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Texans Free Agents

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Might have missed this post somewhere, but does anyone have, or could point me in the direction of, a list of Texans who are going to be free agents this off-season (UFA & RFA).

Thanks!
 
From me :D

Dutchrudder said:
Texans 2013 Free Agents:
Texans2013FA.jpg


We have 21 total UFAs, 13 on defense, 6 on offense, and 2 special teams. As you can see, we have several starters that are not under contract next year. By my own estimations, I would list 7 of these 21 as key contributors to this season: Quin S, Barwin OLB, Dobbins ILB, McCain CB, Cody DT, Caldwell OG, Casey TE (5 defense, 2 offense). When constructing mock drafts, I think it's important to see where we are losing depth, and its clear that the defense will be losing quite a bit if these players aren't retained. Before anyone says it, I don't consider either kicker to be a key contributor because they are easily replaced.
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Bold'ed are the only players I expect Texans to try hard to resign, rest just filler.

Brice McCain -
Alan Ball -
Stanford Routt -
Jesse Nading -
RaShon Harris -
Shaun Cody -
Tim Dobbins -
Barrett Ruud -
Keyron Fox -
Bradie James -
Shayne Graham -
Antonio Caldwell -
Andrew Gardner -
Ryan Harris -
Rashad Butler -
Donnie Jones -
Justin Forsett -
Quinton Demps -
Glover Quin -
James Casey -
Connor Barwin -
 
I think alot of these guys aren't going to be re-signed. We need to think long-term and prepare for when Watt is a FA. If he has anywhere close to the year he had next season, he's going to become the highest paid defensive player in the league.

The only guy I'd be disappointed in losing is GQ.
 
dream_team said:
I think alot of these guys aren't going to be re-signed. We need to think long-term and prepare for when Watt is a FA. If he has anywhere close to the year he had next season, he's going to become the highest paid defensive player in the league.

The only guy I'd be disappointed in losing is GQ.
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Now is the time to lock up Watt. 10 year deal. It's a no-brainer.:swatter:

Agree on GQ.
 
Big Valley said:
Now is the time to lock up Watt. 10 year deal. It's a no-brainer.:swatter:

Agree on GQ.
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Watt's value right now is likely the highest its ever going to be. He just had the best defensive performance in the history of the NFL. He might get better, but its pretty rare for a guy to have back to back 20 sack seasons -- even the greatest defenders of all time.

If I was the FO I'd keep him on his rookie deal and then extend him next year. There is no way we can lose Watt. He is the single most important piece of this franchise. He should be the main reason we, as fans, have hope for the future.
 
gtexan02 said:
Watt's value right now is likely the highest its ever going to be. He just had the best defensive performance in the history of the NFL. He might get better, but its pretty rare for a guy to have back to back 20 sack seasons -- even the greatest defenders of all time.

If I was the FO I'd keep him on his rookie deal and then extend him next year. There is no way we can lose Watt. He is the single most important piece of this franchise. He should be the main reason we, as fans, have hope for the future.
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I agree with this. No value in locking him up now.
 
Get rid of Shaun Cody. Earl Mitchell has outplayed him every single time he's been on the field. Every time I see Mitchell make a play, I see him jog right back to the sideline. What's up with that?
 
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CretorFrigg said:
Get rid of Shaun Cody. Earl Mitchell has outplayed him every single time he's been on the field. Every time I see Mitchell make a play, I see him job right back to the sideline. What's up with that?
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But if we get rid of Cody, who will take over those all important On The Nose shorts??? Lock Up Cody NOW!!!!:sarcasm:
 
gtexan02 said:
Watt's value right now is likely the highest its ever going to be. He just had the best defensive performance in the history of the NFL. He might get better, but its pretty rare for a guy to have back to back 20 sack seasons -- even the greatest defenders of all time.

If I was the FO I'd keep him on his rookie deal and then extend him next year. There is no way we can lose Watt. He is the single most important piece of this franchise. He should be the main reason we, as fans, have hope for the future.
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He is under contract thru 2014 and we have been successful signing our starters during their final contract year. I agree with you. :handshake:
 
beerlover said:
Bold'ed are the only players I expect Texans to try hard to resign, rest just filler.

Brice McCain -
Alan Ball -
Stanford Routt -
Jesse Nading -
RaShon Harris -
Shaun Cody -
Tim Dobbins -
Barrett Ruud -
Keyron Fox -
Bradie James -
Shayne Graham -
Antonio Caldwell -
Andrew Gardner -
Ryan Harris -
Rashad Butler -
Donnie Jones -
Justin Forsett -
Quinton Demps -
Glover Quin -
James Casey -
Connor Barwin -
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I think it depends on the contract Barwin wants. Demps was in the doghouse late in the year. I don't think he'll be re-signed. Brandon Harris played alright late in the year taking over #3 CB duties, so I think McCain's gone also. I thought Forsett did a good job as our #3 RB this year. I would like to see him brought back. Of any of the free agents, Glover Quin should be the main priority.

Of those you don't have bolded: I think Bradie James or Tim Dobbins will be back, possibly both. Even if you brought in more depth at ILB, one of those guys should still be part of a rotation.
 
Speaking of Bradie James and Dobbins at ILB, was anyone else besides me happy to see MR Alexander back on the sidelines and on ST the past couple of games?
 
gtexan02 said:
Watt's value right now is likely the highest its ever going to be. He just had the best defensive performance in the history of the NFL. He might get better, but its pretty rare for a guy to have back to back 20 sack seasons -- even the greatest defenders of all time.

If I was the FO I'd keep him on his rookie deal and then extend him next year. There is no way we can lose Watt. He is the single most important piece of this franchise. He should be the main reason we, as fans, have hope for the future.
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I don't think it matters. If I understand the rookie contract under the new CBA, we don't have the option of extending him or changing his contract at all until after the third season, anyway. I think this is true for all draft picks.
 
any talk of extending JJ is redundant.

theres a cba rule that you cant extend/renegotiate a rookie contract until after their 3rd season
 
Of all of our FA's I think Quin is the highest priority. I don't know why he gets negged so much he's one of the better FS in the league. Not a great player, but a very solid one.

I would really like to see us re-sign McCain because he is a big cog in the defense in the Nickel. Very solid player. That said, we used a 2nd on Harris and I think he will get the benefit of a doubt and we roll with him next year.

Re-sign Casey. Really like what he brings to the offense. Very versatile. Re-sign Dobbins please. Very good inside player. Great on the goal line. Would like to re-sign Forsett but I think he will have other options.

Bring back James and Cody if you can but it's not crucial. Mitchell is ready to supplant Cody IMO and I think we will be okay at ILB without James.

I'd like Barwin back but only at a low and cap friendly number. He did not earn any money this year. Lost a lot IMO. I'd like to see Butler back too, just to see what he can do, but I doubt that happens.

I could really care less about Demps. We need to draft a Safety high. Wade runs a ton of Nickel and 3 Safety packages so we need those guys to be solid.
 
I could see almost half of this list being resigned at the vet minimum. GQ is due for a slight raise along with Casey and Barwin. Yes, I said Barwin, lets say 1.2mil/yr. He's still a quality player, just not a premium pass rusher, and if someone offers higher than that, let him walk.

Not sure if we have to guarantee some of those minimum salaries, but the size of the roster increases in the offseason and we should be able to cut at will before the season starts.
 
Barwin is a good vet, that's about it.

Same for the rest on the list outside of Quin. Quin is the only player I'd be upset at losing.
 
I figure we will get Casey back for hometown discount, but dammit I hope we somehow find a REAL fullback
 
If we resign Demps, then I'm convince Wade has gone mental. Quin and Casey are high impact players that needs our highest attention this off season.
 
Big yes for me on resigning Quin.

Might the Texans have the cap room to sign a Chris Gamble, Quentin Jammer or DeAngelo Hall if they become salary cap casualties for their current team?
 
Dutchrudder said:
From me :D
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Dutch have you done your salary cap work as yet? Usually find you manage to offer a pretty good aggregate of the different info available. I know we gain some from Ryans' dead money dropping off the books but otoh we have both AJ & Walter (?) having taken pay cuts this season and signed a few big new contracts that might scale up next season quite heftily so really don't know where we stand right now.

I know everyone looks for the big contributors and higher snap count guys to assess, but over a 3rd of the roster is UFA this season so you can expect a large chunk of those JAG's to be coming back. They know the system and will be ready to play if required.

If they can lock Barwin up long term on the cheap I have no problem with bringing him back, it's been a tough year across the LBs plus you have Watt often generating pressure all on his own. I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches have him graded higher than we do.

Cody, injured quite badly down the stretch and battled through, again lets see how much we can low ball him because he can contribute if cheap.

GQ and Brice I want back, and I hope they feel they can work with Routt because the physical tools are there and he can be real cheap.

Casey frustrates me but that is down to the way they use him over his ability. Don't think he's worth a premium if we aren't going to utilise him but I'd have no problem if he's going to be used as a hb or te, and not just a decoy.
 
Rufus Jarvis said:
Big yes for me on resigning Quin.

Might the Texans have the cap room to sign a Chris Gamble, Quentin Jammer or DeAngelo Hall if they become salary cap casualties for their current team?
Click to expand...

I don't see the point in that. We are hard against the cap already and we have a top 5 (when healthy) CB in Joseph and Jackson graded out as a very good CB this year. Money would be better spent elsewhere. Those guys are past it anyway. We already have Stanford Routt. If we want a guy like that we'll just re-sign him.
 
welsh texan said:
Dutch have you done your salary cap work as yet? Usually find you manage to offer a pretty good aggregate of the different info available. I know we gain some from Ryans' dead money dropping off the books but otoh we have both AJ & Walter (?) having taken pay cuts this season and signed a few big new contracts that might scale up next season quite heftily so really don't know where we stand right now.

I know everyone looks for the big contributors and higher snap count guys to assess, but over a 3rd of the roster is UFA this season so you can expect a large chunk of those JAG's to be coming back. They know the system and will be ready to play if required.

If they can lock Barwin up long term on the cheap I have no problem with bringing him back, it's been a tough year across the LBs plus you have Watt often generating pressure all on his own. I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches have him graded higher than we do.

Cody, injured quite badly down the stretch and battled through, again lets see how much we can low ball him because he can contribute if cheap.

GQ and Brice I want back, and I hope they feel they can work with Routt because the physical tools are there and he can be real cheap.

Casey frustrates me but that is down to the way they use him over his ability. Don't think he's worth a premium if we aren't going to utilise him but I'd have no problem if he's going to be used as a hb or te, and not just a decoy.
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Yeah, I did put together a salary cap post on the bottom of the second page of this thread: http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96961&page=2

I'm still waiting on admin rights to that forum so I can clean up everything and put it all on the first page. I have more to add to it all, but I'm waiting on that. From what I can tell, we should have about 11.4 million in cap space (only 41 contracts), plus whatever increase in the cap is given by the NFL. John Clayton of ESPN says we will have 12.9 million, so I think we will have money to do quite a bit more than people were expecting this year. I have a section in that thread about cap casualties, and how much money can be saved by cutting Wade Smith, Antonio and/or Kevin Walter. Here's the graphic:

Texans2013CapCasualties_zps2574ffbb.jpg


The Texans can open up another 13.5 million by cutting these guys. If nothing else, it gives them flexibility in free agency to have more options. I would gladly cut Walter if it meant getting a WR like Mike Wallace or Wes Welker. I couldn't care less about their run blocking skills, I just care about stretching the defense and upgrading the position. Or maybe they could take that money and spend it on defense, but spend a 1st or 2nd on a promising WR. Whatever, they do, I think there is a lot of flexibility this year to make some changes.
 
Mike Wallace was awful this year. Dropped a ton of passes. He will cost a lot of money and I'm not sure he's worth it.

An under the radar signing I would like is Domenik Hixon. I doubt the Giants re-sign him because they are loaded at WR. He's an underrated player and has been under-utilized his entire career.

Walter needs to go at some point, but with Posey out next year I don't think we can afford to lose him now. I think we should restructure Antonio Smith. I would like to cut Wade Smith but I don't think we have the talent to replace him right now.
 
I'll be extremely disappointed if Barwin is back. He is a complete and total zero. I felt that last season was deceptive with his sack numbers and this season didn't prove me wrong. Tired of clowns on this defense. Give me mean angry bullies who get pissed when you lose over clowns like Cody and Barwin who find ways to make jokes. Especially a nose tackle and pass rusher.
 
BigBull17 said:
I'll be extremely disappointed if Barwin is back. He is a complete and total zero. I felt that last season was deceptive with his sack numbers and this season didn't prove me wrong. Tired of clowns on this defense. Give me mean angry bullies who get pissed when you lose over clowns like Cody and Barwin who find ways to make jokes. Especially a nose tackle and pass rusher.
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If we can resign him again for a discounted back-up rate, I wouldn't be against it. He's not terrible, but he's also not starter material. I wouldn't want him starting next year.

On the other hand, I'd like to see McCain resigned. He's not the best cornerback, but he's the best 3rd corner we have. I don't want to see that scrub Harris on the field anymore.
 
CretorFrigg said:
If we can resign him again for a discounted back-up rate, I wouldn't be against it. He's not terrible, but he's also not starter material. I wouldn't want him starting next year.

On the other hand, I'd like to see McCain resigned. He's not the best cornerback, but he's the best 3rd corner we have. I don't want to see that scrub Harris on the field anymore.
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This. And can someone tell me why Shioah Keo is anywhere near the playing field? I can't figure it out. I guess we do have a serious depth problem if we put Keo in nickel situations.
 
CretorFrigg said:
On the other hand, I'd like to see McCain resigned. He's not the best cornerback, but he's the best 3rd corner we have. I don't want to see that scrub Harris on the field anymore.
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...Are people not realising McCain was really horrible this season? I mean really horrible. He was graded to have a worse year than even Harris who had a rough one. So not sure where all the clamor is coming from unless you are reflecting on what he did in 2011. But this season Harris did just a touch better than McCain.

Put it like this...on PFF among 217 cornerbacks they have McCain at 209 in regards to his coverage last season.
 
WolverineFan said:
I don't see the point in that. We are hard against the cap already
Click to expand...

I did not know that.

WolverineFan said:
and we have a top 5 (when healthy) CB in Joseph and Jackson graded out as a very good CB this year.
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I agree.

WolverineFan said:
Money would be better spent elsewhere. Those guys are past it anyway. We already have Stanford Routt. If we want a guy like that we'll just re-sign him.
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I was thinking of putting Joseph in the Nickel instead of Quin. I think all 3 of those players on my wish-list are still top 20 Corners, but if we are against the cap, then yeah...it might be hard to do.

My angle is I'd like to get another top Corner/DB to put in the Nickel spot. The Texans $$$ may be better spent elsewhere though.
 
AJ-80 said:
This. And can someone tell me why Shioah Keo is anywhere near the playing field? I can't figure it out. I guess we do have a serious depth problem if we put Keo in nickel situations.
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We HAVE to get better depth at safety. I'm OK with Quin and Manning starting, but Demps dropped a zillion interceptions and Keo should only be on ST, if that. I got askairt every time I saw Keo on the field.
 
Rufus Jarvis said:
but if we are against the cap, then yeah...it might be hard to do.

My angle is I'd like to get another top Corner/DB to put in the Nickel spot. The Texans $$$ may be better spent elsewhere though.
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We are not hard against the cap. Dutchrudder calculated it out and ESPN confirmed as things stand now the Texans have about $12.5 mil in room. Some restructuring could add more.
 
infantrycak said:
We are not hard against the cap. Dutchrudder calculated it out and ESPN confirmed as things stand now the Texans have about $12.5 mil in room. Some restructuring could add more.
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I was just reading something over on Bleacher Report (yeah, I know) about the various teams and their salary cap situations. The Browns and Bengals are sitting at something like 50 million dollars of cap space!

What burns me is that the Colts have about 25 million and the Jags and Titans are sitting at around 17 million (iirc.)

We have to choose wisely this offseason. The Colts are really pissing me off.
 
infantrycak said:
We are not hard against the cap. Dutchrudder calculated it out and ESPN confirmed as things stand now the Texans have about $12.5 mil in room. Some restructuring could add more.
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But that is not counting OUR FA's. There are a lot of them too.
 
Brice McCain - Yes
Alan Ball - Either way
Stanford Routt - Either way
Jesse Nading - No
RaShon Harris - No
Shaun Cody - No
Tim Dobbins - Either way
Barrett Ruud - Either way
Keyron Fox - Either way
Bradie James - Yes, I think people are underestimating him
Shayne Graham - Either Way
Antonio Caldwell - Yes
Andrew Gardner - No
Ryan Harris - NO WAY, he was terrible so glad he is a FA!
Rashad Butler - No
Donnie Jones - No
Justin Forsett - Either way
Quinton Demps - Either way
Glover Quin - Yes
James Casey - Either way
Connor Barwin - Either way
 
Brice McCain - Yes
Alan Ball - Training Camp competition
Stanford Routt - Training Camp competition, he's got potential
Jesse Nading - No
RaShon Harris - No
Shaun Cody - No
Tim Dobbins - Yes, ILB depth.
Barrett Ruud - Yes, ILB depth.
Keyron Fox - No
Bradie James - No
Shayne Graham - Training Camp competition with Bullock.
Antonio Caldwell - No
Andrew Gardner - Yes, good OT/OG depth.
Ryan Harris - No
Rashad Butler - No
Donnie Jones - Training Camp comptetion with a late round draft pick.
Justin Forsett - Yes
Quinton Demps - Training Camp competition
Glover Quin - Yes
James Casey - Training Camp competition, try to find him a spot on the roster.
Connor Barwin - Yes
 
The Pencil Neck said:
I was just reading something over on Bleacher Report (yeah, I know) about the various teams and their salary cap situations. The Browns and Bengals are sitting at something like 50 million dollars of cap space!

What burns me is that the Colts have about 25 million and the Jags and Titans are sitting at around 17 million (iirc.)

We have to choose wisely this offseason. The Colts are really pissing me off.
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, the colts are actually going to be sitting around the $46M mark on salary cap space. Needless to say the Texans have the least amount to spend in the AFC South, but more could get freed up w/ some potential cuts such as Walter who is scheduled to make 3-3.5M.

Side note- Hello everyone! Rookie to Texans Talk. Some names look familiar from the HT MB, but hello to all others.
 
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