Kuharsky blog: 2013 Cap Carnage...A. Smith and K. Walter

[ArlingtonTexan]

I am going to post this here but there are a couple of other threads that it could apply to on the first page. Between his contract and normal aging the Texans have three to four years of andre johnson being the CLEAR #1 Wr on the roster. He is not in the short term (minus injury) needing a replacement.

Now, specially on LeStar jean. he is a great story and has gotten rave reviews from spring practice of whatever name. Good. Still, he has a better chance to never have a single season a good as the best season that Jacoby than be any sort of true NFL #1 WR. and honestly, the texans really only need him to turn into a 45-50 catch guy, which would make him an outstanding UDFA. Yes, arian foster happens, but remember the Texans did not bet on Arian being Arian during that off-season, just like they have not bet on Lestar being anyting this off-season.

Placing these together, the Texans are probably years from seing another Andre Johnson acquired in any manner. Given that there are only a handful of UDFA WRs who are starters in the NFL, much less true 1s, my bet is that Jean is Just Another Guy overall. That said, I hope that I am really wrong.

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by ArlingtonTexan

I am going to post this here but there are a couple of other threads that it could apply to on the first page. Between his contract and normal aging the Texans have three to four years of andre johnson being the CLEAR #1 Wr on the roster. He is not in the short term (minus injury) needing a replacement.

Now, specially on LeStar jean. he is a great story and has gotten rave reviews from spring practice of whatever name. Good. Still, he has a better chance to never have a single season a good as the best season that Jacoby than be any sort of true NFL #1 WR. and honestly, the texans really only need him to turn into a 45-50 catch guy, which would make him an outstanding UDFA. Yes, arian foster happens, but remember the Texans did not bet on Arian being Arian during that off-season, just like they have not bet on Lestar being anyting this off-season.

Placing these together, the Texans are probably years from seing another Andre Johnson acquired in any manner. Given that there are only a handful of UDFA WRs who are starters in the NFL, much less true 1s, my bet is that Jean is Just Another Guy overall. That said, I hope that I am really wrong.

If Jean turns into a 45-50 catch guy that would be insanely amazing. He'd be head and shoulders better than Jacoby Jones ever was (who only broke 50 catches once in his time here). And that's good enough for me.

WRs who work hard frequently have long careers and I think Andre fits into that category. He's not going to be #1 for the entire span but he'll degrade into an outstanding #2. At that point, we'll need to have a new #1 standing by.

I don't think that new #1 is on the team. I could be wrong. Jean or Posey could develop into that. But I'm not really worried about it, yet.

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by ArlingtonTexan

I am going to post this here but there are a couple of other threads that it could apply to on the first page. Between his contract and normal aging the Texans have three to four years of andre johnson being the CLEAR #1 Wr on the roster. He is not in the short term (minus injury) needing a replacement.

Now, specially on LeStar jean. he is a great story and has gotten rave reviews from spring practice of whatever name. Good. Still, he has a better chance to never have a single season a good as the best season that Jacoby than be any sort of true NFL #1 WR. and honestly, the texans really only need him to turn into a 45-50 catch guy, which would make him an outstanding UDFA. Yes, arian foster happens, but remember the Texans did not bet on Arian being Arian during that off-season, just like they have not bet on Lestar being anyting this off-season.

Placing these together, the Texans are probably years from seing another Andre Johnson acquired in any manner. Given that there are only a handful of UDFA WRs who are starters in the NFL, much less true 1s, my bet is that Jean is Just Another Guy overall. That said, I hope that I am really wrong.

Does Kubes' offense really need and Andre Johnson to make it work though? Ok, so we've seen AJ go down and our passing game drop off a few times now, not just last season, but it seems as if Kubiak is capable of using WR's to clear space for each other, and if the playbook was based around 2 KW's instead of AJ + KW, maybe we could still be serviceable?

What was his record like in Denver did he always have at least one great receiver or did he get by with lesser talent at times? I ask because I've never seen him go after a great WR either a prospect or FA, the presence of AJ might be what has stopped that, but maybe, just maybe, AJ is a bonus rather than a necessity in our system? I believe AJ is now the only non-Smithiak era signing unless you count Norris.

KW needs to be made expendable by one of the younger guys this season, I felt for the last couple of years that they needed Jacoby to do that for them but he failed. Until that happens, we'll continue to use him for what he's good at, he isn't going to be a cap casualty until someone else steps up.

Antonio, I've said all along, as good as he is, we can get by paying a lot less at that position, maybe not be quite as good, but it will keep us good in other areas, Crick/next years signing will be the replacement.

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by welsh texan

What was his record like in Denver did he always have at least one great receiver or did he get by with lesser talent at times? I ask because I've never seen him go after a great WR either a prospect or FA, the presence of AJ might be what has stopped that, but maybe, just maybe, AJ is a bonus rather than a necessity in our system? I believe AJ is now the only non-Smithiak era signing unless you count Norris.

The mainstay WR in Kubiak's offense in Denver was Rod Smith, the Great. An undrafted free agent signed the year before Kubiak took over. It took Smith 3 years to "get it". He didn't play at all -- I don't know if he made the practice squad or not -- his first year. In his first season under Kubiak, he only caught 6 passes but for 152 yards. From his third season to his next to last season, he had at least 70 catches each year and he had two years with catches over 100 which was very rare back in that time. He retired after the 2006 season (when Kubiak had come here.) He's the greatest receiver in Denver's history and should be in the running for the Hall of Fame.

The other guy for a good chunk of Kubiak's tenure in Denver was Ed McCaffrey. McCaffrey was a 3rd round draft pick by the Giants who played for them for 3 years. Then he spent a year in San Francisco with Shanahan and Kubiak and went to Denver with them. He was like KW on steroids.

The biggest draft choice at the WR spot Kubes had was Ashley Lelie. Lelie was drafted to take over for Rod Smith but ended up taking over for McCaffrey. He had 1 1000 yard season under Kubiak. He left Denver as a big name free agent when Kubiak left and fell all to pieces.

So. No. Kubes doesn't have a good history of drafting receivers. He has taken some cast-offs and built them into great players, though. And he's had some great success with TEs (Sharpe.) One of those seasons in Denver, he had Smith at 1000 yards and McCaffrey at 900 and Sharpe at almost 700... and that was with Griese throwing the ball.

[badboy]

Part of what we will have to live with in finding another AJ is where we are now drafting. Also, I think it is possible we could lose Barwin and go OLB again. Having said that, as mentioned above, in Wade and Gary's playbook you don't have to have a HOF to succeed.

[GP]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

The mainstay WR in Kubiak's offense in Denver was Rod Smith, the Great. An undrafted free agent signed the year before Kubiak took over. It took Smith 3 years to "get it". He didn't play at all -- I don't know if he made the practice squad or not -- his first year. In his first season under Kubiak, he only caught 6 passes but for 152 yards. From his third season to his next to last season, he had at least 70 catches each year and he had two years with catches over 100 which was very rare back in that time. He retired after the 2006 season (when Kubiak had come here.) He's the greatest receiver in Denver's history and should be in the running for the Hall of Fame.

Not saying he's gonna be Hall of Fame caliber, but LeStar Jean might be that Rod Smith type WR here...the guy who took a couple years to build up steam.

I'm hoping so, at least! I'm just glad that Jacoby is gone because it'll give us a chance to see more at WR than just AJ, KW, and JJ. I'm ready to see some fresh faces out there.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by GP

Not saying he's gonna be Hall of Fame caliber, but LeStar Jean might be that Rod Smith type WR here...the guy who took a couple years to build up steam.

I'm hoping so, at least! I'm just glad that Jacoby is gone because it'll give us a chance to see more at WR than just AJ, KW, and JJ. I'm ready to see some fresh faces out there.

Im glad to see JJ gone cause I almost had a heart attack every damn time he touched the ball .... not to mention getting to see some fresh faces at WR.


Im surprised Gary didnt turn around and look the opposite direction every time a play was designed to go to him .....