An uncapped year will hurt the Texans

[Redtexan#34]

There is only just under three months left before the Owners and Union must reach an agreement on a new CBA. If they dont 2010 will be an uncapped year and will have a huge impact on the entire league. Here are a couple of articles detailing the changes that will take place to the league.
.http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d808736ba&template=with-video&confirm=true http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80864e15&template=with-video&confirm=true
I will give you a quick cliff notes version. In 2010 there could be 170 fewer free agents due to players having to play 6 years instead of 4. Teams will have 3 tags instead of the 1 they now have this mechanism alone could lock up 30 players. 200 players would be off the market. there are several other key changes but the one to free agency will effect the Texans the most.

Say the Texans go 7-9 or 8-8 and Kubiak is not fired he will really be on the hot seat in 2010. Theres going to be a giant lack of free agents. We will be stuck with a mediocre team and Kubiak.

Say Kubiak gets fired and McNair hires mystery coach. Hes going to have a different system and he will have a time getting the free agents to overhaul our O-line. The O-line has been built with mostly smaller agile players for the ZBS.

Heres hoping the Owners and Union can agree to something before the deadline.

Thoughts?

 

[El Tejano]

Don't fire Kubiak. This team is good enough to win. The change to the OL would be harder to overcome.

 

[badboy]

The owners including McNair do not want a CBA unless players give up a lot including the ridiculous contracts for rookies. Unless there is a lot of behind the scene negotiating going on I expect an uncapped year. It would be helpful as I understand it if for example the Texans wanted to trade for Asomugha @ Oakland.

 

[Goldensilence]

Don't fire Kubiak. This team is good enough to win. The change to the OL would be harder to overcome.

I don't think we'd need to see a drastic change on the OL. Just in the middle. I think Winston can get better, but the guys next to him need to be more solid. Brown looks like he's growing into a legit NFL LT.

Big questions looming aside from the uncapped year are:

Pitts. Love what the guy has done for this franchise and he's he's withstood a lot of heat for bad OL play in the past due to a mishmash unit and terrible QB play. How well does he recover from his injury? Does the team pull the rug out from him like Fred Weary?

OD. Gotta get him in the fold longer then the year we have him. Question is will they really be able to reach an agreement on a fair market value? He'd help his cause if he became a bigger threat in the RZ, but then again the team overall is struggling to get in. I will admit...some questionable play calling in this area as well.

DeMeco Ryans. Questions? None. Shut up and pay the guy.

Kevin Walter. Another one that is going to be tough to assess. What is his fair market value? Other then AJ he's the most consistent WR we've got, and I love his overall game. Also think he's smart enough to know he might get some cash elsewhere but, you're not going to get an opportunity to play across froma guy like AJ anywhere.

Schaub. Do we go ahead and do the extension? He's putting up numbers this year and so far hasn't had any injuries. Still early in the season. I'm still not sure though if I am really sold that he's the guy yet. This one is going to depend on his body of the work for the season.


Kubiak. I'm done with him and the staff he's brought here. His job is on the line and he brought in Frank Bush to be at the helm for the defense. So far the defense looks marginally better. Shows flashes that it can be a top 15 defense, but still plays inconsistently. Kubiak gets cut a lot of slack for what he's done on the offensive side of the ball. Which for the most part he deserves credit for. However, the interior of the line continues to be a sieve for the rest of the offense and our depth at guard and center is well..hardly depth. Playcalling and game managment are still questionable. I'm ready for something new.

 

[Yankee_In_TX]

Knowing little about this besides NFLN and here, if a team buys (or tries to) a Super Bowl in 2010, what hapens to them in 2011?

 

[Maddict5]

Say the Texans go 7-9 or 8-8 and Kubiak is not fired he will really be on the hot seat in 2010. Theres going to be a giant lack of free agents. We will be stuck with a mediocre team and Kubiak.

OH NOES!!

damnit we're screwed. every year we rock at FA whilst wasting draft pick after draft pick on overpaid rookies who perform nowhere near their contracts and/or get injured

 

[dalemurphy]

Actually, with the Texan contract situation and salary cap, it will help them if it is uncapped because the following players will remain restricted FAs instead of becoming FAs:

Briesel
OD
DRyans
RButler
KWalter?

and then, we have the option to tag the following:
Dunta
Pitts
KWalter?

Since we aren't big FA players anyway, I don't think a weak FA season is a problem for us. Plus, we aren't going to have many holes to fill if we don't lose guys off this team:

RB
S
OL?
DT

that's about it, with at 8 draft picks.

 

[nero THE zero]

I disagree for a number of reasons:

1. As DM mentioned above, the Texans have several key players, DeMeco and OD among them, that would be extended into another year of restricted free agency should the two entities fail to reach another CBA.

2. The idea that we are unusually small, or that the ZBS scheme is dying, or that ZBS-typical linemen are useless outside of the scheme are largely mythical. Assuming Kubiak is fired, there's a huge chance that his replacement also employs the ZBS. Nearly every team uses ZBS plays, and, off the top of my head, along with the Texans, the Panters, Packers, and Raiders also exclusively run it.

Should Kubiak be fired and replaced by a coach who doesn't run the ZBS, our linemen aren't atypically small and their athleticism would be an inherent advantage in whatever system is employed next. For reference, the Texans' average OL weight is 306. That is equal to the Patriots and one pound heavier than the Titans (considered by most the best OL in the NFL.)

3. McNair is considered a "have" owner. In other words, he is a wealthy owner and not averse to spending that wealth on his football team. While there has not been an opporutnity to display such an inclination, there is no reason to believe otherwise. While the short term implications might be a shortened FA pool, with no cap contraints we would be in the running for the high dollar FA's.

So, as a Texans fan, you might should root for the dissolution of the salary cap.

 

[badboy]

I disagree for a number of reasons:

1. As DM mentioned above, the Texans have several key players, DeMeco and OD among them, that would be extended into another year of restricted free agency should the two entities fail to reach another CBA.

2. The idea that we are unusually small, or that the ZBS scheme is dying, or that ZBS-typical linemen are useless outside of the scheme are largely mythical. Assuming Kubiak is fired, there's a huge chance that his replacement also employs the ZBS. Nearly every team uses ZBS plays, and, off the top of my head, along with the Texans, the Panters, Packers, and Raiders also exclusively run it.

Should Kubiak be fired and replaced by a coach who doesn't run the ZBS, our linemen aren't atypically small and their athleticism would be an inherent advantage in whatever system is employed next. For reference, the Texans' average OL weight is 306. That is equal to the Patriots and one pound heavier than the Titans (considered by most the best OL in the NFL.)

3. McNair is considered a "have" owner. In other words, he is a wealthy owner and not averse to spending that wealth on his football team. While there has not been an opporutnity to display such an inclination, there is no reason to believe otherwise. While the short term implications might be a shortened FA pool, with no cap contraints we would be in the running for the high dollar FA's.

So, as a Texans fan, you might should root for the dissolution of the salary cap.

Not sure where I stand on no salary cap. Lack of one has had an adverse effect on baseball. It could prove productive for texans for a year or two but long term I doubt it will be good for NFL.

 

[nero THE zero]

Not sure where I stand on no salary cap. Lack of one has had an adverse effect on baseball. It could prove productive for texans for a year or two but long term I doubt it will be good for NFL.

It's apples and oranges, really. Baseball's a different animal in that it has a minor leagues whereas football draft players to start (semi-)immediately. Given the average shelf-life of an NFL player, I'm not ready to say that the effect of no cap would be as profound as we'd like to think.

That said, the wealthier/more invested owners will certainly have an advantage. Thankfully, our owner is one of those. That, coupled with smart decision making would be a huge advantage for us.

 

[Marcus]

So, as a Texans fan, you might should root for the dissolution of the salary cap.

They do away with the salary cap, I stop watching pro football. Period. I don't a give a damn if Bob McNair is a "have" or not.

Right now, all 32 teams have the same amount of money available to spend to run their teams. If this league devolves into haves and have-nots like baseball, I will lose all interest