AJ's (not Andre) offseason talk

[Wolf]

from Jan 10th

Somehow I missed this but the Texans have signed five players to future contracts for the 2010 season.

According to houstontexans.com, on January 6, the Texans signed DE Pannel Egboh, C Brett Helms, DE Jesse Nading and G Adam Stenavich to future contracts.

Adam Caplan of profootball.scout.com added LB Darnell Bing to that list on January 9.

exans free agents

Fourteen Texans are due to become unrestricted free agents on March 5 if not re-signed. Those players are Chester Pitts, Kevin Walter, Ephraim Salaam, Rex Grossman, Chris Brown, Tutan Reyes, Jeff Zgonina, Chaun Thompson, Khary Campbell, Nick Ferguson, Brian Russell, Dunta Robinson, Matt Turk and Bryan Pittman.

Eight Texans players are due to become restricted free agents on March 5 assuming there is no collective bargaining agreement. Those players are DeMeco Ryans, Tim Bulman, Bernard Pollard, John Busing, Ryan Moats, Rashad Butler, Chris White and Owen Daniels.

The Texans can retain first right of refusal and compensation rights for their restricted free agents by submitting a minimum qualifying offer (tender) to those players by February 26.

There are four levels of RFA tender, with the top tender for 2010 being $3.168 million for a one year deal plus 1st and 3rd round draft pick compensation if the player signs with another team.

http://www.examiner.com/x-778-Housto...nel-rss-Sports

[b0ng]

If we get 2 franchise tags I'm thinking that Smith might lean to using both of them.

[Blazin' Toro]

This will cause a lot of controversy but I believe they should franchise Dunta again. Unless there is any quality CB's in Free Agency, I think the draft should be focusing on the OL and Safety.

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by Blazin' Toro

This will cause a lot of controversy but I believe they should franchise Dunta again. Unless there is any quality CB's in Free Agency, I think the draft should be focusing on the OL and Safety.

I agree and I think we will (unless he doesn't sign an extension.)

That said, if we do franchise him, I think we should give a legitimate effort in trading him. I feel that, given the lack of a salary cap, there's no reason not to tag him. You either tag him, trade him, and reap the benefits of a nice draft pick, or you tag him, overpay him, and reap the benefit of having a quality CB on your team.

With no cap constraints I really can't think of a reason not to do this.

[Goldensilence]

Originally Posted by Blazin' Toro

This will cause a lot of controversy but I believe they should franchise Dunta again. Unless there is any quality CB's in Free Agency, I think the draft should be focusing on the OL and Safety.

I say let him walk. I guess he's a decent CB, but after seeing David Gibbs get good production from two late round picks I'm inclined to believe that for once we can sign a decent CB and let guys develop.

Might be an uncapped year but, still I wouldn't tag Dunta "Pay me Rick" Robinson.

The good news that is that there's not a whole bunch of big contract guys we have to make tough decisions about. Sign Ryans and OD. No Brainer. I think Butler is a good swing backup. I'd like to see them offer Pollard a good contract. It's nice to see solid safety play for once.

Other then that we shouldn't have to offer big contracts to the other guys IF they are worth keeping around anyway.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Blazin' Toro

This will cause a lot of controversy but I believe they should franchise Dunta again. Unless there is any quality CB's in Free Agency, I think the draft should be focusing on the OL and Safety.

I'd offer him a top 10-15 contract. No matter what he thinks, he's not top 3 or top 5 quality. But when I slow down and think about it, I can't think of 10-12 guys who are head & shoulders above him at his position.

And for those who say "let him walk", I have two questions:
(a) Can we reeeeally make a playoff run with two or three youngsters at CB? I mean, you're talking Reeves, Quinn, Bennett, Moulden, and McCain as our CBs. Are they playoff quality with no Robinson to stick on the other guy's #1? I'm not sure.
(b) If not, how much would we have to give up to bring in equivalent talent level? Maybe I'm alone in this but I don't believe our secondary is deep enough to lose a starter quality CB and not replace him with like quality.

Does anyone want to burn up a 1st day pick on a CB when we need to bolster the OG/OC spot and find a quality RB or real FS with those picks?? And while I wouldn't mind trying to find more 2nd day nuggets like McCain and Quin, finding a stud CB is a shot in the dark. Seemed to work in GQ's case but not so much in Bennett's or Moulden's. So you'd like to bring in a proven player to replace a proven player. And that's gonna cost us.