I'm not sure that those teams had the holes and lack of depth that this Texans team needs to address. More importantly, those teams all had elite level QB's that made players around them better. We have the opposite with Schaub. He needs playmakers to make up for his lack of skills.
The other top teams that have made a lot of moves this off-season had a lot of holes also. They all had one thing we don't in a top 10 QB, but after that position we had more talent across the board than them. Not at every position, but there aren't a lot of positions that we could improve on during free agency. I'm considering the cost as well as the people involved. Yeah, Mike Williams would be a better #2 than anyone we have, but we couldn't spend that kind of money on him.
What positions do we need to upgrade?
QB? Most people feel we need a different QB. There are no free agents that are as good or could even grow into a franchise QB. We need to look at the draft for this.
HB? We'll need to replace Forsett. I liked him, but we can find a young cheap guy in the draft or pick up one of 10,000 available HBs to fill the 3rd string role.
FB? We just need to make sure we have one road grader that can help Foster. The ability to catch out of the backfield is a plus, but we don't throw to them that much. To replace Casey, I'd rather just have 1 true FB and then carry an extra TE. Clutts might be that guy, but it's not like Vonta is available right now and the run on FBs hasn't started yet.
TE? I like the 2 that we have on roster. We can upgrade, but none of the FAs were better than Daniels/Graham. Ideally the 3rd TE could be someone that's a little bit better at blocking, but can still catch the ball.
WR? Yes. We need a WR #2. There is nobody on the roster (that's not injured) that could be that guy. The WRs that have signed all got Andre money. You can't have 2 WRs making that money. We could have signed Welker for what he got under our current cap, but he's not a #2. He's a great slot receiver, but we need a guy that can stretch the field. Besides, would Welker come here to play with Schaub instead of going to Denver with Manning? Not even for $12 million for 1 year. There are still a lot of veteran receivers available that we can bring in that will upgrade the position for a low price and then we can draft someone early. This is a deep draft for receivers and we should be able to get a good one.
OL? RT is probably where most people want to see the team upgrade the line. Everyone sees that Winston's available and instantly want him to come back. Unless he will sign for the vet minimum it's not worth bringing him back. Newton will get better at run blocking and I think he's a better pass blocker already. We can find someone better than Newton if that's what is needed, but there is only so much money to work with. I think Jones and Brooks are the guards of the future or possible guard/center of the future if they want to look at Jones taking over for Myers. We can draft another interior lineman that fits our scheme that can be a backup if needed.
DL? We need a NT. There are some out there, but what kind of money are they wanting and since there haven't been tons of movement its worth waiting. I think drafting one in the first couple of rounds is the best alternative. What DT/NTs are available that anyone would be interested in. There are some older vets like Seymour around, but I'd rather go young for that spot. Indy signed Francios, but he's smaller than Cody and while it fits Wade's scheme I think most fans want bigger.
ILB? We do need a starting ILB. The problem with finding a good vet to play inside is we only have that 2nd guy on the field 30% of the time anyways. It was one of the reasons that made us get rid of Demeco. So, we don't want to overpay someone that isn't on the field as much. If we could find a good vet that we could pay the minimum to it would be great. After rosters start filling and after the draft it will be possible to get guys cheap. We've found a lot of ILB on the scrap heap. While I agree that last year we didn't have great play at that position. We are getting back a pro bowl player that is on the field for us. You add Cushing back and you slide the other guys back a spot. I'm ok with Cushing/Sharpton/Dobbins or another vet as your top 3. Cushing is the one that makes the position click. I still look for the team to draft this position as well.
OLB? We need another rusher. Barwin got his and I don't think anyone would have wanted him back at that cost. Although, it was low in the guaranteed money and that was a bit of a surprise. There are still a lot of edge rushers available. The big names are Freeney, Harrison, and Dumervil. I don't think Freeney fit into the 3-4 OLB spot well. He's looking for a 4-3 situation. Harrison doesn't seem to have a lot of suitors right now, but at the right price could be a good 3rd guy, but I don't know if I'd start him right now. Dumervil would be great, but I don't think he'd take a huge pay cut from what Denver will still pay him to come here. The rest of the available guys aren't that different from one another and we can find someone after the draft. I think they look to draft here as well.
CB? We needed a slot corner and we re-signed McCain. We have 2 good starting corners and 2 young under contract backups. Yeah, Nnamdi would be better than Carmichael, but you can't spend $5 million on a backup CB. I don't think there is an available CB that is better than our starters. We'll probably still draft one.
S? I think we upgraded this position with Reed. He's not a long term solution, but we can draft one or move Harris to safety as some hope. We need to upgrade our backups still, but it's not like the backup safeties are all being signed like crazy. Maybe Pollard could be the 3rd safety that can play in the box. There are a lot of vets still available.
ST? We have a kicker on the roster that was drafted last year. He'll be the kicker, but we will sign someone in May or June that can be competition. I think Bullock is the guy (well, he's at least Gary's guy). He may not be the answer for the next 10 years, but he'll be the one this year. We need a punter and with the number of 3 and outs we had last year we might need a good one. We had Jones who had a pretty good season and he's still available. We just brought in one of the best over the last 10 years and maybe he's the guy. I'm not too concerned about P, though. I don't want to spend tons of $$ at this position when we can draft one if needed or pick one up off the street in July. It's not like they need to know the playbook.
So yeah, there are a few spots where we need to upgrade and a few of those we can and will. We have 9 draft picks to use and the draft is deep in positions where we have need. There have been some quality players picked up by other teams that we will be fighting with for AFC supremacy and/or the Lombardi trophy. We didn't have as much cap room as a few of those and we didn't have a lot of expendable players that we could jettison to free up more space. We have a talented team. The 2 spots that we probably need the biggest upgrade are at QB and HC and there aren't any QBs available. As for HC, well, I'm available for the right price.
