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Texans sign FB Lawrence Vickers

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McClain_on_NFL John McClain
Former Browns FB Lawrence Vickers says his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is talking to the Texans. They need to replace Vonta Leach.

Vickers, who grew up in nearby Beaumont, resides in Houston. He said he'd love to play for the Texans. He spent first 5 seasons with Browns.

Vickers is 6-0, 255. He's 28. He's a lead blocker in the Vonta Leach mold. Texans need a veteran. TE James Casey gets first shot at the job.
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Vickers is the next closest thing to Leach. That brusing and pounding type of full back and i'm confident Kubes and mold him the way we want. But I honestly I see Casey and Vickers splitting time at FB.
 
He played for the University of Colorado Buffaloes during his college career
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Well there you have it folks, he's gonna be a Texan. I know it's not colorado state but i guess there aren't too many CSU fullbacks in the NFL that are FAs.
 
Vickers wants to be a Pro Bowl fullback, it appears. Running in front of Arian is how he gets there.

Leach goes to the Ravens, gets paid AND gets a shot at a ring with a perennially good team.

Vickers gets to come here and block for the league's leading rusher.

Win-Win. Now, the money has to work out. I'd rather have Vickers at FB than Ty Warren at d-line. Much better money spent. I hope the Texans have it ranked Vickers as option A and Warren is option B.
 
I'm still having a hard time figuring out why people have so much confidence that Casey can be our starting FB.
He shows every indication of being a career backup and ST player at best.
Likable guy, good athlete, but I'm not feeling him as a replacement for Leach.
 
GP said:
Vickers wants to be a Pro Bowl fullback, it appears. Running in front of Arian is how he gets there.

Leach goes to the Ravens, gets paid AND gets a shot at a ring with a perennially good team.

Vickers gets to come here and block for the league's leading rusher.

Win-Win. Now, the money has to work out. I'd rather have Vickers at FB than Ty Warren at d-line. Much better money spent. I hope the Texans have it ranked Vickers as option A and Warren is option B.
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I heard that Warren isn't wanting to break the bank . What about Jamaal Williams , Wade's NG with San Diego ?
 
GP said:
Vickers wants to be a Pro Bowl fullback, it appears. Running in front of Arian is how he gets there.

Leach goes to the Ravens, gets paid AND gets a shot at a ring with a perennially good team.

Vickers gets to come here and block for the league's leading rusher.

Win-Win. Now, the money has to work out. I'd rather have Vickers at FB than Ty Warren at d-line. Much better money spent. I hope the Texans have it ranked Vickers as option A and Warren is option B.
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HOnestly, I am hoping that the budget is not so type that it is an either/or question to getting a veteran FB or DLman. You could throw Punter in this equation too.
 
ArlingtonTexan said:
HOnestly, I am hoping that the budget is not so type that it is an either/or question to getting a veteran FB or DLman. You could throw Punter in this equation too.
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I think we've still got a little room to maneuver.

I could be wrong, though. :)

But they might be taking an approach of going with they have and then scouring the waiver wire and TC cuts for some diamonds in the rough. It seems like we always get one or two of those per year.
 
If we get Vickers then great. But if we don't I would honestly be content adding another udfa in addition to the one we already signed to bring to camp. Casey is going into his 3rd year and his talent level demands for him to be on the field more. He's not the same type of FB as Leach but we can tailor our offense to maximize his strengths while still maintaining an effective running game.
 
Looks like all the "homeboys" wanna come back to Texas! Hell, sign both Warren and Vickers for the league min, and bring um both back to Texas!:spin::fans:
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
This MB discussion and references tend to worry me:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=149&f=1547&t=7567847
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"SCOUTING REPORTS Pros: Vickers has a huge frame and the quickness to get to the line. He can gain the tough inside yardage when he plays with his pads down. He was one of the nation’s most versatile backs, excelling as a tailback, fullback and receiver. He has nice hands and is able to catch the ball with relative ease as an outlet receiver. He has a good understanding of coverage and route running. He is a tough runner with good leg drive that is able to move the pile on contact. Good special-teams performer"

No worries.
 
I'd like to see how much Ahmad Hall would run us. That dude is a player and of course, the fact that he's from UT doesn't hurt for me.

But he also paved alot of yards for a very good back there too.
 
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wildroot said:
"SCOUTING REPORTS Pros: Vickers has a huge frame and the quickness to get to the line. He can gain the tough inside yardage when he plays with his pads down. He was one of the nation’s most versatile backs, excelling as a tailback, fullback and receiver. He has nice hands and is able to catch the ball with relative ease as an outlet receiver. He has a good understanding of coverage and route running. He is a tough runner with good leg drive that is able to move the pile on contact. Good special-teams performer"

No worries.
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That is a five year old college scouting report.

And if he has good hands now, we certainly don't know it.

Also worth pointing out Vickers's 2010 stats:

Thrown at: 10 times (16th most for fullbacks)
Caught: 4 (23rd best)
Yards: 15 (27th best)
Yards/Catch: 3.8 (2nd worst in the league)
Drops: 2 (t-5th most)
Interceptions on passes intended for Vickers: 1
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CloakNNNdagger said:
And if he has good hands now, we certainly don't know it.
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You kinda have to factor in who's throwing him the ball. Vickers hasn't played with a lot of quality NFL starting QBs. In fact, Schaub would be his first, if he signs with the Texans.
 
I worked w/ a Browns' fan last season and we use to argue about who had the best fullback. When Vonta was All-Pro, I gloated a bit. However, if you look at tape of Vickers and compare him to Leach you see quite a bit of difference in their athletism. Leach is like a smaller OG leading the charge and blowing people up, but Vickers has similar power, but is able to adjust and dip his hips more naturally then Leach.

While I was for signing Leach, I think Vickers could be an even better option in our offense.

I'd love to see Casey get some time in an HB role as he reminds me of a more athletic Frank Wycheck. We could run him out of the FB position in motion and generate some different looks.
 
I honestly don't know anything about Vickers, but if we're relying on Casey to play FB, to make holes in the line and to blowup a LB, then we're in trouble. Casey ain't even close to being Leach.
 
Vickers isn't coming cheap....soooo why not just pay Leach? Hmmm.

I don't get this backlash to Casey. I loved Vonta Leach's game but honestly, the concept of hitting people isn't a big hurdle. I bet if you put in Casey's mind that he needs to bring it, he would bring it. I bet he's willing to do just about anything to see the field.

Also, they already have a CSU FB, udfa right? Pauga or something? Not interested in Vickers. Not so surprised that VL leaving is the first hurdle Casey will need to jump before getting a real chance to get on the field.
 
Lucky said:
You kinda have to factor in who's throwing him the ball. Vickers hasn't played with a lot of quality NFL starting QBs. In fact, Schaub would be his first, if he signs with the Texans.
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John McClain on 610 just reported that he had discussed Vickers with the head Browns writer. He was told that Vickers did not have hands, nor could he run the ball.........he was a pure blocker.
 
TimeKiller said:
I don't get this backlash to Casey. I loved Vonta Leach's game but honestly, the concept of hitting people isn't a big hurdle. I bet if you put in Casey's mind that he needs to bring it, he would bring it. I bet he's willing to do just about anything to see the field.
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I don't think Casey can be as good a FB as Leach but then again I don't think anyone is trying to say that. I think Casey could probably be serviceable. I think we're overplaying the amount of times Leach pounded the snot out of a lineback allowing Foster to sneak in right behind him. A lot of the play I honestly think Casey, for example, just needs to tie up the LB long enough for Foster to spring by... it's not necessarily a pancake block. It's a tie up the LB's vision, hold on to the shoulder pads 1 second or 2 and let Foster break left or right. I don't want to discount Leach at all but I think Foster will still see a lot of success without him.
 
Section516 said:
I don't want a FB who wants carries - I want a mean SOB - I want leach *tears*
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I would want that kind of FB. You may not remember when the 49ers had their hay day and had Roger Craig as the HB and Tom Rathman as the FB. Rathman was awesome in the fact that he could pop out and receive or he could even take a hand off and get you a good 3-4 yards, even more. It made that WCO very sick!
 
My thoughts:

Vickers is in no way going to be nearly as good or as punishing as Leach is as a blocker. If we bring in Vickers, he needs to be brought in at a rate that is significantly less than what Leach got in Baltimore or else the FO is mentally disabled.

I am very interested in the prospect of having a pass catching athletic guy like Casey in the FB role I'm not totally sold that it's going to work.
 
Section516 said:
I don't want a FB who wants carries - I want a mean SOB - I want leach *tears*
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This article gave me some positive insights (to balance out some of my own negative feelings) as to why the Texans would be so interested in him.

If we get him and we ever play the Browns, sounds like he could be singing..........pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake......love me some pancake...............

The Browns have never articulated their plans at fullback in their new West Coast offense. After drafting Marecic, Heckert said of Vickers, "When the league starts [after the lockout], we'll see."

Shurmur has said that every back in his offense needs to be able to catch the ball. If Shurmur and his staff determined that Vickers was not a good fit in their offense, Vickers said they made a mistake.

Owen Marecic.JPGView full sizeAPBrowns draft pick Owen Marecic of Stanford.

He said he was known as a versatile fullback as a rookie in 2006 coming out of Colorado, which ran an offense copied from Mike Shanahan's West Coast system with the Denver Broncos at the time.

Vickers had more than 500 yards rushing and receiving in his career at Colorado.

"I am a West Coast fullback. That's what they don't understand," he said.

He said he became typecast as a "knockout fullback" the past two years because that's how he earned playing time.

"I was on a team where they don't even use a fullback," he said of the Browns' offense under former coach Eric Mangini. "Mangini's era wasn't really a fullback era. I played just on [the belief that] 'this person has to be on the field.' Everything I got wasn't given. I took it. Our offense was based on New England's. They don't even have a fullback."

Vickers' reputation as an explosive lead-blocker actually began in Romeo Crennel's last two seasons in 2007 and '08. He paved the way for successive 1,000-yard rushing seasons by Jamal Lewis, who was running on bald tires and leaking oil. In 2009, when Lewis went down with concussion symptoms, Vickers' crushing lead blocks helped Jerome Harrison amass 561 yards in the final three games.

"Maybe if I wasn't knocking people out, maybe I'd still be known as a versatile fullback," Vickers said. "Anybody that watches football knows. The last two years, I haven't caught the ball. I wasn't a part of the offense. So I made a way for me to be on the field. That's what a football player does. Anybody that can make his presence on the field without the ball is a helluva guy.

"I played in the West Coast offense at Colorado. When I first came to the NFL, my first carry was at tailback. In [former coordinator Rob Chudzinski] Chud's offense, look at how many passes I caught [23 in two seasons].

"People have short-term memories. I forgive them for that. What I've done for you lately is knock people out. That's only because that's all that was left for me to do."

Vickers is not worried that the traditional fullback position seems to be on the endangered list in the NFL as teams load up on multiple-receiver sets and spread the ball through the air.

"I don't care where you are, you can pass the ball all over the place. Come November and December, you're going to have to run the ball eventually," he said. "Green Bay ran the ball even in their pass offense.

"I think people are getting away from the stud fullbacks because there aren't too many left in the league. But if you have one, you keep him."

Vickers said he won't give up hope of returning to the Browns until he is told, "Vickers, it's over." But he's not blind to the obvious.

"I just hope I don't have to come to Cleveland in a different uniform because it's gonna be bad [for the Browns]," he said. "Those [Browns linebackers] are my guys. They know they will come with it and I will come with it. It's gonna be one of those all-time Cleveland games."
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link
 
What was great about Leach was that he was that nice little safety valve even though he was primarily a runt guard. Vickers is a runt guard without the hands to be a safety valve.

If we go with Casey, we lose the runt guard part and get something more than a safety valve coming out of the backfied. So if we go with Casey, we're actually getting a different type of player and we have to expect the plays to reflect that difference.
 
The Pencil Neck said:
What was great about Leach was that he was that nice little safety valve even though he was primarily a runt guard. Vickers is a runt guard without the hands to be a safety valve.

If we go with Casey, we lose the runt guard part and get something more than a safety valve coming out of the backfied. So if we go with Casey, we're actually getting a different type of player and we have to expect the plays to reflect that difference.
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If the article I posted is accurate, the Brown probably didn't practice him much at practice. Maybe, Kubiak et al believe that given the right coaching and practice time to rediscover his rookie skills, they will have a reasonable chance of having replaced Vonta with a mirror image. He is, after all, if you've ever watched him, that "mean road-grading SOB" in the mold of Vonta.
 
Vickers has more receptions during his career than rushing attempts, althought they're both fairly even (and minimal). Also, from what I could find scrounging around the internet he earned between $360K-$535K per year '07-'09 and then $1.75M during 2010. Even if we sign him to last years figure that's less than half of what Leach costs.
 
Sounds like he just wants to play & is not too concerned about salary. Maybe we could get him for minial guaranteed money. If he doesn't work out, cut him. I have no history to evaluate Casey on as a blocking fullback.
 
Casey wouldn't hold up as Texan starting Fullback with his injury history. Somebody in this organization likes these tweener types, good undersized athletes with catching ability.

Vickers would be a much safer route. They need to get it done quickly too, no time to waste.
 
beerlover said:
Casey wouldn't hold up as Texan starting Fullback with his injury history. Somebody in this organization likes these tweener types, good undersized athletes with catching ability.

Vickers would be a much safer route. They need to get it done quickly too, no time to waste.
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Agree 100 %.
 
badboy said:
I have no history to evaluate Casey on as a blocking fullback.
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I'm not sure that any of us do! I vaguely remember him filling in at FB last year, maybe during preseason just for a play here and there? I could be making that up... couldn't find any videos on it.

I do like the potential that Casey has though just from a scheming standpoint. We use our TEs, there's no questioning that. I can see some plays where we start with a 2 TE set with Casey out on on side, Schaub motions him inside to the FB position and then the run from there. Or the could even do a play action to Foster with Casey acting as the FB and then he releases off a LB and catches the ball. He's sneaky quick and has great hands.

Again none of us really know but it will be a big thing we fans look at during practice and preseason. If it works, it'd be awesome!
 
Still showing intrest in Vickers

John McClain's twitter said:
Texans continue to show interest in former Browns FB Lawrence Vickers. He resides in Houston and is expected to visit with team.
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michaelm said:
I'm still having a hard time figuring out why people have so much confidence that Casey can be our starting FB.
He shows every indication of being a career backup and ST player at best.
Likable guy, good athlete, but I'm not feeling him as a replacement for Leach.
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I'm thinking we're going to move away from the blocking fullback... go more to another receiver out of the backfield mold. I believe that's what Kubiak really wants out of his offense.

If we sign Vickers, then that would mean I'm wrong.

I had no idea that Vickers was the guy blocking for Peyton Hillis.

If we do need a fullback, this guy is a nobrainer....

That, plus he's from my neck of the woods.
 
SheTexan said:
Looks like all the "homeboys" wanna come back to Texas! Hell, sign both Warren and Vickers for the league min, and bring um both back to Texas!:spin::fans:
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I don't know if we'd be paying Vickers league minimum.

We were paying Vonta $1Mil +

May not pay Vickers that much, but I would think more than league minimum.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
This article gave me some positive insights (to balance out some of my own negative feelings) as to why the Texans would be so interested in him.

If we get him and we ever play the Browns, sounds like he could be singing..........pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake......love me some pancake...............

link
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Man I like this kid

:fans: go get him Texans.
 
The way Casey occasionally "blew" people up was with hits down field after gaining distance momentum.

Leach had massive "torque" and could blow people up 2 feet into the play.

Casey is not going to bring that to the table. And with whatever other skills and options he might bring, the "Leach factor" will not be one.
 
ArlingtonTexan said:
HOnestly, I am hoping that the budget is not so type that it is an either/or question to getting a veteran FB or DLman. You could throw Punter in this equation too.
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i keep hearing people talk about needing a punter. we JUST got an udfa named brett hartmann P that was one of the best prospects in the nation, he just happened not to get drafted. punters often do. go to youtube and watch the kid kick AND punt.

First post btw!!
 
duckbill58 said:
i keep hearing people talk about needing a punter. we JUST got an udfa named brett hartmann P that was one of the best prospects in the nation, he just happened not to get drafted. punters often do. go to youtube and watch the kid kick AND punt.

First post btw!!
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Welcome to Texans Talk, Mr. Hartman!
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
I'm not sure that any of us do! I vaguely remember him filling in at FB last year, maybe during preseason just for a play here and there? I could be making that up... couldn't find any videos on it.

I do like the potential that Casey has though just from a scheming standpoint. We use our TEs, there's no questioning that. I can see some plays where we start with a 2 TE set with Casey out on on side, Schaub motions him inside to the FB position and then the run from there. Or the could even do a play action to Foster with Casey acting as the FB and then he releases off a LB and catches the ball. He's sneaky quick and has great hands.

Again none of us really know but it will be a big thing we fans look at during practice and preseason. If it works, it'd be awesome!
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I think most of the mismatches are going to come out of the fullback sets. The defenses will counter with their base set, 3 LBs... we can motion Casey out to the slot.... now he's got a LB or a safety on him. If it's a LB, Casey should be able to outrun him to the middle of the field, catch it over his shoulder & keep running to the house.

If he's split outside, they'll probably counter with the nickel.... he motions to full back, then he has to block..... which we aren't too sure he can do with any proficiency.
 
duckbill58 said:
i keep hearing people talk about needing a punter. we JUST got an udfa named brett hartmann P that was one of the best prospects in the nation, he just happened not to get drafted. punters often do. go to youtube and watch the kid kick AND punt.

First post btw!!
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Welcome DB58 but I doubt many of us want to just give the job to UDFA Hartmann. Let's have a bit of competition and then decide before game one. As has been said NFL is a whole'nother game from college.
 
thunderkyss said:
I think most of the mismatches are going to come out of the fullback sets. The defenses will counter with their base set, 3 LBs... we can motion Casey out to the slot.... now he's got a LB or a safety on him. If it's a LB, Casey should be able to outrun him to the middle of the field, catch it over his shoulder & keep running to the house.

If he's split outside, they'll probably counter with the nickel.... he motions to full back, then he has to block..... which we aren't too sure he can do with any proficiency.
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You seem to project a lot of production for a guy who has 14 catches in 31 career games for an average of 11.6 yards.
No way shape or form would I put all of my eggs in James Casey's basket at FB.
Until he proves otherwise, he's just another guy in a long list of Texans players with "potential".

Give him a shot? Sure.
Anoint him as the starting FB? Not if if was my decision to make.
 
thunderkyss said:
I think most of the mismatches are going to come out of the fullback sets. The defenses will counter with their base set, 3 LBs... we can motion Casey out to the slot.... now he's got a LB or a safety on him. If it's a LB, Casey should be able to outrun him to the middle of the field, catch it over his shoulder & keep running to the house.

If he's split outside, they'll probably counter with the nickel.... he motions to full back, then he has to block..... which we aren't too sure he can do with any proficiency.
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:drool:
 
beerlover said:
Casey wouldn't hold up as Texan starting Fullback with his injury history. Somebody in this organization likes these tweener types, good undersized athletes with catching ability.

Vickers would be a much safer route. They need to get it done quickly too, no time to waste.
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^^^^ yes
 
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