20/20 Hindsight

[infantrycak]

Here is a Link to the Texans' expansion draft choices.

Now, giving fair credit to the information available at the time, what choices would you have made differently?

And to pose another question--it has been reported that the deal between the Texans and the Jags was if we took Bosselli, they would leave both Walker and Payne available to us. In hindsight, knowing Bosselli would never play a down and his salary cap implications, would you have settled for one of Walker or Payne (and which one) rather than take Bosselli on to get both?

[Fiddy]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

And to pose another question--it has been reported that the deal between the Texans and the Jags was if we took Bosselli, they would leave both Walker and Payne available to us. In hindsight, knowing Bosselli would never play a down and his salary cap implications, would you have settled for one of Walker or Payne (and which one) rather than take Bosselli on to get both?

I would still do it for both, Bosselli is out of our books anyways because Casserly was smart and took all of Bosselli's 7 million cap hit last year.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

Here is a Link to the Texans' expansion draft choices.

Now, giving fair credit to the information available at the time, what choices would you have made differently?

I don't think I would have done anything differently. I guess you could make a case for McGinest or Ted Johnson. Both have been productive in the past 2 seasons and had 34 defense experience. But at the time of the draft, most felt they were on the downside. Maybe Ryan Tucker? He might be able to start at LG. How many sacks in '02 could he have prevented? 5 or 6? But, I think the guy had some character issue and maybe that played a role in not getting picked.

As far as Boselli is concerned, I still believe that the Texans thought he had a legit chance to make a comeback. I think Tony did, as well. Getting a bonafide LT would have been a real coup, and like I asked the late (great?) heterodoxy on HPF, who else would the Texans have spent the money on?

And don't forget that the Texans also picked up Jerry DeLoach & Jay Foreman in the expansion draft. Sort of. Casserly made a deal with the Skins to take Danny Awful from he Bears and traded him to Washington for DeLoach. Then he did the same thing with Charlie Rogers (not that Charlie Rogers) and turned him into Foreman. All in all, this had to be the best expansion draft a team has ever had.

[Mistril48]

I think the only real surprise was that Ryan Young didn't work out better. I suspect that the Texans thought he was can't miss to earn a long term contract after his 4th year.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Bottle-O-Bud

I really though Bosselli had a chance to start over so I am not as mad.

Hindsight?

If I knew that would have happened, I would never have taken him. He placed our O-line in a tailspin.

How do you figure "tailspin"? If he wasn't there by not taking him, then what is the difference in him not being there via injury? Either way he didn’t play, but by taking him we got 2/3’rds of our defensive starting line. You do realize that if we do not take him we do not get Seth Payne and Gary Walker, right?

You do realize that if we do not take him we do not get Seth Payne and Gary Walker, right?

WE went all up down about this topic last year and had some classic debates, one of which got me kicked off these boards based on this topic. So to rehash things again doesn't make the Boselli botch pick any better. We all know that "reportedly" Walker and Payne and Boselli was a package deal. I doubt that all 3 of them would have been with the team considering the Jags cap troubles. One of them would have to have been either in the draft or let go. The Jags were facing a salary cap overage of more than $27 million at that time. I highly doubt all 3 of those guys would be back at Jacksonville anyways. The Jets were in the same boat, about $19.5 million. And if you look at now, only Walker had paid dividends on a 4-11, 5-12 team. So among the 3 guys, 1 has only played 1 and half seasons. Look at the monumental cap hit all 3 guys take on us. What bothers me is that we were limiting ourselves to the "30-year" rule where we were not going to pick up players older than 30. But only 6 of 19 players selected are still with the team anyways. That was the only thing I wish we would have done different.

This would have been a decent expansion draft"
S Sam Garnes ($2,613,357)

CB Aaron Glenn ($8,013,177)
CB Marcus Coleman ($5,480,750)
CB Terrance Shaw

DE Jabari Issa ($397,666)
DT Ellis Johnson ($6,001,666)

LB Mark Fields ($2,505,760)
LB Jamie Sharper ($2,875,000)
LB Ted Johnson
LB Bernardo Harris ($2,656,250)
LB Brant Boyer ($1,075,000)

OT Roman Oben ($4,866,668)

TE Freddie Jones ($4,018,750)
TE Hunter Goodwin ($1,450,000)

OG Zach Wiegert

QB Dave Dickenson ($315,000)

WR Avion Black ($460,000)
WR Troy Walters ($406,000)
WR Keenan McCardell ($4,565,000)

[El Tejano]

I don't think I would've done anything different but since we are talking hindsight I would like to mention this. We had an opportunity to get Willie Roaf but everyone thought he was too injured. He ended up going to the KC Chiefs and is still starting with them to this date.

I do believe that the Texans were very much concerned with getting a veteran defense that didn't have players that would end up leaving or retiring so the defense could keep the team in the game into the 4th quarter. In the first year and for a good portion of this year that plan has panned out well. We lost alot of games in the fourth quarter this season.

I think this assessment will be easier to see after this season with a healthy Walker and Payne playing the whole season. But who knows?

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by El Tejano

I don't think I would've done anything different but since we are talking hindsight I would like to mention this. We had an opportunity to get Willie Roaf but everyone thought he was too injured. He ended up going to the KC Chiefs and is still starting with them to this date.

The NFL killed us on that deal. They decided his injury was too uncertain and took him off the expansion list. For whatever reason they did not make that same decision about Bosselli. Interesting question whether we would have still taken Bosselli to get Walker and Payne or taken Roaf and Walker or tried to get all four.

[Wolf]

maybe I am nieve or a "homer". I wouldn't do anything different. I think what helped us was that with Glenn,Boselli, Walker, Sharper, etc .. we got guys with good work ethic and that allowed them to show our rookies what it takes to be successful. Also as we can see, we are drafting guys that already have that mindset.

[Porky]

Interesting question, but nothing is ever perfect. Can anyone name me a
"perfect" draft. You can break down any team's draft over the lifetime of the draft, and go through each round, and in hindsight, pick a pro-bowler in practically every round. But, that's not how these things work. You make your best judgement based upon all available evidence at that moment in time. You don't have the advantage of going into a time machine. So, speculate all you wish, but the bottom line is, if I look at it with that moment in time in mind, I can't quibble with anything they did. Probably the best expansion draft in history. And, nobody could have predicted Payne being out all last year. Revionist history is just that.