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In Brian Gaine's first draft as the general manager of the Houston Texans Buccaneers Game Jerseys , he wanted to add three things to the offensive and defensive side of the ball 鈥?speed, athleticism and explosiveness.
In doing that with his eight picks, Gaine also added competition to multiple positions on the Texans roster.
"The one thing I want people to understand is that we're always going to be trying to add competition to the roster regardless of the position whenever it makes sense," Gaine said. "Any players we added to the roster this year through the draft we think has a chance to make the team."
Gaine worked his way through the past two days, not making any draft day trades, and addressed his team's needs.
Gaine admitted the opportunities to make trades were there and he did come close to making some moves.
"Always tempted," Gaine said about making a trade. "I'm always looking for an opportunity to improve the team. At every turn and every opportunity when we were selecting, I'm evaluating the pros and cons of going up to get a player or sitting tight or the opportunity to move back."
Heading into the draft, the Texans' deepest needs were on the offensive line, in the secondary and at tight end.
Gaine utilized four of his eight picks to bolster the secondary and the tight end spot.
In the third round, Gaine drafted University of Central Florida tight end Jordan Akins. Then in the sixth round, Gaine selected Mississippi State tight end Jordan Thomas.
"It's important, especially in our offense at tight end because we have different roles and different jobs as it relates to the composition of the group, in terms of the Y and the F and how we use those guys," Gaines said about adding depth to the tight end position.
"Ideally we want them to be fully dimensional http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-ar...key-jer sey , but we like having versatile tight ends who can do different jobs."
SECONDARY IS PRIMARY
Gaine bookended his first draft with a pair of picks to help the secondary.
With his first pick in the third round, Gaine took Stanford safety Justin Reid and with his final pick in the seventh round selected San Jose State cornerback Jermaine Kelly.
"We want to have a versatile secondary because of the variations of things we do in sub-package defense," Gaine said.
ADDING TO O-LINE
Gaine filled the Texans' need on the offensive line with Mississippi State tackle Martinas Rankin in the third round.
Gaine's other three picks were spent on wide receiver and outside linebacker.
"With the additions we made in this draft on the offensive side we feel like we added more weapons to surround Deshaun Watson with," Gaine said. "We also did add offensive linemen through free agency and the draft."
With his lone pick of the fourth round, Gaine scooped up Texas Tech wide receiver Keke Coutee with the 103rd overall pick.
Texans offensive and special teams assistant Wes Welker also played his college football at Texas Tech before playing 12 years in the NFL.
"We've been in contact a lot throughout this whole process," Coutee said. "He worked me out in my private workout, so just being able to work with him and him teaching me the game a little more and how to run routes is really good."
GETTING DEFENSIVE
After the Coutee pick, two of the Texans' final four picks were spent on outside linebackers.
Gaine drafted Wake Forest's Duke Ejiofor with his 177th overall pick and Stanford's Peter Kalambayi with the 214th overall pick.
Ejiofor finished his Wake Forest career with 128 tackles and 23陆 sacks. He also had 41 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and six pass deflections.
Ejiofor and Kalambayi join a defensive unit that includes J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus.
"This is a dream come true," Ejiofor said. "I've watched J.J. Watt, Clowney and Whitney Mercilus. This is crazy, I can't believe I'm about to join them and learn so much from them."
Ejiofor is recovering from right shoulder labrum surgery, but said he will be ready for training camp.
STLL NEED
The one area the Texans didn't add to through the draft was at quarterback.
Houston has three quarterbacks on the roster in Watson Antonio Senzatela Colorado Rockies Jersey , Brandon Weeden and Joe Webb III.
"We feel comfortable with the group we have at the moment," Gaine said.
Police and prosecutors in Georgia say they're reviewing the arrest of a former football player whose lawyers say officers used excessive force.
Video circulated online last week of the Dec. 2 arrest of Desmond Marrow in a shopping center parking lot in McDonough, just south of Atlanta. Marrow, 30, is a former college football player who tried to catch on with two NFL teams.
In the one-minute video clip, officers can be seen forcefully taking a handcuffed Marrow to the ground by sweeping his legs out from under him as he yells, "I'm not even fighting back." When he's on the ground, an officer puts his hand on Marrow's throat for several seconds and Marrow says, "I can't breathe," while another officer tells him to settle down.
Chris Stewart, an attorney for Marrow, said it's clear from the video that Marrow wasn't resisting and the officers used excessive force. The officers should be fired and the charges against Marrow should be dropped, Stewart said.
Robbie Swinson, who witnessed Marrow's arrest, said in a phone interview Monday that the video "speaks for itself Rashaad Penny Seahawks Jersey , and it shows excessive force" because Marrow was already cuffed. But he said it only shows a tiny slice of a long encounter and that Marrow aggressively chased another vehicle down the road and in the parking lot, talked about shooting people and then scuffled with police as they tried to handcuff him.
Although a use of force review was done at the time of the arrest, Henry County police Chief Mark Amerman earlier in April ordered an internal affairs investigation, department spokesman Capt. Joey Smith said in an email Friday. One of the officers was placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation, he said.
"The Henry County Police Department takes any charges of excessive use of force very seriously and wants to assure the public that this event will be fully investigated," Smith said.
Henry County District Attorney Darius Pattillo said in an emailed statement Friday that his office is conducting a parallel investigation to determine whether the use of force was justified. That is being done by a review panel that includes Pattillo, his chief investigator, another veteran prosecutor and a use of force expert.
"The portion of the video distributed is graphic and violent, and we understand why people are disturbed by this," Pattillo said. "I can assure you that once the investigation is complete, we will respond appropriately."
His office is also examining the charges against Marrow, including felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer, misdemeanor reckless driving and misdemeanor aggressive driving.
Marrow told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he was driving along when two white men pulled up next to him and started yelling racial slurs and threw a cup of coffee at him. He stayed calm but drove fast to follow them and get their license plate number and followed them into the parking lot to talk to them, he said.
One of the men listed on the police report as a victim disputes that. Scott Davis told the AP by phone Monday that Marrow began aggressively riding his bumper, cursed at him and his friend Cheap Chris Herndon Jersey , threw a rock at their car and yelled that he had a loaded gun and would shoot them.
At one point, Marrow pulled in front of them and tried to block them and appeared to be getting out of his truck, so Davis threw a can of Coke to slow him down so they could get away, Davis said. Marrow then followed them into the shopping center parking lot and chased them "driving like a madman" as Davis called 911, Davis said.
Swinson saw Marrow chasing a car along the road and then saw him continue to chase the car through the parking lot, he said. Worried that one of them would hit someone in the parking lot, Swinson said he tried to get between the two cars to stop them.
He blocked Marrow, who got out of the car complaining that the men in the other car had thrown some liquid at his car and hollering that he had a gun, Swinson said.
Police found no weapons when they searched Marrow and decided to arrest him after speaking to the alleged victims and witnesses who said they had seen Marrow aggressively chasing another vehicle and making threats, a police report says.
Marrow played football at the University of Toledo in Ohio but wasn't drafted out of college. He signed a contract in 2012 with the Houston Texans but was cut during preseason. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked him up but he didn't make the team.
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