The Z Report
Lance Zierlein: Even with no early picks, the Texans hit in the draft
Lance Zierlein
May 2, 2018, 1:14 pm
All in all, I was very pleased with the Houston Texans draft. They stole a future starting safety in the third round while adding to obvious positions of need. Brian Gaine said they wanted to get faster and they did just that and they also added players at the end of the draft who should help improve their special teams unit. Here are my thoughts on the players drafted by the Texans.
Round 3, (68th) Jordan Reid, S, Stanford: To be honest, I had a first round grade on Reid, but expected him to go sometime in the early second round. Reid is what teams are looking for at the safety position. He's a plus size/speed prospect who has the athletic ability to help with man coverage and the instincts and ball skills for ball-hawking duties on the back end. Reid can get himself into some trouble when he's overly aggressive, but his positive plays far outweigh the negative. He has the talent to become an early starter and a good one. Tyrann Mathieu is at his best when he’s free-styling in space so even though Reid can play a combo safety role, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Texans used him as a safety on the back-end. Make no mistake, Reid has the talent to become an instant starter in this secondary.
Round 3 (80th) Martinas Rankin, OL, Mississippi State: In my personal opinion, the further Rankin kicks inside the better he will be. I’m sure the Texans will give Rankin the first look at tackle, but Rankin may have issues as a run blocker handling the power he will face. He’s played at a relatively high level in a good football conference and offers position flexibility which is key. He has heavy hands and good instincts in pass protection. He could become a good NFL starter but I’m not sure it will be at tackle. The Texans are bamking on the fact that he can make it work at that position.
Round 3 (98) Jordan Akins, TE, Central Florida: Akins has decent size, but flashes with his speed and ability to challenge man coverage down the field. Akins saw 43.7 percent of his catches go for 20-plus yards this season, but he also has the necessary talent with the ball in his hands to take a short throw and turn it into a first down. Akins is a move tight end with the ability to separate and create throwing windows, but he won't offer much as a blocker. Many teams were turned off by the fact that Akins is going to be a 26-year old rookie.
Round 4 (103) Keke Coutee, WR, Texas Tech: Lanky speed merchant with an ability to take the top off of a defense as well as handle the nickel and dime catches underneath. Coutee's lack of route experience and play strength could lead to a bumpy initial season, but his ability to separate both vertically and out of his breaks should make him a coveted slot target capable of adding chunk plays to an offense or return game in need of some juice. Coutee can handle kick return dutie and he can also handle the duties that were supposed to go to Braxton Miller in the slot. There isn’t going to be much need for Bruce Ellington, Braxton Miller, and Coutee on one roster.
Round 6 (177) Duke Ejiofor, DE, Wake Forest: The only reason Duke Ejiofor fell to this spot was because there were concerns about his medicals. He’s not a naturally gifted athlete, but he’s a very advanced pass rusher in terms of his skill level. Ejiofor's game revolves around his heavy hands and his ability to finish as a rusher if a blocker gives him an opening. Ejiofor needs to play faster as an edge rusher, but don’t sleep on his ability to rush from the interior in sub-packages. He consistently harassed the quarterback as an interior rusher and might be able to do the same with the Texans if he’s healthy. Great value pick.
Round 6 (211) Jordan Thomas, TE, Mississippi State: Thomas has rare size, speed and athletic traits as a converted receiver-to-tight end that is intriguing. He'll need simpler routes as a tight end and has to be coached up on how best to utilize his frame to wall off defenders. I wasn’t sure I saw enough toughness to envision him as an in-line blocker, but the Texans said after the draft that they believed he had the “want to” in order to make it happen when they worked him out.
Round 6 (214) Peter Kalambayi, EDGE, Stanford: Kalambayi is a well-built athlete with adequate strength, above average wingspan and sudden feet who hasn't been able to match the production to his traits. Kalambayi is an explosive athlete who never seemed to get much better after his freshman season, but he does have some talent. I see him as a backup 3-4 linebacker who will used as a core member of the special teams.
Round 7 (222) Jermaine Kelly, CB, San Jose State: Kelly fits the mold of height-weight-speed cornerbacks that Brian Gaine and Bill O’Brien wanted to start adding to the roster. He can really run and could land a roster spot with his special teams abilities alone. As a cornerback, it will take some time and it may never happen for him. He had just one career interception.
Road teams made a stand on Monday, and a pair of series are suddenly knotted up.
Day 3 of the NBA playoffs was about the visitors. Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points — his most in any game since December 2023, his most in a playoff game since 2021 — to lift the Los Angeles Clippers past Denver 105-102. And in New York, Cade Cunningham scored 33 points, Dennis Schröder had a big 3-pointer with 55.7 seconds left and Detroit beat the Knicks 100-94 for its first playoff win in 17 years.
Those series are now tied at a game apiece, heading back to L.A. and Detroit.
There are three games on Tuesday, with Indiana playing host to Milwaukee, Oklahoma City hosting Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota. The Pacers and Thunder are seeking 2-0 leads; the Lakers will try to make it 1-1 before the series shifts to Minnesota.
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Milwaukee at Indiana (NBA TV)
7:30 p.m. — Memphis at Oklahoma City (TNT/truTV)
10 p.m. — Minnesota at L.A. Lakers (TNT/truTV)
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Orlando at Boston (TNT/truTV)
7:30 p.m. — Miami at Cleveland (NBA TV)
9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Houston (TNT/truTV)
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — New York at Detroit (TNT)
9:30 p.m. — Oklahoma City at Memphis (TNT)
10 p.m. — Denver at L.A. Clippers (NBA TV)
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+600), Golden State (+1400), the Los Angeles Lakers (+1600), the Los Angeles Clippers (+2000), New York (+4000), Minnesota (+4000) and Denver (+5000).
Denver's odds took a big hit after the Nuggets lost Game 2 at home to the Clippers — whose odds, in turn, improved greatly.
From there, it's Indiana (+8000), Houston (+10000), Milwaukee (+15000), Detroit (+35000), then Miami, Memphis and Orlando (all +100000).
Golden State, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, is favored (-375) to win its series against No. 2 seed Houston. The Warriors entered that matchup favored, and Sunday's win moved those odds even more.
Other underdogs now favored to advance: Minnesota and the Clippers.
The first of the major NBA awards comes out on Tuesday, when the league announces the sixth man of the year — either Detroit's Malik Beasley, Cleveland's Ty Jerome or Boston's Payton Pritchard.
It’ll be revealed at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
The other awards this week: clutch player (Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), defensive player of the year (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), and the hustle awards (Friday at 2 p.m.).
April 26 — NBA early entry deadline.
May 3 — Earliest possible start date for Round 2 of the playoffs. Series could also start on May 4, May 5 or May 6.
May 12 — Draft lottery, Chicago.
May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.
June 5 — Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
— Preview of Tuesday's games: Pacers-Bucks, Thunder-Grizzlies, Lakers-Timberwolves.
— Tom Thibodeau isn't happy with how Game 2 was officiated.
— Mavs GM Nico Harrison didn't know how beloved Luka Doncic was in Dallas.
— The NBA finalists for seven awards are released.
— The playoffs could be wide-open. Again.
— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs.
— Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.
— The Pistons snapped a 15-game playoff losing streak. Another loss would have tied the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (1975-79) for the second-longest in U.S. pro sports at 16. The playoff-futility record is held by baseball's Minnesota Twins, who once dropped 18 straight.
— The last time Detroit won a playoff game before Monday, LeBron James was 249th on the all-time scoring list and Gregg Popovich was 19th on the all-time coaching wins list. They're both No. 1 now by wide margins.
— Strange but true: The last three playoff triple-doubles have come in losing efforts. Nikola Jokic had one Monday night in Denver's loss to the Clippers and Luka Doncic's final two playoff ones for Dallas last season — one against Minnesota in the West finals, the other against Boston in the NBA Finals — both were in losses.