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Dunta- keep him or let him go?

badboy

badboy

Hall of Fame
Fan favorite cornerback Dunta Robinson brings fire but has he done enough to get the contract offer that will keep him in Houston? Is he only going to keep Bennett from getting the reps he needs or will the off season help DR be back to pre-injury form in 2009? How may bucks will it take to sign him and does Rick Smith say keep this big hearted player?

The bucks to sign him could go along way towards a certain FA DE some are dreaming about. I will keep focus on him last 2 games.
 
Keep him. Even if he's lost any step with his injury, his veteran leadership is needed in the lockerroom. Plus, I think he'll be back up to form by next season after he gets a full off-season to condition and work out.
 
I've never thought that Dunta was the greatest thing next to cold beer BUT, for being a younger guy, it's become quite obvious that he is the defensive leader on the field. He's as good as having an on-field coach. Get him signed.
 
He's pro bowl caliber...we need him. Lose the deadwood that DOESN'T perform. You build a secondary AROUND guys like Robinson.
 
Right now I'm thinking incentive-ladeled contract (out of concern about health, NOT effort), but I need to see how things go these last two games.
 
You keep him and try to come to some sort of agreement that lets him opt-out in a few years once he's had a season back at 100% (or that lets you opt out if he can't come all the way back). That way either side can trigger a renegotiation based on real world performance.

In an ideal world that's what I do. My heart tells me to go ahead and pay the man though. He'll be good to go next year and he is the heart of our defense. If Mario is the star and DeMeco is the guy who holds the middle together then Dunta is the heart. We need him. We once had a guy back there who was IMO "the heart" of the secondary in Aaron Glenn and we let him go because Philip Buchanon was faster. We destroyed our secondary to get faster and we were wrong. We don't want to make that same mistake again.
 
Hervoyel said:
You keep him and try to come to some sort of agreement that lets him opt-out in a few years once he's had a season back at 100% (or that lets you opt out if he can't come all the way back). That way either side can trigger a renegotiation based on real world performance.

In an ideal world that's what I do. My heart tells me to go ahead and pay the man though. He'll be good to go next year and he is the heart of our defense. If Mario is the star and DeMeco is the guy who holds the middle together then Dunta is the heart. We need him. We once had a guy back there who was IMO "the heart" of the secondary in Aaron Glenn and we let him go because Philip Buchanon was faster. We destroyed our secondary to get faster and we were wrong. We don't want to make that same mistake again.
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Excellent point.
 
Tricky question. Dunta is a fan favorite and should be a part of the identity of our defense. He brings so much passion, effort and drive to the locker room, field and sidelines that it's almost irreplaceable.

With that said, there is a cut off. I don't know what that is though. Pre injury, Dunta was one of the best CB's in the league. Post injury is a different story. Is he or will he be good enough to be our #1 CB or is he a #2 CB? How does our staff like the combination of Reeves and Dunta out there? How has Bennett progressed? yadda yadda yadda.

As much as I like Dunta, he isn't a top 5 CB in the league so I'm not sure why we would be willing to franchise him and pay him $10 million for next season. I think we need to offer him a fair contract, maybe something like 2-3 years with most of the money weighted towards year 2 and 3 to see how he properly heals. At the same time, maybe we should know enough about his injury to make a complete decision. If he's not up to 100% why wait longer, or if he is at 100% then that should make our decision easier as to lay more money on the table or let him go.

I will tell you that I would be highly disappointed if he gets one of these 6 year $60 million deals or something unless the Texans are sure he's going to be a complete stud and allpro for years to come.

:texflag:
 
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HJam72 said:
Right now I'm thinking incentive-ladeled contract (out of concern about health, NOT effort), but I need to see how things go these last two games.
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Don't you think other teams may whisper in his ear "More dollars over here"? I think Smith will offer a contract as you indicate, but this was to be the contract to set Dunta up for life. It may be asking the Texans a lot to step up against a FA offer. I can't blame DR for looking to his future but the Texans have to watch the bottom line also. Hopefully, he will give us a lot of reasons in next two games to keep him.
 
I think between the injury, and the fact that Dunta's skills are a bit overstated on this board (I agree with Powerful Dragon's take), the interest - or more specifically the money - that will be offered to him by any of the other 31 NFL teams this off-season won't be off the charts.

I also agree with Herv's characterization of him as the heart (and I would add soul) of the defense, and very much agree with his comparison to Aaron Glenn's departure.

To me, that means he's far more valuable to the Texans than any other team in the NFL, and as such, they should be able to come to an agreement that will not necessitate the use of the franchise tag. Probably short-term and/or including lots of incentives, but I can't see any other team paying him what he's worth to us during this off-season.
 
badboy said:
Don't you think other teams may whisper in his ear "More dollars over here"? I think Smith will offer a contract as you indicate, but this was to be the contract to set Dunta up for life. It may be asking the Texans a lot to step up against a FA offer. I can't blame DR for looking to his future but the Texans have to watch the bottom line also. Hopefully, he will give us a lot of reasons in next two games to keep him.
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Yes, I'm worried about it, but I kind of agree with the following:

ChampionTexan said:
I think between the injury, and the fact that Dunta's skills are a bit overstated on this board (I agree with Powerful Dragon's take), the interest - or more specifically the money - that will be offered to him by any of the other 31 NFL teams this off-season won't be off the charts.

I also agree with Herv's characterization of him as the heart (and I would add soul) of the defense, and very much agree with his comparison to Aaron Glenn's departure.

To me, that means he's far more valuable to the Texans than any other team in the NFL, and as such, they should be able to come to an agreement that will not necessitate the use of the franchise tag. Probably short-term and/or including lots of incentives, but I can't see any other team paying him what he's worth to us during this off-season.
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I see Dunta as the type of guy who isn't the slightest bit afraid of incentives. Give him LOTS of incentives and he'll nail every one of them....unless his health never returns completely.
 
ChampionTexan said:
To me, that means he's far more valuable to the Texans than any other team in the NFL, and as such, they should be able to come to an agreement that will not necessitate the use of the franchise tag. Probably short-term and/or including lots of incentives, but I can't see any other team paying him what he's worth to us during this off-season.
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FA is just like the college Draft in the sense that it only takes one team to think enough of a player to draft him very high and be willing to pay him what all other teams think is an utterly outragous amount of money.
 
nunusguy said:
FA is just like the college Draft in the sense that it only takes one team to think enough of a player to draft him very high and be willing to pay him what all other teams think is an utterly outragous amount of money.
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We're going to need to put a dollar figure on what he's worth to us--keeping the salary cap in mind. That's going to be a problem for me, because I don't keep up with all of that. All I can say is that I very much want to keep him, but we do have a salary cap, his health is somewhat of a question, and he is not one of the top three players on this team anymore--not even if he gets all his health back.
 
nunusguy said:
FA is just like the college Draft in the sense that it only takes one team to think enough of a player to draft him very high and be willing to pay him what all other teams think is an utterly outragous amount of money.
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Yeah, and if one team views him as a franchise type CB, then we're probably going to lose him. My point is that because he was not pro-bowl caliber before (although I agree he was close), and he's got a little bit of uncertainty regarding his health, I think there's an excellent chance that "one team" will not exist.
 
HJam72 said:
We're going to need to put a dollar figure on what he's worth to us--keeping the salary cap in mind. That's going to be a problem for me, because I don't keep up with all of that. All I can say is that I very much want to keep him, but we do have a salary cap, his health is somewhat of a question, and he is not one of the top three players on this team anymore--not even if he gets all his health back.
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He is one of our top 3 defensive players just because of the heart, excitement, and passion he brings to the game. Like others have said, he is like having a coach on the field.
 
We'll keep him one way or another. If he signs a long term contract with us I'm sure a lot of people here and elsewhere will say we overpaid for him but good players get paid, end of story. The salary cap is increasing every year (uncapped soon?) and with it the salaries of individual players. As long as we stay away from FA clunkers such as Weaver and Greenwood we should never have a problem retaining all of our quality players as long as they are willing to negotiate with us.
 
We keep him. We have to pay for it, but loyal, pro-bowl calibre players don't grow on trees (or grow out of FA signings in our case...).
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
I will tell you that I would be highly disappointed if he gets one of these 6 year $60 million deals or something unless the Texans are sure he's going to be a complete stud and allpro for years to come.

:texflag:
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I think you could structure a 6 year 60 that would be worth while.

Say a 15m signing bonus and 15 million in year 6 that he would never see (cut him or renegotiate).

That leaves you with 2.5 per year in annualized bonus, and 45 million in salary over 5 that you can back end with salary cap escalation.

Maybe a little high, but certainly not terrible.
 
We have to keep him. Its apparent that his presence has had had an impact on this defensive unit. He has something money cant buy, and thats leadership. Hes the heart and soul of this defense and this franchise IMO. :texflag:
 
Keep him for sure. He's the heart of our defense.

Let Travis Johnson walk. I was so impressed by Deljuan Robinson yesterday and the Jags game, we may have found a diamond in the rough.
 
This is a no-brainer. You keep D-Ta. You can't put a price tag on leadership. I don't think it's any coincidence that the defense got better once he got back on the field full-time. He's so competitive that it just fuels everyone around him. Smith will get it done. D-Ta will be a Texan for many years to come.:texflag:
 
This definitely has the possibility to be a heart breaker for Texan fans. The problem I keep coming to is prior to the injury was Dunta a top 5 guy? Was he in line for a contract like Samuel or Clements? The injury has definitely changed the dynamics of that situation and Dunta, to his credit, put forth a LOT of effort to get back on the field this year. What is that worth contractually?

Personally I'd like to see a one year deal with escalators to make sure we're not going to get bogged down in an expensive deal for a player that doesn't make it back to form. After that I'm fine with a long term deal.
 
I say make the man a more than fair offer, but don't break the bank. If another team wants him that badly, we just made it cost enough for them to REALLY think about. I don't see anyone throwing around money for FA CB's like they have the last couple of years. Maybe a down economy couldhave an upside for us?
 
like all the players and coaching staff included

iam sure Kubes will evulate himself and everybody and she what he should do


IMO there is no question u let special players like that go

his he the best CB in the league NO there are alot more players better then him is he the worst not by a long shot
 
Isnt the question whether he wants to stay or leave?

We can decide to bring him back but that dosent mean he wants to.

I hope the titans win will keep him in houston.

I remember when we were 3-7 the chronicle said we would let him walk
 
hervoyel said:
you keep him and try to come to some sort of agreement that lets him opt-out in a few years once he's had a season back at 100% (or that lets you opt out if he can't come all the way back). That way either side can trigger a renegotiation based on real world performance.

In an ideal world that's what i do. My heart tells me to go ahead and pay the man though. He'll be good to go next year and he is the heart of our defense. If mario is the star and demeco is the guy who holds the middle together then dunta is the heart. we need him. We once had a guy back there who was imo "the heart" of the secondary in aaron glenn and we let him go because philip buchanon was faster. We destroyed our secondary to get faster and we were wrong. We don't want to make that same mistake again.
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qft!!
 
Texanballer said:
Isnt the question whether he wants to stay or leave?

We can decide to bring him back but that dosent mean he wants to.

I hope the titans win will keep him in houston.

I remember when we were 3-7 the chronicle said we would let him walk
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....Bud, is that you?
 
I think they should keep him, but notat all cost. I'm working off Tillman deal from the bears. So I'm looking at 15m guaranteed over 6 yrs. The 1st 3 has roster bonuses and his total annual salary at 6m per. So that's 2.7m in bonus andd 3.3 in salary. 6 yrs 36m with 15m guaranteed. He'll sign that tommorrow.
 
leebigeztx said:
I think they should keep him, but notat all cost. I'm working off Tillman deal from the bears. So I'm looking at 15m guaranteed over 6 yrs. The 1st 3 has roster bonuses and his total annual salary at 6m per. So that's 2.7m in bonus andd 3.3 in salary. 6 yrs 36m with 15m guaranteed. He'll sign that tommorrow.
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Looks good at a glance.
 
This cannot be a serious question.

You KEEP Dunta. Do you see how our defense is playing now? Did you happen to notice that just about coincided with his return?

He is MUCH too good to just let walk, and he doesn't seem to be the type that would want ridiculous amounts of money (think Asante Samuels money) just to stay.

You keep the heart of your defense, lest you lose all passion from your team.
 
I will not waste my time on this thread except to say I am thinking about dropping BadBoy for trying to start a message board riot
 
leebigeztx said:
I think they should keep him, but notat all cost. I'm working off Tillman deal from the bears. So I'm looking at 15m guaranteed over 6 yrs. The 1st 3 has roster bonuses and his total annual salary at 6m per. So that's 2.7m in bonus andd 3.3 in salary. 6 yrs 36m with 15m guaranteed. He'll sign that tommorrow.
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Probably the right approach, just might have to swizzle the numbers a bit. Have to keep him IMO, but can't get ridiculous about it.
 
Offer him just over nickelback pay and see if he stays. Either that or transition him to FS

As much as I love the guy, he wasn't top-five pre-injury, let alone now.
 
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