Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan reviewed the 2013 NFL Draft with Texans insider Nick Scurfield. In this "Scout's Take" series, we'll share his thoughts on each of the Texans' nine draft picks, from tight end Ryan Griffin in the sixth round to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the first.
OLB Sam Montgomery – (3rd round, 95th overall)
6-3, 262 – LSU – Greenwood (S.C.) H.S.
Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan
"Sam was an interesting kid when we did him. He's another early-out junior. He played as a 4-3 defensive end in college. We're obviously projecting him to an outside linebacker in our scheme, and when you play in a 3-4, you take on a lot of players that play defensive end in college and you project them up to linebacker. It will definitely be a bit of a learning curve, like any player that comes from that position and plays linebacker at the next level. I've seen quite a few guys go through that transition; I know it takes a little time sometimes. But we really like Sam. When we evaluated him, he's a good kid. When you watch him on tape, the thing that really stands
out with him is his overall competitiveness. He has very good pass rushing potential that showed up on the college tape. He has real good quickness, good ability to 'convert to power' is a term we use, a power-oriented rusher. But he also has real good speed and quickness to get on the edge and bend and turn the corner. Really, when we were evaluating him, we saw pass rush ability and potential, the ability to be more of a power-oriented rusher, which we liked quite a bit. From the run standpoint, (we liked) his physical ability to handle tackles at the collegiate level that probably outweighed him by 40 pounds because he has a good play strength and good ability to play with leverage. He's a high-effort, high-motor guy, so he makes plays down the line of scrimmage and out in space due not only to his ability but to his intensity and effort. He's a kid that when we were sitting there towards the end of the third round from a value standpoint, a guy that had definitely ability and skills to work with, especially as a pass rusher. The coaches felt very good about his ability to potentially develop into an outside linebacker. It will be interesting to see him make the transition."
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