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.

[Bulls on Parade]

Originally Posted by amazing80

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.

They are one of the worst, in fact.

With better cap management the Texans would have likely won at least one or two Super Bowls by now. It seems like the Ravens and Patriots are a step above us in that department. Baltimore just won the Super Bowl with three former Texans, two of which I hated to see go, Jacoby Jones, Vonta Leach and Bernard Pollard. All of them played exceptionally well during the playoffs from what I watched.

And yet people wonder why the Texans lack the mental toughness to win a road game at Foxboro during the playoffs? It's not rocket science. The Ravens just went out there and executed a better game plan than Houston. They didn't need letterman jackets or make excuses as to why they couldn't secure homefield advantage.

It's hard to believe we don't even have decent cap space to sign Eric Winston after already losing so much amazing talent the past two or three off-seasons. I'm not even talking about Mario Williams, DeMeco Ryans, Eric Winston or Mike Brisiel, but those are four more impact starters. The loss of Mario and DeMeco did hurt us because of injuries (Brian Cushing, Tim Dobbins) and inconsistent play from both Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin on the outside.

The Texans will continue to lose good talent this off-season and we will replace them with guys who are not nearly as good. That to me is the main concern. While teams like the Patriots and Ravens, find creative and new ways to make more cap space. That is why those teams legitimately compete for Super Bowls and the Texans are sitting at home after the divisional round.

I still love the Texans with all of my heart but it pains me how bad our front office is with cap management. Rick Smith is a brilliant GM based on talent evaluation but he isn't good at managing salaries. He over-pays when it's not necessary. The Texans are in this financial mess for a reason. Just imagine how worse things would be if players like Andre Johnson didn't step up and restructure their enormous contracts for the betterment of the team?

If I were Rick Smith, I'd politely ask Schaub and Foster to restructure their deals so we can have enough cap space to re-sign Glover Quin and sign Eric Winston. We may lose Connor Barwin but after listening to his recent radio interview, he seems excited to play for a team like New England. "That would be nice" were his exact words. But we can start Whitney Mercilus and Brooks Reed on the outside in 2013, hopefully have a healthy Cushing back and draft one of the many talented inside linebackers in this draft.

[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.

[Wolf6151]

Originally Posted by Bulls on Parade

They are one of the worst, in fact.

With better cap management the Texans would have likely won at least one or two Super Bowls by now. It seems like the Ravens and Patriots are a step above us in that department. Baltimore just won the Super Bowl with three former Texans, two of which I hated to see go, Jacoby Jones, Vonta Leach and Bernard Pollard. All of them played exceptionally well during the playoffs from what I watched.

And yet people wonder why the Texans lack the mental toughness to win a road game at Foxboro during the playoffs? It's not rocket science. The Ravens just went out there and executed a better game plan than Houston. They didn't need letterman jackets or make excuses as to why they couldn't secure homefield advantage.

It's hard to believe we don't even have decent cap space to sign Eric Winston after already losing so much amazing talent the past two or three off-seasons. I'm not even talking about Mario Williams, DeMeco Ryans, Eric Winston or Mike Brisiel, but those are four more impact starters. The loss of Mario and DeMeco did hurt us because of injuries (Brian Cushing, Tim Dobbins) and inconsistent play from both Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin on the outside.

The Texans will continue to lose good talent this off-season and we will replace them with guys who are not nearly as good. That to me is the main concern. While teams like the Patriots and Ravens, find creative and new ways to make more cap space. That is why those teams legitimately compete for Super Bowls and the Texans are sitting at home after the divisional round.

I still love the Texans with all of my heart but it pains me how bad our front office is with cap management. Rick Smith is a brilliant GM based on talent evaluation but he isn't good at managing salaries. He over-pays when it's not necessary. The Texans are in this financial mess for a reason. Just imagine how worse things would be if players like Andre Johnson didn't step up and restructure their enormous contracts for the betterment of the team?

If I were Rick Smith, I'd politely ask Schaub and Foster to restructure their deals so we can have enough cap space to re-sign Glover Quin and sign Eric Winston. We may lose Connor Barwin but after listening to his recent radio interview, he seems excited to play for a team like New England. "That would be nice" were his exact words. But we can start Whitney Mercilus and Brooks Reed on the outside in 2013, hopefully have a healthy Cushing back and draft one of the many talented inside linebackers in this draft.

A80 is right, Rick Smith is actually one of the best GM's in the league. He's not perfect but he is very good. Texans are ranked 5th in the league for getting value from their players.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...e-team-totals/

[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.

[tru80texan]

Originally Posted by Wolf6151

A80 is right, Rick Smith is actually one of the best GM's in the league. He's not perfect but he is very good. Texans are ranked 5th in the league for getting value from their players.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...e-team-totals/

Without turning this into a "Rick Smith" thread entirely your link doesn't prove much because it stated that the reason the Texans were in that position was primarily because of Watt being one of the best & being paid under a rookie contract. Which is exactly what I have eluded in other posts. The Texans have gotten good value from their players because quite a few of the starters played under rookie contracts. How can you not get good value out of that? Consider the list from last season Casey, Jones, & Newton on offense. Then you got Watt, Reed, Barwin, Cushing, Kareem, & Quin on defense. Then if you throw McCain & Mitchell in there due to being subs who play quite often as well as Martin, Jean, Graham, & Brooks on offense you realize almost half of the teams starters(9) played under rookie contracts last season as did many of the important subs. That pretty much explains how the Texans get good value from it's players IMO. Rookie contracts work wonders. Here is the 1st wave of expired rookie contracts w/ McCain, Casey, Quin, & Barwin & Smith has yet to re-sign any of them. 3 starters & our 3rd cb, I would say those are important pieces that seem to be on their way out as our GM let's them.

The Texans do not have a lot of room under the cap as another poster falsely believes. In fact, they have the lowest amount of all the AFC South teams much less compared to the NFL as a whole. I don't believe Smith has done a good job based on the fact that multiple key contributors & starters have played under rookie contracts, thus good value, & that seems to be the only way he retains them. Smith's best work in the draft & in Free agency were when his job was on the line & outside of that I haven't been impressed by much. I don't think he's underrated because he simply hasnt done much. As I said before, this offseason could help change that perception, but it seems that we are possibly going to lose some more starters this season due to salary cap issues. Losing key players year after year & replacing them w/ rookies, 1st time starters, or has been FA's is normally not associated w/ good GM work, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't see it, but the offseason is still young.

[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.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Bulls on Parade

They are one of the worst, in fact.

With better cap management the Texans would have likely won at least one or two Super Bowls by now.

I don't understand how some of our fans believe this.

Then others believe we should have fired our Head Coach after his third year.

Then others believe we don't have a QB who can (or ever could) lead this team to a championship.

[tru80texan]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

I don't understand how some of our fans believe this.

Then others believe we should have fired our Head Coach after his third year.

Then others believe we don't have a QB who can (or ever could) lead this team to a championship.

The salary cap is an issue that is costing the Texans quality players simply because their rookie contracts have expired & the Texans really don't have the room to even re-sign them to fair value contracts. That's a problem IMO. The salary cap mess is real & was created by the current regime & not the old fall back excuse Casserly.

I can't recall anyone saying Kubiak needed to be fired after year 3. If I recall that was an 8-8 season. A bit of an exaggeration. Year 5, yes he should've been fired considering he had only produced 1 winning season, 0 playoff appearances, & regressed to a 6-10 season. Plenty of coaches had been fired for less...ask Wade.

Some don't believe Schaub can lead this team based on his pitiful performances this past season. It was only one season & he has shown flashes in the past, but most don't expect a slow footed aging qb to get better w/ time. It's normally the opposite & why some seem to be losing faith in him. I have my concerns, but our questions should be answered next season.

[greekdbag]

Originally Posted by tru80texan

The salary cap is an issue that is costing the Texans quality players simply because their rookie contracts have expired & the Texans really don't have the room to even re-sign them to fair value contracts. That's a problem IMO. The salary cap mess is real & was created by the current regime & not the old fall back excuse Casserly.

I can't recall anyone saying Kubiak needed to be fired after year 3. If I recall that was an 8-8 season. A bit of an exaggeration. Year 5, yes he should've been fired considering he had only produced 1 winning season, 0 playoff appearances, & regressed to a 6-10 season. Plenty of coaches had been fired for less...ask Wade.

Some don't believe Schaub can lead this team based on his pitiful performances this past season. It was only one season & he has shown flashes in the past, but most don't expect a slow footed aging qb to get better w/ time. It's normally the opposite & why some seem to be losing faith in him. I have my concerns, but our questions should be answered next season.

They went for broke after the 6-10 season with their jobs on the line. They knew it was going to be their last year with Mario and used a whole draft on defense pretty much along with giving big contracts to Joseph and Manning. Those contracts to Joseph and Manning have squeezed us when it comes to the cap lately. Not to mention Andre making so much also. Furthermore, paying Schaub as early as they did was idiotic. Schaub, Andre, Brown, Joseph, Arian, Antonio, Myers, OD, and Manning are all making five million or more in the future. Antonio needs to be either extended or cut. I could do without Manning. Guys like Walter and Wade Smith should be cut. Wade Smith was awful last year but I still doubt they cut him because of the continuity he brings on the line. Hopefully they let Barwin walk unless he comes back for a one year rebuild your value deal.

[El Tejano]

Does Paul Kuharsky really think Andre is going to restructure? He has been the only one restructuring his deals for like what 3 times now? Not only that but Andre is the only guy that was playing in December and January IMO.

[silvrhand]

Originally Posted by tru80texan

The salary cap is an issue that is costing the Texans quality players simply because their rookie contracts have expired & the Texans really don't have the room to even re-sign them to fair value contracts. That's a problem IMO. The salary cap mess is real & was created by the current regime & not the old fall back excuse Casserly.

I can't recall anyone saying Kubiak needed to be fired after year 3. If I recall that was an 8-8 season. A bit of an exaggeration. Year 5, yes he should've been fired considering he had only produced 1 winning season, 0 playoff appearances, & regressed to a 6-10 season. Plenty of coaches had been fired for less...ask Wade.

Some don't believe Schaub can lead this team based on his pitiful performances this past season. It was only one season & he has shown flashes in the past, but most don't expect a slow footed aging qb to get better w/ time. It's normally the opposite & why some seem to be losing faith in him. I have my concerns, but our questions should be answered next season.

Our cap cost us Ryans, Winston, Mario, and Briesel.. of those players for sure 2 we are better off without, 1 is 50/50, and Ryans is the only one I wish we could have kept..

I don't see why you think the cap problems that we lost our superbowl chances.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by tru80texan

The salary cap is an issue that is costing the Texans quality players simply because their rookie contracts have expired & the Texans really don't have the room to even re-sign them to fair value contracts. That's a problem IMO. The salary cap mess is real & was created by the current regime & not the old fall back excuse Casserly.

Expiring rookie contracts are only part of the reason.

Originally Posted by tru80texan

I can't recall anyone saying Kubiak needed to be fired after year 3. If I recall that was an 8-8 season. A bit of an exaggeration. Year 5, yes he should've been fired considering he had only produced 1 winning season, 0 playoff appearances, & regressed to a 6-10 season. Plenty of coaches had been fired for less...ask Wade.

There were people wanting to fire Kubiak after his first season because he didn't watch field goal attempts. There was a strong push (on the MBs) that wanted him gone after his second 8-8 season. They were tired of baby steps & felt we underachieved for the second year in a row. I think the pink soap started after his second 8-8 year.

They wanted him fired after his 9-7 year. Of course they wanted him fired after going 6-10 & felt pretty good it was going to happen. There was mourning & gnashing of teeth when McNair's decision was made public.

No, I'm not exagerating.

Originally Posted by tru80texan

Some don't believe Schaub can lead this team based on his pitiful performances this past season. It was only one season & he has shown flashes in the past, but most don't expect a slow footed aging qb to get better w/ time. It's normally the opposite & why some seem to be losing faith in him. I have my concerns, but our questions should be answered next season.