The War Room: Dave Ragone, QB 
Dave Ragone
Position: Quarterback
Drafted: Round 3, 88th Overall
Height: 6’ 3½"
Weight: 249
College: Louisville
Birthdate: October 3, 1979
NFL Comparison: Jonathan Quinn
Strengths: Dave Ragone is a big pocket passer with a very strong arm and a quick release. He enjoyed great success at Louisville after taking over for Chris Redman, earning Conference USA’s Offensive Player of the Year award three times. Ragone can make all the throws, firing the deep ball and showing good touch on the short passes. The lefthander is very accurate, generally throwing a very catchable ball. He is very aggressive and tough, unquestionably the leader of his Louisville team. Ragone has the size to absorb big hits and likes to lift weights with the linemen. While escapability is an issue, with his size he can put his head down and take on would-be tacklers, often refusing to slide.
Areas of Concern: Ragone’s senior season did not live up to the high expectations that had him ranked as a possible first-rounder coming into the year. The talent around him was down, and Ragone tended to try to do everything himself. At almost 250 lbs., he’s no Michael Vick with respect to mobility and avoiding the rush. After having played mainly out of the shotgun in college, Ragone will have improve his footwork. He also has a tendency to let his aggressive nature get the better of him and try unsuccessfully to thread the needle between defenders. He must learn to respect the closing speed of NFL defensive backs or he will have
2003 Expectations: Ragone should battle Mike Quinn for the Texans’ third quarterback spot this year, with an eye towards Tony Banks’ job as David Carr’s backup in the future. Chris Palmer may be able to eventually to develop Ragone to the point where he can be used as trade bait, like Palmer did with mid-rounder Rob Johnson in Jacksonville.
by Warren DeLuca
YEAR GS ATT COM % YDS TD INT 2002 13 441 237 53.7 2,880 24 11 2001 12 383 231 60.3 3,056 23 7 2000 11 354 216 61.0 2,621 27 11 1999 4 2 1 50.0 7 0 0 1998 (REDSHIRTED) TOTALS 40 1180 685 58.1 8,564 74 29 
Dave Ragone 
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