Texans Signing Bradie James

[HOU-TEX]

Per Berman

Mark Berman‏@MarkBermanFox26

Texans signing free agent linebacker Bradie James. Spent career with Cowboys

He played Cushing's position for Dallas under Wade. Wonder if he can easily flip sides?

[Thorn]

From Wikipedia:

James was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He was the sixth middle/inside linebacker taken, behind Nick Barnett of Oregon State, Kawika Mitchell of South Florida, Gerald Hayes of Pittsburgh, Cie Grant of Ohio State, and Angelo Crowell of Virginia.

He backed up Pro Bowl outside linebacker Dexter Coakley in a 4–3 defense during his first two seasons in the league, while showing playmaking ability as a special teams performer in 2003 and 2004.

In 2005, the Cowboys changed to a 3–4 defense, allowing him to have a breakout year, while making the transition from special teams player to starting middle linebacker to lead the Cowboys with 109 tackles.

In 2008, James became only the second Cowboys defender (Eugene Lockhart - 222 in 1989) to reach 200 tackles in a season.

James was the first player to lead the Cowboys in tackles more than three straight seasons. In 2009 he led the team in tackles for the fifth consecutive season, the longest streak in franchise history.

During his career, he also had to deal with the uncertainty of who would start at the other inside linebacker position, having to play with different teammates who included: Scott Shanle, Akin Ayodele, Zach Thomas, Keith Brooking and Sean Lee.

In 2011 with the emergence of Lee, James and Brooking split snaps at the other inside linebacker spot, which freed James to return kickoffs for the first time since 2005.

[Mr teX]

DO. NOT. LIKE. This guy is old and a liability in coverage....ask cowboys fans.

[False Start]

Originally Posted by HOU-TEX

Per Berman



He played Cushing's position for Dallas under Wade. Wonder if he can easily flip sides?

Nice low key signing, and a former player for Wade, not a bad idea.

It says on Wiki he returned kickoffs? A linebacker returning kicks?

In 2011 with the emergence of Lee, James and Brooking split snaps at the other inside linebacker spot, which freed James to return kickoffs for the first time since 2005.

[Playoffs]

Bradie James was 38/50 on PFF signature score for ILBs taking >25% of snaps.

Demeco was 20/50 & Cushing was 2/50.

[drunkcookie]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

DO. NOT. LIKE. This guy is old and a liability in coverage....ask cowboys fans.

I agree..i say we just don't address depth at ILB at all...

Kitty cat

[BattleRedRock]

Originally Posted by HOU-TEX

Per Berman



He played Cushing's position for Dallas under Wade. Wonder if he can easily flip sides?

I think he'll prolly just be a back up, as i see it, its still Reed, Cush, Sharpton, Barwin.. guessing sharp and cush signal the calls. OR they think Sharp isnt progressing well from his injury which isnt good considering he was playing extremely well before it happen.. I still think they draft a LB in 1st 3 rds.. hopefully.. Nick Perry how does that Houston Texas weather feel?!?!

[Blake]

First impressions is that he is slow. But I will assume that Wade has a plan to utilize his strengths, not rely on his weakness.

[Mr teX]

Originally Posted by drunkcookie

I agree..i say we just don't address depth at ILB at all...

Kitty cat

In all liklihood, this guy isn't coming here to be depth, he's coming to start opposite Cush imo. & the only way that doesn't happen is if we go ILB in the 1st......which is likely not going to happen. Imo, we should be trying to get younger at the LB position, not signing old guys to be potential starters.

[drunkcookie]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

In all liklihood, this guy isn't coming here to be depth, he's coming to start opposite Cush imo. & the only way that doesn't happen is if we go ILB in the 1st......which is likely not going to happen. Imo, we should be trying to get younger at the LB position, not signing old guys to be potential starters.

Oh yah, i forgot that Sharpton is in his 30s...

Again with the kitty

[Goldensilence]

Maybe older than Sharpton, but could likely be an upgrade and might make it less of a need to draft an ILB high.

At any rate our depth at ILB gets a boost.

[Mr teX]

Originally Posted by drunkcookie

Oh yah, i forgot that Sharpton is in his 30s...

Again with the kitty

The fact that they're signing this dude should tell you all you need to know about where they are with Sharpton.....bring an old guy in to compete and push the youngster...Sharpton's at a disadvantage in just about every catergory with this signing.

[michaelm]

The Texans have a history of filling weaknesses pre-draft so that they are more able to draft BPA, instead of drafting for need. This should be a low cost signing that fits that MO perfectly.
Business as usual, IMO.

James competes to start and if he doesn't win the starting job, he makes quality depth is the worst case scenario, I'd say.

[Goldensilence]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

In all liklihood, this guy isn't coming here to be depth, he's coming to start opposite Cush imo. & the only way that doesn't happen is if we go ILB in the 1st......which is likely not going to happen. Imo, we should be trying to get younger at the LB position, not signing old guys to be potential starters.

Per HT.com http://www.houstontexans.com/team/roster.html

Our listed ILBers are....

Brian Cushing - 3
Alexander Mister - R
Daryl Sharpton - 2

OLBers

Brooks Reed - R
Conor Barwin - 3
Bryan Braman - R
Jesse Nading - 3
Derrel Smith - R
UFA Tim Dobbins 6

How much younger can we get bro? At this point I just want to get better/more talented regardless of age or # of years played. I also think having adding another vet after losing Demeco is a good thing.

Younger doesn't always mean better.

[drunkcookie]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

The fact that they're signing this dude should tell you all you need to know about where they are with Sharpton.....bring an old guy in to compete and push the youngster...Sharpton's at a disadvantage in just about every catergory with this signing.

What it tells me is that they replaced an empty ILB slot on the roster... Now if the money is starter- big i'll agree that it says a lot about their view on Sharpton...

We'll see, maybe they do draft ILB high anyway...

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

The fact that they're signing this dude should tell you all you need to know about where they are with Sharpton.....bring an old guy in to compete and push the youngster...Sharpton's at a disadvantage in just about every catergory with this signing.

Looks like a depth signing to me. Nothing more nothing less.

[Ryan]

I actually like the signing. He didn't fit well in Rob Ryan's scheme just like Demeco didn't really fit in Wade's. He had 100+ tackles every season when Wade was there. Very good pickup IMO at least to bring back some depth.

[drunkcookie]

Originally Posted by Goldensilence

Per HT.com http://www.houstontexans.com/team/roster.html



How much younger can we get bro? At this point I just want to get better/more talented regardless of age or # of years played. I also think having adding another vet after losing Demeco is a good thing.

Don't you know? It's not about how much younger we can get, it's about how much more some have to ***** about without thinking first...

[The Pencil Neck]

This guy takes Dobbins' spot.

He's not a starter. Right now, Sharpton is the starter.

But I think this means we probably don't draft an ILB in the first 3 rounds like I'd been thinking we'd do.

[Mr teX]

Originally Posted by Goldensilence

Per HT.com http://www.houstontexans.com/team/roster.html

Our listed ILBers are....

Brian Cushing - 3
Alexander Mister - R
Daryl Sharpton - 2

OLBers

Brooks Reed - R
Conor Barwin - 3
Bryan Braman - R
Jesse Nading - 3
Derrel Smith - R
UFA Tim Dobbins 6

How much younger can we get bro? At this point I just want to get better/more talented regardless of age or # of years played. I also think having adding another vet after losing Demeco is a good thing.

Younger doesn't always mean better.

& we should continue that trend of continuing to bring young guys in the fold. & don't discount Cush as a vet. this will be his 4th year in the NFL & 2nd full season in Wade's system in which he was the feature ILB calling everything. I imagine that there's not much if anything that james can bring to the table that Cush doesn't already know or has done. Ultimately, he'll just be a liability out there much like Ryans was; maybe even a greater liability.