Was trading Drew Henson the wisest move?

[DominatorDavis]

Would Drew have signed with Houston if given the opportunity? I think that that question has been on my mind since he was drafted while still wearing Yankee pinstripes. Is or will he be better than Dave Ragone? Is he worth what will probably be a mid to later 3rd round next year in 2005? Or is he worth more? I have a hankering that Henson will be a very good NFL quarterback and that the Cowboys got one over on us. I think that Henson was one of the highest rated QB's that the scouts have seen in a long time; did exceptional in his workouts, had good foot work, completed all the tough passes, performed head and shoulders better than almost all college QB's in similar workouts, retained a solid working football knowledge, scored outstanding on the Wonderlick test, can handle bigtime pressure, has proven to be fiscally responsible, is soundminded competent and mature, and is still very very young. Why did we trade him again?

Casserly has said in the past that the most important position on a team is the quarterback. The second most important position on a team is the back-up quarterback. I'd have signed the kid.

[Vinny]

We trade him or lose him. He would have never signed.

[DominatorDavis]

V - we'd have never signed him - says who?

[Vinny]

He made it pretty clear that he wanted to leave the Yankees to start in the NFL, not back up Carr or any other franchise QB.

[BuffSoldier]

We didnt even have enough money in the 2003 rookie pool to give him a contract he would except.

[DominatorDavis]

No doubt that in Dallas he has a good shot to take the job away from Quincy but he did not know that nor did he know where he would end up before declaring elegible prior to the draft. The Texans are the ones who pushed the idea of him going where he wants to go. Not the other way around. He just realized that he was a better QB than batter. I like the dialogue here but I just never saw where Drew was flat out unwilling to sign if the Texans presented an offer to him.

[profan]

He made it very clear that he did not want to sign with us and be a back-up. Many teams looked at him and did not come up with better offers. We got a #3 pick for a #6. That's not bad business in my book.

[ledzeppelin229]

I think some people have built up a little bit of an inferiority complex to the rest of the league (and especially Dallas). For all the insults and jokes we make about the Cowboys, we sure have a lot of people constantly afraid Dallas has outsmarted our front office or bested us in some other way.

Have confidence, have faith, we've planted a great foundation and as the saying goes, "You reap what you sow".

[DominatorDavis]

I think that that is not what my intention really entails Zep. I don't care what team it is - Cowboys or Chargers - if there is a good move for the team we should look at it closer. That is all I am saying. Besides we wiped the floor with the Cowboys opening day - there is no complex here. A 3rd for a 6th is a good move no doubt. But we will have to see what that 3rd turns out to be. Having said that, I think that we should have gone to hell and back to sign him. But I think that management felt that they got one over on the NFL for drafting him unexpectedly and that it would look good to trade him and gain position verse actually looking at the proposition of inking a deal. And we had money - millions in fact.

[dalemurphy]

Originally Posted by DominatorDavis

I think that that is not what my intention really entails Zep. I don't care what team it is - Cowboys or Chargers - if there is a good move for the team we should look at it closer. That is all I am saying. Besides we wiped the floor with the Cowboys opening day - there is no complex here. A 3rd for a 6th is a good move no doubt. But we will have to see what that 3rd turns out to be. Having said that, I think that we should have gone to hell and back to sign him. But I think that management felt that they got one over on the NFL for drafting him unexpectedly and that it would look good to trade him and gain position verse actually looking at the proposition of inking a deal. And we had money - millions in fact.

The rookie pool is a predetermined amount that is unrelated to the team's salary cap situation. In order to sign Henson, we would have been unable to sign Joppru or Wand most likely... Also, Henson would be sitting this year even without Carr. Then, in '05 he'd possibly be ready to get some playing time- surely he'd struggle as all QBs without NFL experience do... And at best, he'd be ready to be an asset to this team in '06 or '07- and even then, only as a backup. Carr in year 5 will almost definitely be a better option than a guy who started 9 college games, stopped playing football for three years, and then sat on the NFL bench for a year or two.

Maybe Henson will be a great NFL QB and maybe the Cowboys will benefit from his greatness. A good trade can be good for both teams- it's foolishness to run a team by trying to ripoff other teams. Most NFL trades involve matchmaking. If you want to move a player, you look for a team that could benefit from him and you try and get market value or better and you don't look back.

[aj.]

Henson wasn't going to sign with the Texans under any circumstances other than what he did -- a sign and trade deal.

[TexanExile]

Henson is an unproven commodity who's been out of the game for a long time--and never really played it at a major-college level for very long. I would LOVE to have him as a "project" backup because I think he has more upside than Ragu, but it was never possible and for that reason it never crossed my mind.

Plus, in order to structure his deal he wanted some funky contract conditions that are rarely ever even proposed in the NFL. For good reason!

We did fine in the deal, although I was hoping they could get that 2nd-rounder Casserly initially demanded. That's part of negotiating, though....

[PHAROAH]

David Carr hasn't proved he is the quarterback that carry the load like a #1 overall pick. We should have a signed Drew Henson

[gwallaia]

Signing Drew Henson was NEVER the intention of the Texans. He was drafted for the sole reason of trading.

[PHAROAH]

Originally Posted by gwallaia

Signing Drew Henson was NEVER the intention of the Texans. He was drafted for the sole reason of trading.

I know why he was drafted but, can you say that David Carr has proven that he can carry this team to the level of play that we expect a guy who was taken #1 in draft. We should have kept him for insurance.

[DominatorDavis]

That is exactly my question - why was it never an intention?

[Fiddy]

Originally Posted by PHAROAH

We should have a signed Drew Henson

He wouldnt have signed with us for any reason unless we released Carr (which will never happen), thats the point Vinny is trying to make.

[texasguy346]

I think the fact we got a 3rd round choice for what is a QB who's been out of the game for 3 years is quite a deal. The Texan's personnel department is doing what any good NFL team's personnel department should do, and that is accumulating draft picks. The Patriots have done pretty well with respect to accumulating draft picks, and look where it has gotten them. I understand that people are impressed by Henson's collegiate career, but time and time again we see impressive college QBs put up less than impressive NFL numbers. Jeff George, Ryan Leaf, Heath Shuler, Akili Smith, and the list goes on and on. And those guys didn't take 3 years off to play baseball. This isn't an attack on Henson, I hope he has success in Dallas. The point is that he is an unproven QB who had some trade value. A 3rd Round pick for an unproven QB is a pretty good deal for the Texans considering that the Bengals traded away Corey Dillion to the Patriots for a 2nd Round pick. All Dillion did was set the NFL rushing record for yards in a game before Jamal Lewis beat this past season. When you look at it from that perspective the deal looks much better.