Connor Barwin and the 2013 draft

[otisbean]

I'd like to get some thoughts regarding Barwin. I really like the guy and would like to see him remain a Texan, BUT I'm not happy with his performance this season at OLB. The WOLB is supposed to get sacks, and I believe at this point Barwin has 3.... I'm wondering how Barwin would do at ILB next to Cushing. He's athletic enough to play in space, remember he started as a TE and he was a college basketball player, in fact his combine numbers are very similar to Cush's

Barwin
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=OLB

Cush
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=olb

The reason I have this in the draft section is simple, we've had less than stellar play from our LBs this year and I believe this must addressed early in the draft or through FA (which is typically expensive).
The 2 areas I'd love to improve on the Texans are the OL and the pass rush. I feel like our DL is quite good, though I would like an upgrade at NT like most here. I'd like to grab a pass rusher early (Ansah perhaps) and move Barwin inside. Ansah, Barwin, Cush, and Reed with Merciless in the mix along with Watt and Smith would be quite scary in terms of pressure on opposing QBs. Barwin and Cush coming on inside blitzes would be awesome. I'm also very intrigued by Ansah and would love to see him in a Texans uniform as a WOLB

If we resign Barwin and keep him outside then I'd like to look at either Olgetree
or Minter as an ILB upgrade. I like Dobbins as depth and I'd let James walk

For OL, I think I'd like to sign some veteran help, we have a bunch on young guys that have some talent so adding more youth may not be the answer. Signing a vet or 2 and letting the young guys learn a grow a bit would work well in my opinion. Just some thoughts

[beerlover]

Originally Posted by otisbean

I'd like to get some thoughts regarding Barwin. I really like the guy and would like to see him remain a Texan, BUT I'm not happy with his performance this season at OLB. The WOLB is supposed to get sacks, and I believe at this point Barwin has 3.... I'm wondering how Barwin would do at ILB next to Cushing. He's athletic enough to play in space, remember he started as a TE and he was a college basketball player, in fact his combine numbers are very similar to Cush's

Barwin
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=OLB

Cush
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=olb

The reason I have this in the draft section is simple, we've had less than stellar play from our LBs this year and I believe this must addressed early in the draft or through FA (which is typically expensive).
The 2 areas I'd love to improve on the Texans are the OL and the pass rush. I feel like our DL is quite good, though I would like an upgrade at NT like most here. I'd like to grab a pass rusher early (Ansah perhaps) and move Barwin inside. Ansah, Barwin, Cush, and Reed with Merciless in the mix along with Watt and Smith would be quite scary in terms of pressure on opposing QBs. Barwin and Cush coming on inside blitzes would be awesome. I'm also very intrigued by Ansah and would love to see him in a Texans uniform as a WOLB

If we resign Barwin and keep him outside then I'd like to look at either Olgetree
or Minter as an ILB upgrade. I like Dobbins as depth and I'd let James walk

For OL, I think I'd like to sign some veteran help, we have a bunch on young guys that have some talent so adding more youth may not be the answer. Signing a vet or 2 and letting the young guys learn a grow a bit would work well in my opinion. Just some thoughts

There is a silver lining, Texans will retain Barwin to a very reasonable long term deal.

[steelbtexan]

Have you seen the offense the last 3 games?

It's time to fix the offense.

Re-signing Barwin is a good thing, re-signing Quin is more important. IMHO

[TEXANRED]

Originally Posted by steelbtexan

Have you seen the offense the last 3 games?

It's time to fix the offense.

Re-signing Barwin is a good thing, re-signing Quin is more important. IMHO

Yup. Priority should be RT, RG, WR, in that order.

[Mr teX]

I agree...the o-line has to be priority for 2013...olb needs to be addressed, just later

[otisbean]

I do want to address the Offense, just through FA. Brooks, Jones, and Newton have some talent, just need to mature abit, I'm NOT saying I wouldn't want to upgrade, I would just like to add a vet or 2. Levitre from Buffalo would look great in a Texan uniform for example. I think we are finally at a point where we are a very attractive FA destination.

I've also seen some talent from Posey I'd like to see what he can do and I'd like to add a veteran WR as well.

Our sack production from our LBs has been poor this year and once Cush went down our ILB have been less than stellar.

[steelbtexan]

Originally Posted by otisbean

I do want to address the Offense, just through FA. Brooks, Jones, and Newton have some talent, just need to mature abit, I'm NOT saying I wouldn't want to upgrade, I would just like to add a vet or 2. Levitre from Buffalo would look great in a Texan uniform for example. I think we are finally at a point where we are a very attractive FA destination.

I've also seen some talent from Posey I'd like to see what he can do and I'd like to add a veteran WR as well.

Our sack production from our LBs has been poor this year and once Cush went down our ILB have been less than stellar.

Probably wont have cap room.

Dutch is the resident cap guy, maybe he will give his thoughts.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by TEXANRED

Yup. Priority should be RT, RG, WR, in that order.

To be honest , I think Wade Smith at LG has been just as bad if not worse than Jones or Newton.

My #2 pick in my first mock was a guy who could play multiple positions along the right side. (Kyle Long). RG & RT.

I dont think the Texans can afford to go with more than one rookie on the OL next season. I wouldnt mind multiple upgrades but if thats the case , I want a veteran upgrade along with that draft pick.


We probably need a comprehensive list of potential FA's in the coming offseason ....

[Rey]

Man, Barwin and Reed would both be ok to good SOLBs....

Neither have shown the ability to be what I think we need out of a WOLB. I personally am not a big Merciless guy, but he has more quickness in short area than both of them.

But we need someone from that WOLB position that is going to constantly on QB's heels. He has to stress the OT out almost every single snap. Speed around the edge or a mixture of speed and power...whatever...Doesn't matter...but this defense would look much, much better IMO with that guy at the WOLB position...And that guy is not Reed or Barwin...

For all the flack Mario got when he was here, he was that guy. Fukin impossible to block with RB's and TE's in this scheme and when he was matched up against OT's he put stress in their life.

We don't have to have a guy exactly like Mario, but we need a demon over there. This was part of the reason I was so high on Bruce Irvin last year, and it's part of the reason why I'm a big fan of taking Dion Jordan in this upcoming draft and seeing what Braman and Merciless can bring in a legit competition for playing time.



As far as Barwin's future, I'd let him walk unless he is going to sign for a ridiculous amount. I don't like him as a weakside OLB and the difference between him and Reed on the Strong side is not such a huge gap to where I think we have to have him.

Let him walk and draft another OLB or two.

[Rey]

Originally Posted by otisbean

I'd like to get some thoughts regarding Barwin. I really like the guy and would like to see him remain a Texan, BUT I'm not happy with his performance this season at OLB. The WOLB is supposed to get sacks, and I believe at this point Barwin has 3.... I'm wondering how Barwin would do at ILB next to Cushing. He's athletic enough to play in space, remember he started as a TE and he was a college basketball player, in fact his combine numbers are very similar to Cush's

Barwin
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=OLB

Cush
http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...009&genpos=olb

The reason I have this in the draft section is simple, we've had less than stellar play from our LBs this year and I believe this must addressed early in the draft or through FA (which is typically expensive).
The 2 areas I'd love to improve on the Texans are the OL and the pass rush. I feel like our DL is quite good, though I would like an upgrade at NT like most here. I'd like to grab a pass rusher early (Ansah perhaps) and move Barwin inside. Ansah, Barwin, Cush, and Reed with Merciless in the mix along with Watt and Smith would be quite scary in terms of pressure on opposing QBs. Barwin and Cush coming on inside blitzes would be awesome. I'm also very intrigued by Ansah and would love to see him in a Texans uniform as a WOLB

If we resign Barwin and keep him outside then I'd like to look at either Olgetree
or Minter as an ILB upgrade. I like Dobbins as depth and I'd let James walk

For OL, I think I'd like to sign some veteran help, we have a bunch on young guys that have some talent so adding more youth may not be the answer. Signing a vet or 2 and letting the young guys learn a grow a bit would work well in my opinion. Just some thoughts

Not a fan of ansah or merciless as pass rushers and I think having both of them would do very little to help the pass rush. I can't see ansah as a wolb here because that's where merciless plays. And I don't know if I want to see merciless playing on the strong side over te's.

Minter is a decent player, but tbh, outside of Teo none of the ilb prospects I've seen do anything for me. And I don't even think Teo is all world. Weak year for ilb IMO. Maybe we can go after Shaun Phillips and play him inside some or Rey mauluga.

On OL I think this is a good year to grab a guy high. There are quite a few guys that seem like they'd fit well here.

[Mr teX]

Barwin...needs to be let go period..the guy hasn't done anything over his career to warrant bringing back..

[otisbean]

Originally Posted by Rey

Not a fan of ansah or merciless as pass rushers and I think having both of them would do very little to help the pass rush. I can't see ansah as a wolb here because that's where merciless plays. And I don't know if I want to see merciless playing on the strong side over te's.

Minter is a decent player, but tbh, outside of Teo none of the ilb prospects I've seen do anything for me. And I don't even think Teo is all world. Weak year for ilb IMO. Maybe we can go after Shaun Phillips and play him inside some or Rey mauluga.

On OL I think this is a good year to grab a guy high. There are quite a few guys that seem like they'd fit well here.

For the record, in my first post I was talking about possibly keeping Barwin and playing him at ILB, as I agree with you in that this may not be the best ILB class. There are some interesting guys, Teo, Ogletree, maybe Skov or Thomas but I think Barwin has the athleticism to play there and could give us some diversity in our LB group.

The main reason I picked Ansah, is he played well against ND so he's been stuck in my mind. Truth be told Im for any one that can rush the QB as outside of Watt we haven't had much

We also definitely need to upgrade the OL, and I wouldn't be opposed to taking one high. I do think our young guys have talent they just need to mature. Im hoping we add some FAs to the OL this year. Hell for the first time in our existence we are a choice destination IMHO.