ESPN Article about our front office.

[jacquescas]

Houston Texans
Charlie Casserly: Senior vice president and GM of football operations
Dom Capers: Head coach

• The Texans might have the largest scouting department in the NFL, and it gives them a distinct advantage in their coverage of players in free agency and the draft. They have nine college scouts who cover the country and three pro scouts who handle free agency and veteran organizations.

• It all starts with Charlie Casserly, who has all the power and makes all final decisions. He is still a guy who watches film and attends workouts, which allows him to make informed decisions.

• Dan Ferens handles the salary cap, and although he is not a real football guy, he does a solid job.

• The trio of veteran pro scouts -- Chuck Banker, Bobby Grier and Miller McCalmon -- does an excellent job of dividing up the league, and Casserly listens to their input.

• Mike Maccagnan runs the college scouting department, but neither he nor the college scouts are high-profile evaluators and their input is fairly minimal.

• The coaching staff has a voice but not decision-making power, but Dom Capers seems to be on the same page as Casserly and they appear to have a good working relationship, especially on the pro side.

• The Texans had almost two years to set up this scouting department before they ever played a game, but they haven't seemed to take full advantage of it. However, they are very meticulous in their decisions, and because they have such expanded exposure to players, they don't make a lot of character mistakes and do dig some late-round gems out on draft day.

• This is not a front office that takes a lot of risks or gambles in both free agency and the draft. The Texans let the process come to them, and they rely on their preparation to make smart final decisions.

[Capster67]

I totally agree with the last section pointing out the cautious nature of the franchise. I do get frustrated with their refusal to go after a big name linebacker (ie. Jeremiah Trotter last year) that could bring the unit around right away. They were kind not to note the mistake in letting Steve Foley go. Hope Foreman (and perhaps very soon Sharper) don't get added to this list of oversights.

[Lucky]

This is not a front office that takes a lot of risks or gambles in both free agency and the draft.

Took a risk that Steve McKinney could convert from Guard to Center
Took a risk on Tony Hollings and his knee injury
Took a risk on Glenn Earl and his knee injury
Took a risk that Jason Babin would be worth trading up for
Took a risk (a slight risk)that Drew Henson would give up baseball

I don't think Joppru, Wand, Peek, or Pitts were exactly "safe" picks. They may not always come up aces, but the Texans take risks.

[Bellthebest]

i think that u guys make good decisions at front office decisions

[jacquescas]

i like the fact that we have one of the largest scouting departments, its the second article i've seen that basically says that even though the Texans are bound to how much they can spend on the field, they spend alot more than most off the field with their staff.

[ArlingtonTexan]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Took a risk that Steve McKinney could convert from Guard to Center
Took a risk on Tony Hollings and his knee injury
Took a risk on Glenn Earl and his knee injury
Took a risk that Jason Babin would be worth trading up for
Took a risk (a slight risk)that Drew Henson would give up baseball

I don't think Joppru, Wand, Peek, or Pitts were exactly "safe" picks. They may not always come up aces, but the Texans take risks.

In fact, the best work the front office has done is when they have not moved in the draft and taken the guys who were at the top of thier board.

Andre johnson-
DomDavis
Dunta Robinson

[wags]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Took a risk that Steve McKinney could convert from Guard to Center
Took a risk on Tony Hollings and his knee injury
Took a risk on Glenn Earl and his knee injury
Took a risk that Jason Babin would be worth trading up for
Took a risk (a slight risk)that Drew Henson would give up baseball

I don't think Joppru, Wand, Peek, or Pitts were exactly "safe" picks. They may not always come up aces, but the Texans take risks.

I just realized that you left out the biggest one of them all. The man who's name will not be mentioned.

[jacquescas]

a risk implies you have something to lose, with bosselli the only loss was cap space and as a new franchise we had tons of free cap room.

[outofhnd]

This team hasnt taken risks compared to that of the Dallas Cowboys, tradeing their future for Joey Galloway?

The year McGinest was Drafted Dallas Drafted Shante Carver. In fact even living up here I cant remember any of our draft picks after the first round except Julius Jones who have been starters. Compared to that we are fabulous at drafting. All of our 1st picks are impact players. That is hard for alot of franchises over the last 3 years to claim that kind of success

[jacquescas]

its because this is one of the 8 most profitable franchises in the NFL and they are not afraid to spend money on the scouting department. go texans!

[outofhnd]

actually they mention us and dallas as most noteably on NFL tV

[rittenhouserobz]

You can't discuss Boselli without Payne and Walker. We knew that Boselli could be a bust when we picked him. We would not have been able to pick Walker and Payne without Boselli. The short-term risk was cap space and a roster spot. The long-term risk, which I think is more important, is that Boselli took up cap space that could have been used to aquire young talent for the OL. The player that we could not have on the roster from the beginning could have been developing from our inception instead of waiting for year 2 and then picking a project.

[Vinny]

Nothing stopped us from picking up a Tackle prospect. We had no cap crisis to the extent that we could not fit in anyone we desired. We had plenty of room.

[rittenhouserobz]

I geuss what I menat was that we used cap space that did not contribute to the current/future success of the team. To me the development of the OL and Carr have been hampered by the changing of the OL. On the other hand, if Carr ever has to change teams or a sudden change in the OL he has experience to help him.

[Vinny]

I understand I think. I would venture to guess that (most) all NFL expansion teams struggle putting together an offensive line in their formative years. The Browns are still struggling to put theirs together and they had a two year head start. We have certainly been no exception.

[gcolby]

Originally Posted by jacquescas

• The Texans might have the largest scouting department in the NFL, and it gives them a distinct advantage in their coverage of players in free agency and the draft. They have nine college scouts who cover the country and three pro scouts who handle free agency and veteran organizations.

• The Texans had almost two years to set up this scouting department before they ever played a game, but they haven't seemed to take full advantage of it. However, they are very meticulous in their decisions, and because they have such expanded exposure to players, they don't make a lot of character mistakes and do dig some late-round gems out on draft day.

ESPN is contradicting themselves with these two statements. How can something we've never used give us a distinct advantage? Also, inside the last paragraph there alone, isn't finding late-rounds gems and character research a basic part of scouting in the modern day NFL??

They are way off base with the 'full advantage' line.

[Vinny]

So far, we have only really signed second level talents in free agency as we build our core team. I think they assume that since we have not been a big player in the most elite of the FA's we haven't used our resources. I think that sometimes the people you don't sign are as important as the players you do sign.

[TheOgre]

We picked up Glenn and Coleman's big contracts from the Jets to land Ryan Young, our RT for years to come. Sure Glenn and Coleman were top corners but they came at an outlandish price. Ironically, we re-signed the two of them and we cut ties with Young. It turned out well, but not for the reasons that we thought.

[TheOgre]

If we hadn't gotten Boselli and Young in the expansion draft, we would have tried to fill those two positions in some other way. Who knows, we might have reached for Gross in year 2 instead of drafting AJ. I am glad that didn't happen.

[TEXANS84]

Originally Posted by jacquescas

• Dan Ferens handles the salary cap, and although he is not a real football guy, he does a solid job.

I found this very interesting. Sounds like the guy is just a mathmatical guru, that has a small interest in football. We will see in the next few years how "solid" his skills are. Lets hope that Dan Ferens is the hero hidden within.