If you were Rick Smith...

[TexansFight]

Great post RagingBull. I would be a very happy man if Rick Smith followed your plan. I like RS and think he will do most of what you wrote. I want to see LT and C addressed in the 1st three rounds of the draft.

Seriously, your plan makes more sense than ANYTHING that Charley cASSerley ever did. I don't think he could have screwed us more if he tried to on purpose. Fan often are smarter and can make better moves than some in the FO. I would rather have had our local neighborhood drunk over Tim Purpura and CC.

[WaywardTexanFan]

Originally Posted by RagingBull

And your busy offseason were about to start, what moves would you make your priorities?

Mine would be:

1. Resign UFA/RFA's Andre Davis, Will Demps, ND Kalu, Von Hutchins, Matt Turk, Danny Clark, Charlie Anderson, C.C. Brown, Anthony Maddox, Earl Cochran, Joel Dreeson. None of these guys should break the bank and they all contributed well. Davis and Demps deserve decent sized contracts, but don't pay them any stupid money.

2. Let go UFA's/RFA's:
Alexander, Roc
Barry, Kevin
Bruener, Mark
Killings, Cedric
Simmons, Jason
Weary, Fred
Wynn, Dexter
Mathis, Jerome

They either did not contribute, are getting to old/injury prone, or their cost:performance ratio was too high. Give Killings some cash for his career ending injury.



3: Draft needs:
round 1: LT
round 3: DB
round 4: C/G
round 5: G/C
round 6: BPA TE/RB/DB
round 7: BPA TE/RB/DB

4: Consider cutting Greenwood or restructuring his contract (too much $$$ for what he is: $4,017,000 Base salary + $1,400,000 guaranteed = $5,517,000 total) This is the second highest salary on the team. He is not a 5.5 million dollar player. Would free up 4 million with only 1.4 million dead money. Replace with FA see #8.

5: Consdier cutting Weaver, Anthony $3,500,000 base + $2,700,000 guaranteed =$6,200,000) He is the highest paid player and a big time underperforme. Would free up 3.5M with 2.7M dead money. He does not play like a 6.2M or even a 3.5M player. Replace with FA see #7.

6: Cut Jordan Black; he will make 2.2M 900K guaranteed. Not much dead money, but you can sign several scrubs for 500K and let them compete to see which is better than him.

7: FA: Do everything possible to get Jared Allen (25 years old, NFL sack leader 2007, UFA, KC; possibly wants to leave) give him an 8 year 70M+ contract if need be, but get him. He is elite and would instantaneously give us the most potent DL in the NFL.

8: FA: Do everything possible to sign Lance Briggs; wants to leave da bears (27 years old elite OLB, UFA, Chi) give him a 6 year 50M+ contract. He is the real deal.

9: Don't waste money on a FA RB. Sign a bunch of scrubs and undrafteds like we did with the WR's this year and let the bunch of them compete. Keep 4 of them and 1 on the practice squad. Someone will emerge, especially since our OL will be improved.

10: None of the UFA's in the secondary look to be too good or don't want to leave. Don't try to force it or you will end up with another Anthony Weaver. Spend your draft picks on DB's.

11: More cuts: Jeb Putzier: Base: $1,750,000 + Guaranteed $462,500 = total $2,203,750. This dude is not worth 2.2M. Dead money cost not too high.

24% of our salary cap last year went to dead money. So far this year, it is only 6%. If they ditch Weaver,Greenwood, Black, Putzier and possibly Ahman Green that would add 5.5M dead money and a total cap savings of 16.1M giving about 10.5M of free'ed up cap space to spend on FA. If you add this to the 35M that we have already freed up from the previous year, we have 45M to spend. That should give us the ability to sign the above studs + some journeymen + our draftees, and give some contract extensions to guys we want to keep around that have earned it such as Demeco Ryans (2009), Kevin Walter (2009), Kris Brown (2009), Eric Winston (2009), Owen Daniels (2009). By cutting the above guys, our dead money will be right at 10%, which is a helluva lot better than 24%.

Rep to ya!!!

[RagingBull]

Originally Posted by checo446

Patriots have already drafted guys to groom him for the replacement. If they wanted to sign him to a longterm extension, they would have done it last year when they franchised him. As a result of him being franchised and threatening to hold out, the Pats agreed not to franchise him again and pursue free agency. It will cost somewhere in the realm of Nate Clements deal with SF, but Samuel is worth solidifying our secondary. If we had Fred Bennett on one side, Samuel on the other, Dunta at free safety when he returns and demps at strong safety, I think that would be very solid.

Wow, that secondary sounds great. I think the way D. Rob and Demps like to hit, they might make the hardest hitting 1-2 safety combo in the NFL. It never crossed my mind to move D. Rob to FS, but it makes a TON of sense. If Bennett progresses, and with Samuels on the other side, can you say "Safety Blitz"??? Sounds nice...

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by RagingBull

Wow, that secondary sounds great. I think the way D. Rob and Demps like to hit, they might make the hardest hitting 1-2 safety combo in the NFL. It never crossed my mind to move D. Rob to FS, but it makes a TON of sense. If Bennett progresses, and with Samuels on the other side, can you say "Safety Blitz"??? Sounds nice...

Moving D-Rob to FS has been a much argued option on this board.

[markn]

Originally Posted by RagingBull

And your busy offseason were about to start, what moves would you make your priorities?

Mine would be:

<snip>
7: FA: Do everything possible to get Jared Allen (25 years old, NFL sack leader 2007, UFA, KC; possibly wants to leave) give him an 8 year 70M+ contract if need be, but get him. He is elite and would instantaneously give us the most potent DL in the NFL.

A very well thought out post.

I we couldn't get Allen, another FA target might by Faneca, freeing up the 1st round pick from LT necessity.