and #3 overall draft cards respectively. Both teams desperately needed a wide receiver. The Lions fell in love with Rogers, who had drawn comparisons to Randy Moss and made the pick.  The Texans hopped, skipped and jumped to the podium to grab Johnson with the #3 pick. Andre has become one of the most feared and consistent receivers in the NFL since then, while Rogers is no longer in the league and is widely considered a bust.

While narrowly missing 1000 yards his rookie season in 2003, Johnson asserted himself almost immediately as the team’s #1 receiver and a solid blue chip establishing a solid rapport with starting quarterback David Carr. He’d set multiple team records for the young franchise that season. His 2004 was more impressive as he grabbed 79 balls for over 1100 yards and 6 TDs. Andre would be named to his first ProBowl after that season. 2005 would be a disappointment for Johnson as an injury would largely decimate his season and he’d finish with 688 yards, but 2006 he’d return to form shattering all the receiving records for the Texans again with 103 catches and 1147 yards.  Andre in 2007 would miss a good portion of the season again to injury- but he’d quickly return to form and made a career high 8 touchdown grabs working with new quarterback Matt Schaub. (Over the last 4 seasons, since Matt Schaub joined the team, Andre Johnson has averaged nearly 100 yards per game.) 2008  would be bellweather season for Andre, making over 100 grabs again, and over 1500 yards receiving, but his 2009 would be even more amazing duplicating the 1500 yard effort and 100 catches. He’d also snag a career high 9 td grabs.  Johnson would join Jerry Rice as the only players to lead the NFL in back to back seasons in both catches and yards. 2010, would see a nagging ankle injury from week 2 slow him down, causing the prolific receiver to miss 3 games, but still log 86 catches and over 1200 yards receiving.

I always draft the soft-spoken Johnson whenever I can. In 2009, I had both Johnson and Schaub handcuffing each other for additional points, grabbing Andre in the back end of the first round and Schaub in the 5th. As of the time of this post, I am still awaiting a blitz of autographs from the team that include Johnson. The Apex card was part of a set of cards I designed from the Topps website, and I used Photoshop to make Andre look like he was in the Pasadena Riders uniform.

G/Gs 115    Rec 673   Yds  9164  Avg 13.6    Td 50     Lg 77t

Winston, Eric

Card: Playoff Prestige 2006
Acquired: TTM 2009, Texans Blitz

Eric Winston wsa be drafted by the Houston Texans in the 3rd round of the 2006 draft. A gifted and intelligent blocker, Winston would form a building block of the Houston Texans massively improved pass defense. The Texans offense used to be something where opposing teams defenses licked their chops knowing Houston was on their schedule- however with the addition of players like Eric Winston and others, the team  saw a quick turn around on the offensive line and cut down their sacks immediately. Over the past few years, Winston has come into his own and as of 2010 borderlines on Pro Bowl caliber talent. Unfortunately the underlying stigma still remains that Houston has bad pass protection, despite the team’s offensive improvement over the last 5 years.

 

Slaton, Steve

Card: Donruss Rookies and Stars 2009
Acquired: Texans Blitz 2009

Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2007 draft, the Texans were looking for some help at runningback after the sudden retirement of team career rushing leader Dominack Davis, and found it in the dimunitive package of Steve Slaton. At 5′ 9″, 197,  Slaton was slotted in to share time with Chris Brown as a 3rd down back, but with Brown injured, Slaton assumed the starting runningback duties full time. Steve would have an impact rookie season for the Texans, helping the team achieve their first non-losing record at 8-8. Extremely dangerous out of screen plays, he led all rookies in rushing yardage with 1282 yards rushing and 377 yards receiving.

Everybody saw bigger and brighter things for the young Steve Slaton in 2009 but some talked about the ‘sophomore slump’. Whether or not it was true, Slaton suffered a down year dogged by injuries and 7 fumbles. Slaton would admit himself that he was suffering from incredible neck pain and then it was discovered he had fractured a vertebra. After 11 games, Slaton would go on injured reserve. Still Steve did manage to catch 44 balls, for a career high 417 yards, but his effective yards from scrimmage were halved.

In the meantime the Texans discovered Arian Foster buried on their depth chart and by the start of the 2010 season, Steve faced a much different backfield than he was leading in 2009. In fact, the Texans drafted Ben Tate, and then they grabbed Derrick Ward via free agency. With Tate injured early on Slaton would be ensured a spot on the roster. He would do what he could as the team’s starting kick returner. Steve would average 19.7 yards a return on 39 kicks and finish with almost 1000 yards from scrimmage in 2010.

Steve’s situation in Houston remains cloudy. I really like the kid, and think he can perform in an Eric Metcalf sort of way provided he’s given the 3rd down back potential to do so, but at this time he remains buried on the depth chart. Rumors as of this date continue to swirl around him being traded and as a possible landing spot, -Washington has surfaced.

I was dismayed that one of my friends beat me to the punch and drafted him in my fantasy football draft in 2009, but luck shined my way and I ended up with Chris Johnson who had a 2000+ yard season and led me to a fantasy championship.