Newton Has Knee Surgery

[tru80texan]

According to McClain, Newton has had major knee surgery & is supposedly recovering. This is interesting to say the least considering the lack of depth at the tackle position & the concerns surrounding Newton's performance this past season. Could this possibly be why the Texans reportedly reached out to Winston? Since there aren't too many details about this injury it will interesting to see what kind of moves the Texans make to ensure there is quality depth at Tackle just in case this effects Newton going into next season. Could be yet another issue concerning yet another starter. You can only fill so many holes via the draft in 1 season.

http://www.stateofthetexans.com/?p=10699

[ArlingtonTexan]

If there were no salary cap I don't believe the Texans would have ever cut Winston. while not a perfect player, he was good in our system. the newton injury probably contributes some, but I want to believe once winston came free, the texans would have at least called.

[Bulls on Parade]

Big-E would make our offensive line legit. That makeshift right side just wasn't good enough in 2012. Now if only the Raiders release Mike Brisiel and we find the cap space to sigh both then I'll be jumping for joy. Ah, nevermind. I think Oakland restructured Brisiel a few days ago. But man I'd be giddy if Winston came back. One less headache to worry about on offense.

[Bulls on Parade]

Originally Posted by ArlingtonTexan

If there were no salary cap I don't believe the Texans would have ever cut Winston. while not a perfect player, he was good in our system. the newton injury probably contributes some, but I want to believe once winston came free, the texans would have at least called.

Good teams find ways to keep good players. The Texans, mainly Rick Smith, have done a horrible job in regard to the salary cap. Not only have we lost tons of talent over the past few off-seasons but he over-pays for Matt Schaub and Arian Foster -- when there was absolutely no reason to extend them to rich contracts as soon as he did.

[ArlingtonTexan]

Originally Posted by Bulls on Parade

Good teams find ways to keep good players. The Texans, mainly Rick Smith, have done a horrible job in regard to the salary cap. Not only have we lost tons of talent over the past few off-seasons but he over-pays for Matt Schaub and Arian Foster -- when there was absolutely no reason to extend them to rich contracts as soon as he did.

Good teams lose players in free agency every year, but find ways to replace or adjust. for all of our probelms the Texans were 12-4.

[dc_txtech]

Originally Posted by Bulls on Parade

Good teams find ways to keep good players. The Texans, mainly Rick Smith, have done a horrible job in regard to the salary cap. Not only have we lost tons of talent over the past few off-seasons but he over-pays for Matt Schaub and Arian Foster -- when there was absolutely no reason to extend them to rich contracts as soon as he did.

I disagree, good teams find ways to keep good players while letting other good players go. Last year we let go of Mario, Demeco, Winston, Briesel, and Jones.

Mario hasn't lived up to his contract. Demeco may be cut from Philly, Winston was cut, Briesel restructured, Jones I don't want to ever see in a Texans jersey again. Foster was on an undrafted free agent contract for 3 years and was coming into a contract year. He signed a very fair deal and to say there was no reason to do so is ignorant at best. Matt Schaub you can argue but we all just saw Flacco become the richest player in NFL history and 6 months ago no Texans fan would have traded Schaub for Flacco straight up.

It's easy to play captain hindsight but in my opinion Rick has done a great job of keeping key players while letting others walk. A sign of a good team is letting good talent walk instead of over paying.

[tru80texan]

Originally Posted by dc_txtech

I disagree, good teams find ways to keep good players while letting other good players go. Last year we let go of Mario, Demeco, Winston, Briesel, and Jones.

Mario hasn't lived up to his contract. Demeco may be cut from Philly, Winston was cut, Briesel restructured, Jones I don't want to ever see in a Texans jersey again. Foster was on an undrafted free agent contract for 3 years and was coming into a contract year. He signed a very fair deal and to say there was no reason to do so is ignorant at best. Matt Schaub you can argue but we all just saw Flacco become the richest player in NFL history and 6 months ago no Texans fan would have traded Schaub for Flacco straight up.

It's easy to play captain hindsight but in my opinion Rick has done a great job of keeping key players while letting others walk. A sign of a good team is letting good talent walk instead of over paying.

DeMeco may be cut is completely false. There hasn't been anything reported that has even suggested that. In fact, the new coaching staff in Philly have already stated that they want Ryans & plan on keeping him. Winston was cut because of a change in HC & philosophy, bu it's already been said that he will have plenty of suitors. Briesel restructured, but lost no money according to his agent. It's was done to help the salary cap only it seems. Jones has faired pretty well elsewhere. Super Bowl ring & named an All Pro...I don't think he's worried about the Texans & probably now considers his release a blessing in disguise.

I disagree w/ your assessment of Smith's job performance thus far & to be honest he isn't doing much to change my mind this offeseason. Smith created a salary cap nightmare that is costing the Texans quality players & not necessarily replacing them w/ equal talent. Ryans, Winston, Briesel, & even Jacoby were all missed this season to some degree & none of the players Smith retained or obtained to replace them matched the level of talent that was lost. If Quin, Casey, & Barwin are lost as well it remains to be seen what replaces them, but considering the salary cap nightmare, courtesy of Smith, we can only assume it will either be rookies or cheaper less talented FA that will replace them. That, IMO, is not getting better but stepping backwards at certain positions similar to 2012. If the holes that were created in 2012 don't improve & new holes are being created for 2013 then we can only hope that some of these rookies pan out quickly or we catch lightning in a bottle w/ some gap filler FA's until some rookies develop. If not, it could get ugly & what's even worse, IMO, is that our best defensive players, Cushing & Watt, aren't even being paid their worth considering they are still under their rookie contracts. Then add Reed, Mitchell, & Kareem in there & roughly half the starting defense are under rookie contracts & yet somehow we are still in salary cap despair. It doesn't make sense IMO & hardly says that Smith has done a good much less a great job.

This offseason is still young, but I have my concerns already & not much confidence in Smith after last years offseason. Time will tell..

[amazing80]

Originally Posted by tru80texan

DeMeco may be cut is completely false. There hasn't been anything reported that has even suggested that. In fact, the new coaching staff in Philly have already stated that they want Ryans & plan on keeping him. Winston was cut because of a change in HC & philosophy, bu it's already been said that he will have plenty of suitors. Briesel restructured, but lost no money according to his agent. It's was done to help the salary cap only it seems. Jones has faired pretty well elsewhere. Super Bowl ring & named an All Pro...I don't think he's worried about the Texans & probably now considers his release a blessing in disguise.

I disagree w/ your assessment of Smith's job performance thus far & to be honest he isn't doing much to change my mind this offeseason. Smith created a salary cap nightmare that is costing the Texans quality players & not necessarily replacing them w/ equal talent. Ryans, Winston, Briesel, & even Jacoby were all missed this season to some degree & none of the players Smith retained or obtained to replace them matched the level of talent that was lost. If Quin, Casey, & Barwin are lost as well it remains to be seen what replaces them, but considering the salary cap nightmare, courtesy of Smith, we can only assume it will either be rookies or cheaper less talented FA that will replace them. That, IMO, is not getting better but stepping backwards at certain positions similar to 2012. If the holes that were created in 2012 don't improve & new holes are being created for 2013 then we can only hope that some of these rookies pan out quickly or we catch lightning in a bottle w/ some gap filler FA's until some rookies develop. If not, it could get ugly & what's even worse, IMO, is that our best defensive players, Cushing & Watt, aren't even being paid their worth considering they are still under their rookie contracts. Then add Reed, Mitchell, & Kareem in there & roughly half the starting defense are under rookie contracts & yet somehow we are still in salary cap despair. It doesn't make sense IMO & hardly says that Smith has done a good much less a great job.

This offseason is still young, but I have my concerns already & not much confidence in Smith after last years offseason. Time will tell..

LOL at this entire post. Rick Smith and company are one of the best when it comes to value and paying guys. Look around the league man, people are getting cut just to get under the cap. We opted to do this last year instead of this year. It was bound to happen and it did. Now we have money (and more ways to increase that by restructures and extensions). Smith is VERY underrated on this board.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by ArlingtonTexan

If there were no salary cap I don't believe the Texans would have ever cut Winston. while not a perfect player, he was good in our system. the newton injury probably contributes some, but I want to believe once winston came free, the texans would have at least called.

I don't know. With Winston making the money he was making, I don't trust the Texans to do the right thing & play the better player. In my mind, that's Newton. He's not going to get better on the sideline watching the game. You've got to throw them in there, let them take their lumps, and learn from the experience.

Major knee surgery tells me it was more serious than I originally believed & he probably shouldn't have been playing down the stretch. Newton was improving all season long up until he got hurt & if healthy, I think will have a monster year in 2013.

To me, Winston was like Dunta. A good player, no doubt, but his ceiling was way lower than we needed it to be. Our F.O. screwed up & paid them too much & as along as we're paying better than average players "max" contracts, we'll have less flexibility with the salary cap. We would not have drafted a CB in the first round if we were going to keep Dunta. We would not have signed a FA of Jjo's stature if we were overpaying Dunta, or if our 1st round pick looked like a 1st round corner.

I don't believe we would get better on the right side if we were still overpaying Winston.

[Wolf6151]

Originally Posted by tru80texan

According to McClain, Newton has had major knee surgery & is supposedly recovering. This is interesting to say the least considering the lack of depth at the tackle position & the concerns surrounding Newton's performance this past season. Could this possibly be why the Texans reportedly reached out to Winston? Since there aren't too many details about this injury it will interesting to see what kind of moves the Texans make to ensure there is quality depth at Tackle just in case this effects Newton going into next season. Could be yet another issue concerning yet another starter. You can only fill so many holes via the draft in 1 season.

http://www.stateofthetexans.com/?p=10699

"Major knee surgery" sounds bad and sounds like more than just a clean out. As if we didn't already have enough holes to fill in the draft. This sucks.

[IDEXAN]

Originally Posted by Wolf6151

"Major knee surgery" sounds bad and sounds like more than just a clean out. As if we didn't already have enough holes to fill in the draft. This sucks.

Has not this story been underreported up until now ? We knew Newt was going to have some surgery on his knee, but I was thinking it was more in the category of getting it "scoped", not "major surgery". At this point it seems like it would be useful to get a clarification from the Texans, but don't think we'll be seeing that anytime soon because Newt's situation obviously could have a significant influence on the Texans' Draft and free-agency strategy.