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AJ:Summing up the first week of Texans free agency

Wolf

100% Texan
The first seven days of free agency was something like the seige at the Alamo for the Texans.

Invading troops poured over the walls from every direction as the Battle Red Brigade desperately tried to preserve what they could, knowing full well they were almost out of ammo and there were no reinforcements coming to help.

The good news:

The Texans were able to retain Arian Foster and Chris Myers, two key players in the Texans offensive attack.

I've read arguments that the Texans didn't need to give Foster the huge contract (five-years, $43.5 million, including a $12.5 million signing bonus and $20.75 million guaranteed) because running backs are interchangeable parts in today's NFL and by giving Foster so much, it prevented the Texans from signing other players because of the impact on the Texans salary cap.

The counter to that argument, of course, is if the Texans franchised Foster, his cap hit for 2012 would be roughly the same as it is now ($7 million). Then next year the Texans would be faced with the same problem but Foster would be unrestricted and even more expensive to keep, provided his production remains high this season.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Summing up the first week of Texans free agency - Houston Houston Texans | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/houston-texans-in-houston/summing-up-the-first-week-of-texans-free-agency#ixzz1pUKcGYdX
 
I'll sum it up for you all:

In one week the front office who put this magnificent team together signed up the best running back on the planet that they found UDFA and retained a center they've raised from 6th round selection with limitations to pro bowler. They let go an elite athlete that plays average DE who got wildly overpaid and wasn't a big factor in last year's defensive turn around, a journeyman tough guy veteran OG who got overpaid and an overpaid/overrated OT who's play had been slipping. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, Jason Allen, last year's favorite whipping boy was let go without a whimper. Lawrence Vickers left, OOHH NOOO WHAT WILL WE EVER DO WITH A FB WHO CAN'T CATCH AND SUCKS AT BLOCKING?!?!?

And then the sky fell. Or it fell before all that.

Here's how it really is: they kept what they had to while dropping a lot of dead weight. Winston's replacement is already on the roster, Mario was replaced last year and Brisiel has never been confused with an elite OG. Allen and Vickers were about the 2 worst performers on the team last year. They've strived to build depth and here were are, letting players go who are making too much :money: elsewhere and replacing most of them with guys already on the team. Still have the draft too, to build more depth and replace a few guys. The sky is actually intact and quite clear to boot. Still have Wade. Still have Gary's offense and the optimism that comes with a new year and recent success on top of that.

It's time for the "amatuer" threads to drop out, people to realize this team is still in great shape for next year and do some reading on guys in the draft which is the next big thing going on.

Summarized.
 

Imatexanfan

Hall of Fame
I'll sum it up for you all:

In one week the front office who put this magnificent team together signed up the best running back on the planet that they found UDFA and retained a center they've raised from 6th round selection with limitations to pro bowler. They let go an elite athlete that plays average DE who got wildly overpaid and wasn't a big factor in last year's defensive turn around, a journeyman tough guy veteran OG who got overpaid and an overpaid/overrated OT who's play had been slipping. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, Jason Allen, last year's favorite whipping boy was let go without a whimper.
:lol: good stuff
 

Marcus

Windmill cancer survivor
Contributor's Club
I'll sum it up for you all:

In one week the front office who put this magnificent team together signed up the best running back on the planet that they found UDFA and retained a center they've raised from 6th round selection with limitations to pro bowler. They let go an elite athlete that plays average DE who got wildly overpaid and wasn't a big factor in last year's defensive turn around, a journeyman tough guy veteran OG who got overpaid and an overpaid/overrated OT who's play had been slipping. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, Jason Allen, last year's favorite whipping boy was let go without a whimper. Lawrence Vickers left, OOHH NOOO WHAT WILL WE EVER DO WITH A FB WHO CAN'T CATCH AND SUCKS AT BLOCKING?!?!?

And then the sky fell. Or it fell before all that.

Here's how it really is: they kept what they had to while dropping a lot of dead weight. Winston's replacement is already on the roster, Mario was replaced last year and Brisiel has never been confused with an elite OG. Allen and Vickers were about the 2 worst performers on the team last year. They've strived to build depth and here were are, letting players go who are making too much :money: elsewhere and replacing most of them with guys already on the team. Still have the draft too, to build more depth and replace a few guys. The sky is actually intact and quite clear to boot. Still have Wade. Still have Gary's offense and the optimism that comes with a new year and recent success on top of that.

It's time for the "amatuer" threads to drop out, people to realize this team is still in great shape for next year and do some reading on guys in the draft which is the next big thing going on.

Summarized.
:perfect10:

It said I must spread some Reputation around before giving it to TimeKiller again. But don't be surprised if someone lobs the "homer" label at you. :)
 

ObsiWan

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
:perfect10:

It said I must spread some Reputation around before giving it to TimeKiller again. But don't be surprised if someone lobs the "homer" label at you. :)
Not to worry. I got him. and not just for you but for me too.

And there's still time to pick up some value guys that didn't get big contracts from the truly panicky teams.

...oh and there's this thing called the draft that's yet to come...
 

DocBar

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Time is making a killing with rep on that post!!! I got him, too.
He took the words right outta my mouth.
 

NastyNate

I go kerplunk
I'll sum it up for you all:

In one week the front office who put this magnificent team together signed up the best running back on the planet that they found UDFA and retained a center they've raised from 6th round selection with limitations to pro bowler. They let go an elite athlete that plays average DE who got wildly overpaid and wasn't a big factor in last year's defensive turn around, a journeyman tough guy veteran OG who got overpaid and an overpaid/overrated OT who's play had been slipping. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, Jason Allen, last year's favorite whipping boy was let go without a whimper. Lawrence Vickers left, OOHH NOOO WHAT WILL WE EVER DO WITH A FB WHO CAN'T CATCH AND SUCKS AT BLOCKING?!?!?

And then the sky fell. Or it fell before all that.

Here's how it really is: they kept what they had to while dropping a lot of dead weight. Winston's replacement is already on the roster, Mario was replaced last year and Brisiel has never been confused with an elite OG. Allen and Vickers were about the 2 worst performers on the team last year. They've strived to build depth and here were are, letting players go who are making too much :money: elsewhere and replacing most of them with guys already on the team. Still have the draft too, to build more depth and replace a few guys. The sky is actually intact and quite clear to boot. Still have Wade. Still have Gary's offense and the optimism that comes with a new year and recent success on top of that.

It's time for the "amatuer" threads to drop out, people to realize this team is still in great shape for next year and do some reading on guys in the draft which is the next big thing going on.

Summarized.
You hit the nail on the head


 

RunninRaven

Practice Squad
I think you are exaggerating how bad Jason Allen was last season, but overall a good post. Allen, to me, was at least as good as Kareem Jackson.
 

MojoX

Waterboy
Summarized.
Money.

On top of that, the team is thinking forward with the realization that some young talent that has panned out is due to be paid the next two offseasons. Cushing and Barwin, at the very least need to be addressed. The GM's job includes thinking about more than one season at a time.
 
I think you are exaggerating how bad Jason Allen was last season, but overall a good post. Allen, to me, was at least as good as Kareem Jackson.
Uh...which part was that? That he was last year's whipping boy or that he was one of the poorest players seeing regular time on the field?



17 positive reps later...haha....thanks guys! :takesabow:
 

Porky

Hall of Fame
It was a good post but let's just say the Obama campaign just called. They need a new propaganda...er..I mean public relations mangager for their campagn.
 
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eriadoc

Texan-American
Summarized.
That's one way to look at it. Allow me to present the other side of the argument.

The team was a QB and maybe a WR away from being serious Super Bowl contenders this past season. They were a Jacoby Jones away from potentially moving on to the AFC Championship game even without that QB and WR (full strength AJ). Since then, the only personnel change to the team has been a net loss of players.

1.) Mario - let me get this out of the way first. I'm a big fan of Mario I was one of the few people cheering when they announced the night before the draft they were taking him. The guy caught a ton of unjustified flack while he was here and played well when he was healthy. WHEN HE WAS HEALTHY is why I'm perfectly OK with him moving on. You don't pay a guy 96mil for missing games every season and/or ineffectively playing through injury. I think we all suspected Mario would be gone, and I think the FO made the only choice they should have to maintain long term viability. Thank you Texans for not mortgaging the future on Mario.

2.) Schaub has missed significant time 3 of the 5 seasons he's been a Texan. TJ Yates is a possible replacement someday, but we all saw that he's not quite there yet. Just wanted to point out that they're still potentially a QB away from being a serious SB contender.

3.) WR - Jacoby sucks. I've been saying it for a long time, and my hatred for him as a player (not person) is pretty far from objective after the playoff game. He's still here. AJ is great WHEN HE'S HEALTHY. He's missed more games in the past 5 years than Matt Schaub. Maybe people don't realize or want to accept that; I don't know.

4.) Myers - glad he was re-signed, but I'm not buying the hype that's been put out there about him. He's had one really bad year, one really good year, and the rest has been solid. You didn't fire him after his really bad year, so don't blow smoke up my ass about his really good year. Make him do it again. You made Foster do it a second time, after all.

5.) Brisiel - not to be confused with a HOF guard or anything, but he's consistently beaten Caldwell, even coming back from a bad leg, twice. He's just a flat out better player than Caldwell. So saying they have his replacement on the roster is pretty disingenuous.

6.) Winston - occasional liability in pass protection, but if Butler is better, why didn't he beat out Winston for the job? Either he's not as good or Kubiak wasn't playing the better player. You decide which of those options you like best, I suppose. I hope he gets better than Winston this season, at any rate.

7.) Ryans - Everyone knew it was going to take 2 years to come back from that injury. He started playing his best football toward the end of last year, so they traded him away.

8.) Vickers, Allen, Dreessen, etc. - All of these guys filled roles that kept other players off the field. Casey didn't supplant Vickers as a blocker or Dreessen as a TE. Graham didn't supplant Dreessen as a TE. KJax couldn't keep Allen off the field. Brandon Harris never saw the field, despite being a 2nd round pick. McManis and his random contemporaries couldn't break through either. So again, either these players were the best options to help the team win, or the coaches were making bad decisions.

Any of these moves can be rationalized. Taken as a whole, however, they weaken the team. They may not weaken the business side of things, but that's not going to help the W-L column unless they use that money to bring real replacements in. There's still a draft left to go and they'll undoubtedly get a couple impact players. Let's hope it's enough. I have hope for Sharpton and Kareem Jackson, so that's a positive. Brooks Reed is going to be a very good player. But like I said above, the moves when taken as a whole are hard to rationalize away.

Also, while I have a ton of faith in Wade Phillips to put a top notch defense out there no matter what, Smithiak has earned no such trust from me. They've had way too many WTF moments in personnel for me to blindly trust that they know the best course of action.

But hey, I hope you sunshiners are right, since I rather enjoyed the first good season immensely. I'm just a little irritated that they seem intent on blasting my optimism since the season ended. And deep down, a little part of me knew they would. So no, the sky isn't falling, but it's hard to tell if those clouds rolling in are just an afternoon shower or a full blown hurricane. We'll see.
 

GP

Go Texans!
:perfect10:

It said I must spread some Reputation around before giving it to TimeKiller again. But don't be surprised if someone lobs the "homer" label at you. :)
No, it's "sunshiner." Sunshiner or "pumper" has replaced "homer."

That's the hip, cool label that gets slapped on somebody who doesn't see that this Texans front office screwed up and that there are danger signs all over any of the moves we have/haven't made.

You guys want something to be nervous about? Look at our special teams situation. Rackers is not signed yet, Hartmann is suspended for the first three games, IIRC, and who knows if he's fully recovered from blowing his knee out in a freak accident last season on the Reliant turdf. More than likely, if Jacoby is on this roster he'll be returning punts (yikes!). Want something to grind an axe on, look no further than a special teams unit that is in disarray.

My only concerns on FA moves are this: (1) Caldwell is not RG material. Period. I can only hope that there's an alternative to Caldwell at RG. (2) Depth along the o-line. How does it get replenished? The Draft? FA? Guys already on our roster? And (3) The Jacoby Jones status.

The losses were beyond our control due to other teams paying our guys more than we wanted to pay them, the Winston cut probably has more reasoning behind it than anybody with the Texans (and Winston) care to share with the world yet, and DeMeco gave us 5 or 6 solid years and at least somewhat of a return on the investment, in comparison to guys like Amobi, Carr, and Dunta who did not.
 

SheTexan

Hall of Fame
That's one way to look at it. Allow me to present the other side of the argument.

The team was a QB and maybe a WR away from being serious Super Bowl contenders this past season. They were a Jacoby Jones away from potentially moving on to the AFC Championship game even without that QB and WR (full strength AJ). Since then, the only personnel change to the team has been a net loss of players.

1.) Mario - let me get this out of the way first. I'm a big fan of Mario I was one of the few people cheering when they announced the night before the draft they were taking him. The guy caught a ton of unjustified flack while he was here and played well when he was healthy. WHEN HE WAS HEALTHY is why I'm perfectly OK with him moving on. You don't pay a guy 96mil for missing games every season and/or ineffectively playing through injury. I think we all suspected Mario would be gone, and I think the FO made the only choice they should have to maintain long term viability. Thank you Texans for not mortgaging the future on Mario.

2.) Schaub has missed significant time 3 of the 5 seasons he's been a Texan. TJ Yates is a possible replacement someday, but we all saw that he's not quite there yet. Just wanted to point out that they're still potentially a QB away from being a serious SB contender.

3.) WR - Jacoby sucks. I've been saying it for a long time, and my hatred for him as a player (not person) is pretty far from objective after the playoff game. He's still here. AJ is great WHEN HE'S HEALTHY. He's missed more games in the past 5 years than Matt Schaub. Maybe people don't realize or want to accept that; I don't know.

4.) Myers - glad he was re-signed, but I'm not buying the hype that's been put out there about him. He's had one really bad year, one really good year, and the rest has been solid. You didn't fire him after his really bad year, so don't blow smoke up my ass about his really good year. Make him do it again. You made Foster do it a second time, after all.

5.) Brisiel - not to be confused with a HOF guard or anything, but he's consistently beaten Caldwell, even coming back from a bad leg, twice. He's just a flat out better player than Caldwell. So saying they have his replacement on the roster is pretty disingenuous.

6.) Winston - occasional liability in pass protection, but if Butler is better, why didn't he beat out Winston for the job? Either he's not as good or Kubiak wasn't playing the better player. You decide which of those options you like best, I suppose. I hope he gets better than Winston this season, at any rate.

7.) Ryans - Everyone knew it was going to take 2 years to come back from that injury. He started playing his best football toward the end of last year, so they traded him away.

8.) Vickers, Allen, Dreessen, etc. - All of these guys filled roles that kept other players off the field. Casey didn't supplant Vickers as a blocker or Dreessen as a TE. Graham didn't supplant Dreessen as a TE. KJax couldn't keep Allen off the field. Brandon Harris never saw the field, despite being a 2nd round pick. McManis and his random contemporaries couldn't break through either. So again, either these players were the best options to help the team win, or the coaches were making bad decisions.

Any of these moves can be rationalized. Taken as a whole, however, they weaken the team. They may not weaken the business side of things, but that's not going to help the W-L column unless they use that money to bring real replacements in. There's still a draft left to go and they'll undoubtedly get a couple impact players. Let's hope it's enough. I have hope for Sharpton and Kareem Jackson, so that's a positive. Brooks Reed is going to be a very good player. But like I said above, the moves when taken as a whole are hard to rationalize away.

Also, while I have a ton of faith in Wade Phillips to put a top notch defense out there no matter what, Smithiak has earned no such trust from me. They've had way too many WTF moments in personnel for me to blindly trust that they know the best course of action.

But hey, I hope you sunshiners are right, since I rather enjoyed the first good season immensely. I'm just a little irritated that they seem intent on blasting my optimism since the season ended. And deep down, a little part of me knew they would. So no, the sky isn't falling, but it's hard to tell if those clouds rolling in are just an afternoon shower or a full blown hurricane. We'll see.

Would rep you "17" times if I could!!:)
 

redwhiteblue

Waterboy
4.) Myers - Make him do it again. You made Foster do it a second time, after all.
that's easy. Foster was under contract for 3 years and the Texans could ask foster to do it a second time before he got paid. Myers was an unrestricted free agent after his pro bowl year, so the texans were not afforded the luxury of asking Myers to do anything.
 
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