Jets Terrific 12 v. Texan Terrific 12

Old Posting (new posting below)

In a salary cap regime like the NFL, the value of a player is a function of his performance measured against his cap value. A non-expansion NFL team typically drafts 12 players (the “T12” if you will) in the first 3 rounds over a 4 year period. These 12 players are particularly valuable to a franchise in a salary cap regime, because they typically have much lower cap values than players signed through free agency. For example, Chester Pitts has a 2004 cap value of $705,000, but Steve McKinney has a 2004 cap value of $3,050,000.

Typically, an impact player becomes a free agent after four accrued years and either leaves, or receives his first big free agency contract. Each year, a franchise typically loses 3 first day drafted players to free agency (unless they re-sign the players) and get three replacements through the draft, thereby maintaining their T12 (in some cases, of course, a player drafted to be a T12 player won’t work out and a team may end up with less than 12, or a second day drafted player may excel, like Domanick Davis, thereby creating more than 12). McKinney, Bradford, Wong, Smith and Wade are all examples of four year players who got big raises to come to the Texans for their 5th year.

In the 2002 season, the Texans first year, they only had 5 T12 (1 first, 2 second and 2 third), while all the other teams had 12. Bummer. Unlike the Panthers and the Jaguars, the Texans weren’t given any extra first round picks. Hard to compete.

The good news is the Texans have now caught up, thanks to expansion picks and Charlie Casserly’s astute trades. They now have 12 players who they drafted on the first day. The Texans now have a T12 like other NFL teams. Good.

New Posting

How does the Texans next opponent, the Jets’ T12 compare with the Texans’ T12?

. . YR . . Texans (only 3 yrs) . . . . . YR . . . . Jets (4 yrs)

F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .’01 WR Santana Moss
I. . ’02 . QB David Carr . . . . . . . . . . .’02 DE Bryan Thomas
R . ’03 . WR Andre Johnson . . . . . . . .‘03 DT Dewayne Robertson
S . ’04 . CB Dunta Robinson . . . . . . . .’04 LB Jonathan Vilma
T . ’04 . LB Jason Babin

S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .’01 RB LaMont Jordan
E . ’02 . WR Jabar Gaffney . . . . . . . . ’02 DB Jon McGraw
C . ’02 . OL Chester Pitts
O . ’03 . TE Benny Joppru . . . . . . . . .’03 LB Victor Hobson
N . ’04 . RB Tony Hollings
D

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .’01 OT Kareem McKenzie
T . ’02 . OL Fred Weary . . . . . . . . . . .’02 TE Chris Baker
H . ’02 . OL Charles Hill (released)
I . .’03 . LB Antwan Peek . . . . . . . . . .’03 FB B. J. Askew
R. .’03 . OL Seth Wand
D . ’03 .QB Dave Ragone
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .’04 CB Derrick Straight



The Texans have drafted 13 first day players and the Jets have drafted 11 first day players. The Texans have generated 7 starters (Carr, Johnson, Gaffney, Pitts, Wand, Babin, Robinson) and the Jets have generated 5 starters (I think – Moss, McKenzie, Robertson, Vilma & Hobson).


. . . . . . Texans (only 3 yrs) . . . . . . . . . . Jets (4 yrs)

. . . . . . QB David Carr
. . . . . . QB Dave Ragone

. . . . . . RB Tony Hollings . . . . . . . . . . . RB LaMont Jordan
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FB B. J. Askew


. . . . . .WR Andre Johnson . . . . . . . . . . WR Santana Moss
. . . . . .WR Jabar Gaffney

. . . . . . TE Benny Joppru. . . . . . . . . . . . TE Chris Baker

. . . . . .OL Chester Pitts . . . . . . . . . . . . .OT Kareem McKenzie
. . . . . .OL Seth Wand
. . . . . .OL Fred Weary


. . . . . .DL Charles Hill (released) . . . . . . . DE Bryan Thomas
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DT Dewayne Robertson

. . . . . .LB Jason Babin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LB Jonathan Vilma
. . . . . .LB Antwan Peek . . . . . . . . . . . . . LB Victor Hobson

. . . . . .CB Dunta Robinson . . . . . . . . . . . DB Jon McGraw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CB Derrick Straight



Would you trade our players, above, for their players, above?

Old Posting

And the news gets better for the Texans. In 2005, the Texans should keep all of their T12 (none will have four accrued years) and add 4 new members through the 2005 draft (1 first, 1 second and 2 thirds), giving them a total of 16 T12. Great news!


. . YR . . Texans (4 yrs)

F. .‘02 . QB David Carr
I . ’03 . WR Andre Johnson
R . ’04 . CB Dunta Robinson
S . ‘04 . LB Jason Babin
T . ’05 . . . . P I C K

S . ’02 . WR Jabar Gaffney
E . ’02 . OL Chester Pitts
C . ’03 . TE Benny Joppru
O . ’04 . RB Tony Hollings
N . ’05 . . . . P I C K
D

. . ‘02 . OL Fred Weary
T . ’02 . OL Charles Hill (released)
H . ’03 . LB Antwan Peek
I . .‘03 . OL Seth Wand
R . ‘03 . QB Dave Ragone
D . ’05 . . . . P I C K
. .. ’05 . . . . P I C K

Vilma and Hobson are a couple of LB's I was really interested in the last couple of drafts. If things had worked a little differently the Texans could have had a future LB corp of OLB's Babin and Peek and ILB's Vilma and Hobson.

Jon McGraw is a starter too. We just rotate all of our safeties (Eric Coleman, Reggie Tongue, Jon McGraw). He is also very injury prone.

twinjetfan said:

Jon McGraw is a starter too. We just rotate all of our safeties (Eric Coleman, Reggie Tongue, Jon McGraw). He is also very injury prone.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I don't see many Jet games and I'm at the mercy of the depth charts posted on various sites.

BornOrange said:

Vilma and Hobson are a couple of LB's I was really interested in the last couple of drafts...

Click to expand...

I'm very pleased with Dunta Robinson. I think he has played well and shows the potential to develop into a top CB. Two picks later, the Jets took Vilma. We only get 1 out of 32 picks each round. That means we miss out on lots of good players ... Vilma may well be one of them.