Justin Reid might have a leg up on most rookies when he joins the Houston Texans after spending years learning about the NFL from his brother Eric Authentic Lorenzo Carter Jersey , a first-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2013.
"We break down film together, I go and visit him at his house," Justin Reid said. "We watched games together. He would let me in on what the game plan was that week, how they're playing certain personnel."
The elder Reid is a safety who spent the last five seasons with the 49ers, but is currently a free agent. Justin, a safety from Stanford, followed in his brother's footsteps when Houston took him with the 68th overall pick in the draft on Friday night.
General manager Brian Gaine said they valued the football pedigree in his family, but were more impressed by his other qualities.
"What I'll tell you about Justin is No. 1 (he has) the prototypical body type, height, weight, speed for the position," Gaine said. "No. 2 production, graded well in terms of production. No. 3 was the versatility, interchangeable ability to play strong safety Authentic Brian O'Neill Jersey , free safety, the ability to play the run, the ability to play the pass. We feel like he's a fully dimensional safety at the position."
Reid was Houston's first pick in this year's draft after the Texans traded away their first-round pick to Cleveland to get quarterback Deshaun Watson with the 12th overall pick last year. They previously sent their second-round pick in this draft to the Browns as part of the deal to get rid of Brock Osweiler.
The draft was Gaine's first as a general manager after taking over in January when Rick Smith took an indefinite leave of absence to be with his wife, who is fighting cancer. But Gaine has plenty of experience in scouting and player evaluations, having worked as assistant general manager for the Dolphins and in player personnel for the Texans and the Bills.
He talked about having to wait through two rounds before making his first pick with the Texans.
"Unique circumstance, 20 years of doing this, I've never had that experience before," he said. "But in a way after yesterday it allowed us to kind of reposition ourselves and think about what's already occurred and kind of measure the supply and demand at the positions with 32 players already gone."
Reid started 11 of 14 games last season, piling up 99 tackles, including 6 1/2 for losses with five interceptions and six pass breakups.
Houston addressed its need on the offensive line by taking Mississippi State tackle Martinas Rankin with the 80th pick. The 6-foot-4, 308-pound Rankin is a versatile player who has lined up at almost every position on the offensive line, but spent the most time at left tackle. He'll have a chance to play early, competing with Julie'n Davenport for the chance to protect Watson's blind side at left tackle.
"We see him as an offensive lineman and hopefully the best five play however that unravels here," Gaine said. "But naturally he was a starting left tackle in the SEC so my hope is he'd have the ability to do that Falcons Calvin Ridley Jersey , but we also believe that if he has to play guard, right side, left side, wherever we need him that this guy has the versatility to do that."
The Texans used their last pick Friday night to address another need when they chose Central Florida tight end Jordan Akins at No. 98. At 26, the 6-3, 249-pound Akins is much older than most NFL rookies after spending four years playing minor league baseball after being drafted by the Texas Rangers in the third round in 2010.
Brian Bowen had the opportunity to spend a couple of days last week playing in real basketball games, replete with scoreboards and referees and with every courtside seat filled.
It’s unclear when he’ll be able to do that again.
Bowen might have been one of the most talked-about players in NCAA basketball over the last year, without so much as playing a single second of a game. He’s the one-time Louisville commit who left amid massive scandal – the federal probe into the college game, including allegations that his father took money during the recruiting process – and subsequently transferred to South Carolina.
But the NCAA hasn’t cleared him yet. It might not. So he’s taking a long look at the NBA, and Bowen’s invitation to the draft combine last week was a fact-finding mission that will help him decide whether to formally turn pro or return to school with hopes that his collegiate eligibility will be restored so he can play with the Gamecocks.
”It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Bowen said after one of his 5-on-5 games at the combine. ”They took the game away from me, a game I truly love. It made me realize how much passion and love I do have for the game. I put that into my workouts every day and I go as hard as I can.”
The 6-foot-7 Bowen of Saginaw, Michigan has until the end of the month to decide whether to keep his name in the draft or not. The draft itself is June 21. And there’s been no indication if the NCAA will offer him any clarity before he has not make his stay-or-go choice.
”My lawyer and the school are dealing with it,” Bowen said.
His is a most curious case Cheap Da'Shawn Hand Jersey , even in a draft that has a handful of players who have been tainted on some level by the ongoing mess that reverberated through the college game last season and probably will continue having a ripple effect for the foreseeable future.
Billy Preston, the 6-1o forward who left Kansas while being investigated by the NCAA and played professionally in Europe, was at the combine trying to show his worth to NBA clubs. Same goes for the 6-4 De’Anthony Melton, who left USC after not being able to play this past season because a family friend was linked to the scandal.
Melton said the interviews with teams at the combine had little to do with basketball and mostly centered on his side of the story.
”I just broke it down for them,” Melton said. ”I told them from the very beginning to the very end. I know there’s a lot of reports out there about what happened and what was going down, I told them my feelings about everything and why I kept quiet through the whole situation. I gave them what they were asking for.”
That trio of players handled their unwanted down time in different ways.
Bowen said he locked in on academics, earning a 3.5 GPA. Preston went to Bosnia and played, albeit in only a handful of games and was back around the Jayhawks – as a fan and friend, not player and teammate – for their Final Four appearance. Melton started studying NBA games and looking at them as if he was a coach, diverting his attention away from college ball with the exception of USC’s schedule.
”Any decision I made, I don’t regret nothing,” Preston said. ”I don’t regret anything I’ve been through. It’s God. It’s in God’s hands. Whatever presents itself, I’ll definitely fight my way through it. Being over there, I think that was God putting a barrier in my way and I broke through it. I didn’t even think I would be here right now.”
Bowen always expected to be at the combine Jarrod Dyson Jersey , but never while in this situation.
He doesn’t speak ill of Louisville . He insists that he’s had no involvement with Christian Dawkins, the would-be agent who federal prosecutors say brokered and facilitated payments to players during their recruitments in exchange for them hiring him when they turned pro. He says he hasn’t even considered who he would hire for representation if he stays in the draft.
”It’s a situation I have to deal with,” Bowen said. ”It is what it is. Continue to stay focused, that’s my big thing.”
He’s also closer than ever with his father, which might surprise some considering his alleged role in Bowen’s problems. He’s been in South Carolina with his son, and the younger Bowen said they begin each day the same way – a hug in the morning, saying ”I love you” to the other before starting to attack the daily schedule.
”Everything happens for a reason,” Bowen said. ”Somebody’s situation is always going to be worse than mine. Other people in my family have worse situations than I have. I just have to learn, use it as a learning experience, use it as motivation and have a chip on my shoulder.”
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