The Texans and the offseason...

[Imatexanfan]

I know what ya'll are thinking its too early, but the way things are going out this is what I'm hoping the Texans are thinking.

1. Trade Carr to whatever team will take him. Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland, Cleveland. There are plenty of teams desperate for a QB that may be willing to part with a late first day or second-day draft pick that would be willing to take a chance on him succeeding with a change of venue and a decent O-Line. (Personally, I think he's still a good QB and will flourish in a good system, but he's tainted here. He has no fan support and with the emergence of Young, it's only going to get worse for him)

2. Sign Plummer. He's not a long-term answer, but he'll come cheaper than Carr, he knows the system, and he has thrived under Kubiak before. Anyone think that maybe he's not working out in Denver because Kubes isn't there any more? He'd come here knowing that he's a short-timer, though, and that we're still going after a QB for the future.

3. Sign Clements. Overpay him if you have to, but do whatever it takes to get a good cover corner. Maybe we could send Moulds to help lure him away.

4. Draft a RB in the first round. Peterson will hopefully still be around when we pick. If not, trade down and snag Lynch or Bush later so you don't have to pay them early-pick money, and get another pick in the process.

5. Draft a QB and S in the second and third rounds. Kolb should be available in the third, but go hard after Colt Brennan if he declares draft eligible.

6. Use the rest of our draft picks on OL and DL. Most of those picks never work out anyway, so just use them all on two positions and see if you can find a diamond in the rough. Most every other position will have been addressed by that point, and a good OL is rarely available in FA.

Feel free to interject thought/criticisms and comments. I'm not a GM, but I play one on the message boards.

**Also to note...Andre Johnson is hands-down the best football player the Texans have. He has two years remaining on his contract. If they don't turn it around in that time, he'll be gone. That would be a shame, because as the best player this team has ever seen, he should be RETIRING as a Texan**

[Insideop]

Originally Posted by Imatexanfan

I know what ya'll are thinking its too early, but the way things are going out this is what I'm hoping the Texans are thinking.

1. Trade Carr to whatever team will take him. Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland, Cleveland. There are plenty of teams desperate for a QB that may be willing to part with a late first day or second-day draft pick that would be willing to take a chance on him succeeding with a change of venue and a decent O-Line. (Personally, I think he's still a good QB and will flourish in a good system, but he's tainted here. He has no fan support and with the emergence of Young, it's only going to get worse for him)

2. Sign Plummer. He's not a long-term answer, but he'll come cheaper than Carr, he knows the system, and he has thrived under Kubiak before. Anyone think that maybe he's not working out in Denver because Kubes isn't there any more? He'd come here knowing that he's a short-timer, though, and that we're still going after a QB for the future.

3. Sign Clements. Overpay him if you have to, but do whatever it takes to get a good cover corner. Maybe we could send Moulds to help lure him away.
4. Draft a RB in the first round. Peterson will hopefully still be around when we pick. If not, trade down and snag Lynch or Bush later so you don't have to pay them early-pick money, and get another pick in the process.

5. Draft a QB and S in the second and third rounds. Kolb should be available in the third, but go hard after Colt Brennan if he declares draft eligible.

6. Use the rest of our draft picks on OL and DL. Most of those picks never work out anyway, so just use them all on two positions and see if you can find a diamond in the rough. Most every other position will have been addressed by that point, and a good OL is rarely available in FA.

Feel free to interject thought/criticisms and comments. I'm not a GM, but I play one on the message boards.

Number 3 is the only one I agree with and here's why. You want to get rid of Carr and sign a slower Plummer without upgrading the O-line? I'm glad you're not a GM! You think Plummer looked bad in Denver this year? Wait till he comes over here and really has to run for his life behind our patchwork O-line! This line is old and/or beat up. I doubt if Wiegert comes back and Flanagan may not either. McKinney and Salaam are both old and playing hurt. Spencer may not be fully recovered by next year. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We have to fix the O-line first or it won't matter who we put in as QB and RB.

Now I'm not a GM either, but this is what I would do and what I hope Kubes does:

1) Sign Asante Samuel or Nate Clements in FA to shore up secondary.

2) Sign Lance Briggs or Adalius Thomas in FA to shore up LB.

3) 1st round of draft select Joe Thomas (if available) and make him the starting LT. Move Spencer (if he can play) to RT and make "Caveman" Winston the swing tackle. If Spencer isn't quite ready, use him as the swing guard and keep McKinney in case Spencer doesn't make it back. If we can't get Thomas, then Baker from USC should be available and should do as well.

4) 2nd round of draft get the best center available. Maybe Kalil from USC or Young from Fresno St. will still be on the board. Flanagan is too old (and now hurt) and wasn't the long term answer anyway. Jury still out on Hodgdon.

5) 3rd round of draft is where I might select Kolb if he is still there. Otherwise, I'd get the best CB or S available.

6) Not sure at this point who I would pick in the next rounds. Maybe a TE or possibly more DB's and a Kicker or Punter if there are any good ones.

JMHO!

[edo783]

Don't let that nasty little thing called the cap get in the way of your dreams.

[skillz24]

I am glad none of you are GM...insideop you are close. i agree with the samuels and clements idea. eithier or both would be amazing. right now i saw keep brown, robinson, and sanders as a nickelback...cut the rest. there are several ways to go in the offseason.

we need to get money back from wade, smith, and anybody who is in our bloated payroll. as far as the draft is concerned we are prolly gonna end up with 6 maybe 7 wins this year...one of our better seasons... so we are gonna be looking at picking around 8-13th overall. so that means if we want peterson we are gonna have to give something up for him...bad choice. we still have lundy, gado, and davis in our backfield...nothing great but good tho. spencer's career might be over with, i am not planning on seeing him back and it figures we finally get another good lineman to go with pitts and he goes down.

round by round for the draft:
round one: Jake Long OT Michigan...is he goes pro he is only a junoir but maybe one of the best tackle propects in all of college football or Daymeion Hughes DB Cal or Justin Harrell DT Tennessee
round two:Ryan Harris OT Notre Dame or Tavo Tupala OT...they should drop to second round for sure
round three: Willis Barringer S Michigan...not sure if he will still be there but he should slip to the third
the rest: load up on OL and DB

[BeerFan]

kevin kolb!kevin kolb!kevin kolb!kevin kolb!kevin kolb!kevin kolb!

[cuzof26]

skillz.. keep cc brown starting???:brickwall what games have you been watchin all season....i admit, i don't catch em all but o-line and secondary are the obivous problem areas...let cc add depth to ss and bring in a fs through the draft and/or fa(a la tony parrish and sign him for a year and pay him peanuts).. let the new rook fs learn from him for that year;should buy enough time to get the rook ready to play....

insideop is on the right track with samuels or clements
LB's will be ok after Greenwood gets shipped out
o line--thats a whole differerent monster in itself

[Insideop]

Originally Posted by skillz24

I am glad none of you are GM...insideop you are close. i agree with the samuels and clements idea. eithier or both would be amazing. right now i saw keep brown, robinson, and sanders as a nickelback...cut the rest. there are several ways to go in the offseason.

we need to get money back from wade, smith, and anybody who is in our bloated payroll. as far as the draft is concerned we are prolly gonna end up with 6 maybe 7 wins this year...one of our better seasons... so we are gonna be looking at picking around 8-13th overall. so that means if we want peterson we are gonna have to give something up for him...bad choice. we still have lundy, gado, and davis in our backfield...nothing great but good tho. spencer's career might be over with, i am not planning on seeing him back and it figures we finally get another good lineman to go with pitts and he goes down.

round by round for the draft:
round one: Jake Long OT Michigan...is he goes pro he is only a junoir but maybe one of the best tackle propects in all of college football or Daymeion Hughes DB Cal or Justin Harrell DT Tennesseeround two:Ryan Harris OT Notre Dame or Tavo Tupala OT...they should drop to second round for sure
round three: Willis Barringer S Michigan...not sure if he will still be there but he should slip to the third
the rest: load up on OL and DB

Skillz24, thank you for thinking that "I'm close" on what we should do. I can agree with most of your picks in the draft also, but in the 1st round I don't think we need a DB if we get Samuels and/or Clements in FA. Also, I use to think we might need to pick another DT on the first day, but now, with the way Dalton, Thomas Johnson, and Maddox are playing, I don't think we need help there anymore. And don't forget, we still have Travis Johnson and Malone on IR that should be back next year. As for picking Long in the 1st round, that would be fine as long as he is the best available OT at whatever spot we pick at. There are several underclassmen OT's that are suppose to be good 1st rounders if they come out. Baker at USC, Long at Michigan, and another kid from Maryland (I think) are all good, and at least one of them should be there when we pick. JMHO!

[Insideop]

Originally Posted by cuzof26

skillz.. keep cc brown starting???:brickwall what games have you been watchin all season....i admit, i don't catch em all but o-line and secondary are the obivous problem areas...let cc add depth to ss and bring in a fs through the draft and/or fa(a la tony parrish and sign him for a year and pay him peanuts).. let the new rook fs learn from him for that year;should buy enough time to get the rook ready to play....

insideop is on the right track with samuels or clements
LB's will be ok after Greenwood gets shipped outo line--thats a whole differerent monster in itself

Thanks for the support cuzof26. I hate to tell you this though, I don't think Greenwood is going anywhere. They will probably look at upgrading the SLB (Orr) because I think Kubes is happy with Greenwood. I heard/read somewhere (Sorry, I don't remember where.) that Kubes said he is very pleased with the way Morlon is playing. And if you look at his stats, they're not that bad. He is 2nd on the team in tackles with 76 total, 58 solo. He has 1 sack, 3 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception. Can we find somebody better? Of course! Will it be in next years FA/draft? Maybe, but I don't think so. JMHO!

[Hervoyel]

Greenwood shouldn't be going anywhere. He's just now starting to play the way he was expected to when the Texans got him from Miami.

The Texans aren't going to have 3 DeMeco Ryans back there. lots of very good linebacking corps sport a couple of great players and one guy who can just keep things from getting out of hand at his spot. We can be successful at LB with one more very good player but Greenwood is perfectly acceptable to fill the last spot.

[cuzof26]

lotta love for greenwood...hes got a lot of tackles(same story for him),but does he get any penetration behind the los??or make any tackles behind the los..........from what ive heard its minimal, but again, its hard to catch texans games in indiana.......he does seem to be at the right place at the right time(gotta luv that)

[HJam72]

Originally Posted by cuzof26

lotta love for greenwood...hes got a lot of tackles(same story for him),but does he get any penetration behind the los??or make any tackles behind the los..........from what ive heard its minimal, but again, its hard to catch texans games in indiana.......he does seem to be at the right place at the right time(gotta luv that)

Well, I catch about half the games on TV and I'd say no, his tackles seem to be almost always behind the line; but, I'd still keep him around. Orr does get some sacks and such, but he's a liability in pass coverage, from what I understand.

[HJam72]

Originally Posted by cuzof26

skillz.. keep cc brown starting???:brickwall what games have you been watchin all season....i admit, i don't catch em all but o-line and secondary are the obivous problem areas...let cc add depth to ss and bring in a fs through the draft and/or fa(a la tony parrish and sign him for a year and pay him peanuts).. let the new rook fs learn from him for that year;should buy enough time to get the rook ready to play....

insideop is on the right track with samuels or clements
LB's will be ok after Greenwood gets shipped out
o line--thats a whole differerent monster in itself

I agree with all of this, except shipping out Greenwood. Otherwise, good post, IMO.

[titan hater]

4. Draft a RB in the first round. Peterson will hopefully still be around when we pick. If not, trade down and snag Lynch or Bush later so you don't have to pay them early-pick money, and get another pick in the process.


As much as I wish we could get Peterson I don't feel like it's going top happen. Maybe I am being optimistic but I think the Texans will win this weekend and then beat the Browns in the final week. That will make us 6-10(which is pretty close to what a lot of posters predicted at the start of the year). Is a trade possible?...Yes. But I am not gonna hold my breath for that. I do find the Plummer accusation intriguing though....

[El Tejano]

IMHO, getting Plummer would be just for the sake of getting Plummer. Under the current team, Plummer doesn't fix anything but give us an older, slower QB.

I would much rather pay someone smaller money to compete with Carr in camp. If you think getting Plummer is the idea because he knows the system, well that is only good until the line breaks down.

IMO you still keep Carr for this one season and then get rid of him. You would have less to pay under his current contract.

[joshri]

Plummer is not what we need. I'd say:

1) Draft Adrian Peterson, Alan Branch or Joe Thomas in the 1st
2) Draft Troy Smith in the 2nd
3) Sign Nate Clements

Lance Briggs would also be nice but I'm sure that's pushing it.

[threetoedpete]

Never too early to talk about the draft. You've just got it posted in the wrong place. TBS, pass up All day, take the best OLT we can get in the first round. Five years and 263 sacks is enough. Time to fix the o-line.

[threetoedpete]

Originally Posted by cuzof26

lotta love for greenwood...hes got a lot of tackles(same story for him),but does he get any penetration behind the los??or make any tackles behind the los..........from what ive heard its minimal, but again, its hard to catch texans games in indiana.......he does seem to be at the right place at the right time(gotta luv that)

I got Mr. Hickman of UCLA slotted for Mr. Greenwood. We paid a lot for that guy. I'm still waiting.

[HOU-TEX]

Originally Posted by threetoedpete

Never too early to talk about the draft. You've just got it posted in the wrong place. TBS, pass up All day, take the best OLT we can get in the first round. Five years and 263 sacks is enough. Time to fix the o-line.

Personally, I'd like to see another stud Dlineman or LB taken with the first pick. A majority of the remaing picks would go towards the Oline. That said, I definetly wouldn't be upset if they took an Olineman by any means.

[joshri]

Agree w/ the D Line. If you are going to invest so much in Mario Williams you might as well not make the same mistake you made w/ Carr and putt some guys around him. Branch (Mich.) would be agreat next to him

[Meloy]

Originally Posted by Insideop

Number 3 is the only one I agree with and here's why. You want to get rid of Carr and sign a slower Plummer without upgrading the O-line? I'm glad you're not a GM! You think Plummer looked bad in Denver this year? Wait till he comes over here and really has to run for his life behind our patchwork O-line! This line is old and/or beat up. I doubt if Wiegert comes back and Flanagan may not either. McKinney and Salaam are both old and playing hurt. Spencer may not be fully recovered by next year. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We have to fix the O-line first or it won't matter who we put in as QB and RB.

Now I'm not a GM either, but this is what I would do and what I hope Kubes does:

1) Sign Asante Samuel or Nate Clements in FA to shore up secondary.

2) Sign Lance Briggs or Adalius Thomas in FA to shore up LB.

3) 1st round of draft select Joe Thomas (if available) and make him the starting LT. Move Spencer (if he can play) to RT and make "Caveman" Winston the swing tackle. If Spencer isn't quite ready, use him as the swing guard and keep McKinney in case Spencer doesn't make it back. If we can't get Thomas, then Baker from USC should be available and should do as well.

4) 2nd round of draft get the best center available. Maybe Kalil from USC or Young from Fresno St. will still be on the board. Flanagan is too old (and now hurt) and wasn't the long term answer anyway. Jury still out on Hodgdon.

5) 3rd round of draft is where I might select Kolb if he is still there. Otherwise, I'd get the best CB or S available.

6) Not sure at this point who I would pick in the next rounds. Maybe a TE or possibly more DB's and a Kicker or Punter if there are any good ones.

JMHO!

Good post! Only, I would not spend a 2nd on center. I understand your thought but IF Flannagan goes and Hodgdon (too small) doesn't work, McKinney should fill for one year minimum. My second would be for best corner or DT available. Running back is still an issue and I've considered a rb in 2nd if right guy there. I realy doubt Clemmons will come to us, but one can hope.