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Rick Smith's poor job of managing the cap has closed our window for the time being.

JamesBill said:
What are you calling clean house? I agree with cutting Schaub, Reed, JJo and Foster. Those moves would not take away much talent, and would be huge for the Cap even after you sign Tate.
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SchaubApologist said:
schaub
jjo
foster
reed
daniels

not resigning:
antonio smith
ben tate

would be a good start.
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I'm sorry but are you saying we cut J.Joseph and let Brice McCain be the #2 CB? And if not McCain, then who??
Seriously?? Restructure? Sure. Cut Joseph and let McCain (or whoever) start? No.

And if I have to chose between the two RBs, I'm keeping Foster and trading Ben Tate. Even if it's only for a 4th or something.

I'm fairly certain that A. Smith's contract will be restructured or he will be cut.

And I've not seen a single mention of who will replace these guys while keeping us at a competitive talent level.

I have no wish to sink back to the Cleveland/Oakland/Jacksonville level of talent where we're waiting for other teams to cut guys so we can fill up our depth chart.

And do you think J.J. Watt is gonna want to stay here if we've cut what little help he has around him?
 
SWATteam said:
I'm gonna have to call BS on this point you keep hammering. The bottom of our roster being one of the weakest is simply not true... .
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In the last 48 hours, Montgomery GONE, Wood GONE, Jefferson GONE, Dobbins GONE...hows that above argument working out for you today?
 
Texian said:
In the last 48 hours, Montgomery GONE, Wood GONE, Jefferson GONE, Dobbins GONE...hows that above argument working out for you today?
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Looks like a lot of non-contributing weak-links were cast off with the exception of Wood who we can replace with nearly zero effort. a ZBS RB can be found in every bargain bin in the league.

Until we see who takes those places as well as what they do I can't say that any of those moves made much difference in the big picture.
 
Hervoyel said:
Looks like a lot of non-contributing weak-links were cast off with the exception of Wood who we can replace with nearly zero effort. a ZBS RB can be found in every bargain bin in the league.

Until we see who takes those places as well as what they do I can't say that any of those moves made much difference in the big picture.
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Exactly my point, that's all they could afford.
 
Texian : I would try to trade Foster. The days of Alex Gibbs ZBS are days gone by. Foster is a 4 ypc or < RB today. That's nothing exceptional. With the decline of the OL it's not going to get any better, likely worse.
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Will still have to disagree with you, Foster when healthy is one of the best RBs in the NFL. There is not MANY guys i would take over him. He might be a 4 ypc back, but he is the kind of RB who can carry a team on his back, and he also gets better as the game goes on. We have had pretty much zero leads this season so foster has not been able to close out a game like he does so well.
 
he wasted two picks on outside linebackers we didnt need and did not address the ILB and DT depth.

Has not fired joe marciano, stayed with schaub for too long, as well as kubiak. Rick smith comes off as a yes man company tool with no real autonomy or sovereignty as GM.

He lets coaches exert too much managerial control.
 
Lord Bills said:
he wasted two picks on outside linebackers we didnt need and did not address the ILB and DT depth.

Has not fired joe marciano, stayed with schaub for too long, as well as kubiak. Rick smith comes off as a yes man company tool with no real autonomy or sovereignty as GM.

He lets coaches exert too much managerial control.
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That's because Rick Smith is not a real GM. As you suggest Rick Smith is a yes man company tool with no real autonomy or sovereignty as GM. Rick Smith is to Gary Kubiak as Scott Pioli was to Bill Belichick. Gary Kubiak has final say on the 53 man roster, it's part of his contract.
 
Texian said:
That's because Rick Smith is not a real GM. As you suggest Rick Smith is a yes man company tool with no real autonomy or sovereignty as GM. Rick Smith is to Gary Kubiak as Scott Pioli was to Bill Belichick. Gary Kubiak has final say on the 53 man roster, it's part of his contract.
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This has worked out well hasn't it. Welcome to mediocrity
 
Big Lou said:
I like Case, but I just wonder how will do once teams have tape on him.....
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As long as he keeps his head & doesn't start making poor decisions with the ball, tape won't matter. This is still Kubiak's system, a system that helped Matt put up nigh elite numbers. The system will get recievers open... he does need to work on his footwork & timing, but he should be alright.
 
hradhak said:
I agree he's worthless. I think our problem maybe that we just need bodies at the spot. I think Keo should be getting more reps. He has been playing better than I expected.
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We were supposed to have a fierce pass-rush, Reed was supposed to help capitalize on QB mistakes, make QBs think twice about going deep. It's difficult to judge Reed when we aren't pressuring the QB. A better slot corner would help out more than a better Reed would since QBs have been able to hit that slot Reciever so quickly.
 
steelbtexan said:
If the Texans are great at cap management, why are they always up against the cap every offseason?

I've got a problem signing any player (including Cushing) that's coming off a major injury to a long term contract, especially when it's not absolutely necessary to sign an extention. Make the player play out the yr (prove he can stay healthy) and then extend the player. Kinda like the Ravens (Who are great at cap management) did with Flacco.
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I think you're correct in that the problem started around the 2010 season... but it was after, not before. The Texans obviously (far as I can tell) expected an increase in the cap for the 2011, 2012, 2013, & 2014 season. Their capology was computed with that in mind, so contracts signed in 2008, 2009, 2010 are weighing much heavier on our cap than expected.

As far as signing Cushing, they gambled... it looked like a good gamble until he got hurt. He wasn't pre-injury Cushing, but he was getting better every game. Still, this might be a blessing in disguise.... he might have been pushing much harder than he should have to let his ACL fully heal. Now that he's going to be sidelined a few more months, maybe it'll properly heal. Coming back from this an LCL & broken bone is nothing compared to an ACL.

Waiting until he "proved" he was healthy (the way you said it suggests this is had more to do with his previous injury than Jamaal Charles' shoulder pads) would have raised the price, or we'd have let him go.

& I'm 100% positive the Ravens would have preferred Joey signed the contract they offered before the season that he refused. Instead, they, (like the Jets with Sanchez) over paid for their own player. If Flacco wins another Super Bowl, then it's all good & I'm wrong, but they're not going to win another Super Bowl with Joe Flacco.

Matt Schaub gambled as well, same as Flacco he told the Texans he was worth more than $60M, more than the $10M/yr avg salary they offered. But after the fans booed him week 1, he had second thoughts & offered to take the deal. Rick Smith broke his own policy to make it happen.
 
Texian said:
Here is the truth, since 2010 the Texans have for every year mortgaged the future.
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2006

2007

2012

2012

The Texans learned from the best. If you pay attention, you'll see over the years the Patriots, & Steelers have also restructured contracts at various times to get under the cap. That's football.

But it is interesting to see how the Colts, Patriots, Steelers, & Texans have managed the cap since 2011. Totally different approaches, but slightly different motivations. While the fans might gripe, they're willing to stuggle a little if they've already won Championships, or snagged the best QB prospect in our generation.... what the Colts is going through right now is a total surprise to all of them. Patriots.... well, that's Belichick & Brady. Steelers, Giants, Panthers.... we're not the only ones hurting.
 
I wouldn't lay everything bad or good at smiths feet. Kubiak was here first. That alone likely means kubiak has more than a little say in personnel decisions. Especially offensively.

I think the decision on whether to sign Matt or not was above his head. That was a McNair kubiak decision IMO.
 
thunderkyss said:
2006

2007

2012

2012

The Texans learned from the best. If you pay attention, you'll see over the years the Patriots, & Steelers have also restructured contracts at various times to get under the cap. That's football.

But it is interesting to see how the Colts, Patriots, Steelers, & Texans have managed the cap since 2011. Totally different approaches, but slightly different motivations. While the fans might gripe, they're willing to stuggle a little if they've already won Championships, or snagged the best QB prospect in our generation.... what the Colts is going through right now is a total surprise to all of them. Patriots.... well, that's Belichick & Brady. Steelers, Giants, Panthers.... we're not the only ones hurting.
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The BOTTOM LINE:....Since 2010 The Texans have started each new league year with NOT enough available salary cap dollars to meet the MINIMUM FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS of completing a 53 man roster and a 8 man practice squad.

In order to meet the minimum obligations for each of the last four years the Texans have had to resort to borrowing money from future years by restructuring players contracts. In essence the Texans took expenses of the current season and moved those expenses to be paid in future season(s) in order to remain salary cap compliant.

In addition the Texans also had to resort to releasing and trading players over this time period as another tool to reduce expenses to make it possible for the Texans meet the MINIMUM FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS of a 53 man roster and 8 player practice squad. Due to the limited salary cap funds available the Texans have not been able in most cases to replace the players lost with equal or better talent.

Compound the poor management of the salary cap, the releasing and trading of high value players, the inability to replace the lost players with equal talent and factor in years of average to below average drafts and you have all the reasons why the 2013 Texans are 2 - 5.
 
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Texian said:
Compound the poor management of the salary cap, the releasing and trading of players, the inability to replace the lost players and factor in years of average to below average drafts and you have all the reasons why the 2013 Texans are 2 - 5.
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So what was the reason they were 10-6 in 2011 & 12-4 in 2012? It was the same guys pulling the trigger. We're 2-5 now, because of poor cap management, blah, blah, blah......

has nothing to do with our QB scoring for the other team....... salary cap issue mismanagement or not, Schaub was going to be our starting QB in 2012.

Ed Reed or Glover Quin in the secondary has nothing to do with giving up PIs to extend drives.

We could be $40M under the cap & the fat hobbit is still 3-3 on 50 yard kicks.

You make a good argument, but you're wrong. The Texans manage the cap the same way everyone else manages the cap, Matt Schaub & his pick 6 thing has been our biggest issue.
 
Maybe I'm blind but I still don't see Rick Smith as having completely mismanaged the salary cap and that's caused us to suck.

Are we consistently "against the cap"? Yes... But don't confused that with "cap hell". We've got probowl top players in the league at a lot of positions and they're being paid accordingly. Duane Brown, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Chris Meyers, Owen Daniels, Brian Cushing. Matt Schaub is looking like the only terrible contract due to his play. Antonio Smith is getting paid handsomely but he's a solid player. Ed Reed is underperforming but they're not throwing it his way. Joseph and Manning were great the 1st year.

Look we've got a lot of players that just aren't playing up to how they should. We're in a huge slump and a lot of fault can be placed on coaching. Can Rick Smith be blamed? Sure but making him a scape goat is just ignorant.

He's built this team with a TON of talent, he's paid the players that deserve it (save Schaub) and we don't have much if any dead money. Now we'll see what happens going forward.

I view this much differently than many fans it looks like. I don't think Smith and Kubiak are tied at the hip. I think McNair would let Kubes go and keep Smith. With that said if Rick pounds on the desk in support of Kubiak and we have back to back crap seasons then I see it differently.

I think they're both here next year, Marciano is let go. And Matt Schaub is fighting got his career the rest of the season
 
Truth

The Colts had 1 down yr and got their QB. They also saved a huge amount of cap $$$$ by letting Manning walk. They used that cap $$$$ to sign upgrades of the OL/DB's and although there were no superstars signed, the FA's they did sign were upgrades and they can let go of the players they did sign next offeason with very little cap hit.

Grigson is a smart GM and the Colts are making moves to win a SB. Grigson isn't playing around. He wants to win and win now. The Texans are meanwhile treading water, being very conservative. Which is a trademark of the BoB regime.

Texian may be on to something, the Texans need to cleanout all of the bad contracts, extend Watt and move forward. Even if that means taking a step back next yr. Hopefully they find their QB of the future next yr either thru the draft or Keenum. If they do this next yr will be considered a sucess, regardless of their record. IMHO

If they decide to do this (be smart) instead of kicking the can down the road, I want somebody other than Rick/Gary making the calls on retooling the franchise.
 
The Texans are a perennially mediocre team.

They jumped on the chance presented to them when the Colts fell apart and won the division at 10-6. This is notable because that is one of the few times this organization has successfully taken advantage of an opportunity laid before them.

Last year they had a very, very good season. 12-4 for the division crown. That was an exceptional season in two senses of the word. It was exceptional in comparison to other teams that year, but it was also the exception to the Texans usual performance.

Mix in two each of 6-10 and 8-8. Don't forget the "wildly successful" 9-7.

It is almost halfway into this season and the Texans will have to improve drastically just to reach their usual, extremely average result.

It isn't just the QB, or just the coaches, or just the GM. The front office, coaches, and many players are responsible for the way this team has performed over the years. Many changes will be required to change this team from what they are: average. The GM and coaches have to go, and the new regime will take care of weeding out the players.
 
thunderkyss said:
So what was the reason they were 10-6 in 2011 & 12-4 in 2012? It was the same guys pulling the trigger. We're 2-5 now, because of poor cap management, blah, blah, blah......
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It eventually caught up with them. For three years they couldn't get better. Cutting players and trading players without replacement of equal or better value eventually caught up with them. Poor to average drafts eventually caught up with them.

Further to your question about 2011 & 2012, the Texans success was directly related to the Colts and Titans demise (departures of Manning & Fisher). Also The Texans borrowed heavily in 2010 which had direct effects on 2011 & 2013. When you borrow money you have to pay it back, after four years of borrowing it finally caught up with them. In 2013 they had to pay the Piper.

FYI - If things remain the same the Texans will start 2014 without enough Salary Cap dollars to meet the Minimum Financial Obligations a 53 man roster, 8 practice squad players. Once again the Texans will only be able to afford rookie and vet minimums. Once again the Texans will be unable to take any steps forward to getting better. Once again it will only be more steps backwards. 2015 is a big time step back. If nothing changes come 2015 the Texans will once again be at the bottom of the division.
 
steelbtexan said:
Truth

The Colts had 1 down yr and got their QB. They also saved a huge amount of cap $$$$ by letting Manning walk. They used that cap $$$$ to sign upgrades of the OL/DB's and although there were no superstars signed, the FA's they did sign were upgrades and they can let go of the players they did sign next offeason with very little cap hit.

Grigson is a smart GM and the Colts are making moves to win a SB. Grigson isn't playing around. He wants to win and win now. The Texans are meanwhile treading water, being very conservative. Which is a trademark of the BoB regime.

Texian may be on to something, the Texans need to cleanout all of the bad contracts, extend Watt and move forward. Even if that means taking a step back next yr. Hopefully they find their QB of the future next yr either thru the draft or Keenum. If they do this next yr will be considered a sucess, regardless of their record. IMHO

If they decide to do this (be smart) instead of kicking the can down the road, I want somebody other than Rick/Gary making the calls on retooling the franchise.
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So where would the colts be without Manning's injury? That is the only reason they shed cap space, did as poorly as they did to get ther draft pick they didn and that all happend in the year in which Luck hit the draft. So tell me how well that is managing the cap or being a great GM?
 
2012Champs said:
So where would the colts be without Manning's injury? That is the only reason they shed cap space, did as poorly as they did to get ther draft pick they didn and that all happend in the year in which Luck hit the draft. So tell me how well that is managing the cap or being a great GM?
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Ummmm....

Irsay decided to step out of his comfort zone and fire the Polian's. He took a chance and hired an unknown Grigson. Taking chances like this in addition to hitting on Luck are the reason the colts have passed the Texans in 2 yrs.

It's time for the Texans to take that step back for a couple of yrs and hire a new regime to begin a minor rebuild. This starts with finding the QB of the future and I dont want Rick/Gary making those choices.

If BoB had made the difficult decision like the Colts did after the 2009 season, like Irsay did with the Polian's, t and made the right hire, like the Colts did in hiring Grigson. The Texans would be in a much better place today. IMHO

Of course that was to traumatic for BoB to make a move like that at the time. Not that as you said previouly BoB owes the fanbase anything, you know like BoB doing everything in his power to put the best product possible on the field.
 
Ole Miss Texan said:
Maybe I'm blind but I still don't see Rick Smith as having completely mismanaged the salary cap and that's caused us to suck.
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Look at it this way, you begin every month with NOT enough cash to pay all your bills. In order to meet your financial obligations you borrow money from the bank, you make arrangements with Utility Company to pay your electric bill next year and you cut your cable service.

Is your quality of life getting better or worse? You may think you're doing a good job of managing your finances today but what about next year? Next year you will have the same situation as this year but you also have to pay back your bank loan and utility bills from the previous year. Are you getting better or worse?
 
steelbtexan said:
Ummmm....

Irsay decided to step out of his comfort zone and fire the Polian's. He took a chance and hired an unknown Grigson. Taking chances like this in addition to hitting on Luck are the reason the colts have passed the Texans in 2 yrs.

It's time for the Texans to take that step back for a couple of yrs and hire a new regime to begin a minor rebuild. This starts with finding the QB of the future and I dont want Rick/Gary making those choices.

If BoB had made the difficult decision like the Colts did after the 2009 season, like Irsay did with the Polian's, t and made the right hire, like the Colts did in hiring Grigson. The Texans would be in a much better place today. IMHO

Of course that was to traumatic for BoB to make a move like that at the time. Not that as you said previouly BoB owes the fanbase anything, you know like BoB doing everything in his power to put the best product possible on the field.
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The Colts are doing well because they tanked in order to get the best QB prospect since...Peyton Manning, period. In this league, if you have a great QB you can make an average team good to great and if you don't have one make a good team bad. The new GM in Indy did nothing special but walk into a great situation.
 
jaayteetx said:
The Colts are doing well because they tanked in order to get the best QB prospect since...Peyton Manning, period. In this league, if you have a great QB you can make an average team good to great and if you don't have one make a good team bad. The new GM in Indy did nothing special but walk into a great situation.
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That and hiring some very good coaches and signing a dozen above average free agents.
 
steelbtexan said:
Ummmm....

Irsay decided to step out of his comfort zone and fire the Polian's. He took a chance and hired an unknown Grigson. Taking chances like this in addition to hitting on Luck are the reason the colts have passed the Texans in 2 yrs.

It's time for the Texans to take that step back for a couple of yrs and hire a new regime to begin a minor rebuild. This starts with finding the QB of the future and I dont want Rick/Gary making those choices.

If BoB had made the difficult decision like the Colts did after the 2009 season, like Irsay did with the Polian's, t and made the right hire, like the Colts did in hiring Grigson. The Texans would be in a much better place today. IMHO

Of course that was to traumatic for BoB to make a move like that at the time. Not that as you said previouly BoB owes the fanbase anything, you know like BoB doing everything in his power to put the best product possible on the field.
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The Colts sucked and got Luck. The only reason they walked away from Manning was his neck issue. Hoping Manning would recover wasnt staying in a comfort zone.
 
thunderkyss said:
So what was the reason they were 10-6 in 2011 & 12-4 in 2012? It was the same guys pulling the trigger. We're 2-5 now, because of poor cap management, blah, blah, blah......

has nothing to do with our QB scoring for the other team....... salary cap issue mismanagement or not, Schaub was going to be our starting QB in 2012.

Ed Reed or Glover Quin in the secondary has nothing to do with giving up PIs to extend drives.

We could be $40M under the cap & the fat hobbit is still 3-3 on 50 yard kicks.

You make a good argument, but you're wrong. The Texans manage the cap the same way everyone else manages the cap, Matt Schaub & his pick 6 thing has been our biggest issue.
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Does Rick Smith deserve all the blame for this season's craptastic beginning? No. The question is, did he contribute? The fact is that we DID release (or let walk in FA) solid to great players without a viable backup ready to step up. It's no big deal letting Winston (solid but high salary) go but having a long time back up in Butler & a low round draft pick as your replacement plan is very risky. It failed and we are still feeling the pain. Trading Ryans (solid but high salary) has left us looking for a replacement still today. Those were salary cap deals (along with Briesel & J Jones) that we didn't have a good plan in place to replace them. That's as much on Smith as it is on Kubiak imo.

Also - restructuring/extending contracts worked great in the past. Basically when you restructure, you push money from the current season into future seasons. This doesn't work any more. Why? The salary cap was being increased each year allowing you to absorb the extra money in the future. It hasn't increased since the new players agreement. See below chart. It doesn't work now. All it does now it hamstrings your team in the future.

Now you HAVE to hit on multiple draft picks to replace good players you can no longer afford or be able to reward great players with new contracts. That's the only way to make sure you can keep a JJ Watt and not lose him like Mario. Look at the 2013 draft and give me anything (other than Hopkins) that makes you say "The Texans had a GREAT draft". It really was terrible. We picked 7 picks in the 3rd to 7th rounds. Only 1 6th round pick is on the roster atm. Even the 2012 draft produced a bunch of JAGs - Mercilus, Posey, Martin, Brooks, Jones, Crick & Bullock. Go back to 2011. JJ Watt & a few JAGs. Complete whiffs with Harris and Carmichael. What's left? Reed, Keo, Yates & Newton. Yeah. Reed and JAGs or worse.

Kubiak is part of the problem. Schaub is part of the problem. Newton is part of the problem. Marciano is part of the problem. Phillips is part of the problem. I could go on. We need to clean house. Rick Smith may not be THE problem but he is definitely part of it IMO.

nfl-salary-cap.jpg
 
jaayteetx said:
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Let's see how "good" and "above average" they are when/if Luck goes down with an injury.
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They're are good enough to be leading the Texans by 3 games mid season. They're are good enough to beat San Fran, Seattle and Denver.
 
jaayteetx said:
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Let's see how "good" and "above average" they are when/if Luck goes down with an injury.
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I'm sure that was said about the Colts and Manning too. It took them two years to recover.

That's a little faster than the Texans are willing/capable of moving.
 
Runner said:
I'm sure that was said about the Colts and Manning too. It took them two years to recover.

That's a little faster than the Texans are willing/capable of moving.
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And rightly so, like I said, those two are two of the finest QB prospects this league has ever seen, no coincidence there.
 
jaayteetx said:
The Colts are doing well because they tanked in order to get the best QB prospect since...Peyton Manning, period
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It's more than that. The Colts are playing better than they should on all phases of the game, especially defensively & ST. Luck is not playing as well as he's being made out to be, he's got players stepping up on both sides of the ball.

We've got people who should be stepping up, but aren't. Not because we're paying them too much money, but because they aren't. Brooks Reed & Mercilus should be beasting, no reason why they aren't. Brandon Harris should be our nickel, he's not. Ben Tate didn't get us anything Sunday when Arian left the game.... Ben Tate hadn't done much of anything over the last three games.

You look at the Colts & I guarantee you they're getting more out of their players per dollar than we are.

So if Texian was saying we're paying our players too much due to poor talent evaluation, or failure to see the writing on the wall (Wade Smith should have been cut & Antnoio's contract should have been extended) that would be one thing, but he's not. He (or she) is saying we spent so much money in the past that we can't afford to bring in new players..... but we have no dead money on the books.

We're paying a lot of money to players who had performed well for us over the years, they're just not producing this year. Schaub earned every bit of his $7.2M sallary & a $3.5M good faith win us a Super Bowl incentive is not out of line for a starting QB. Way out of whack for what he's given us this year, but not the gross cap mismanagement some would have you believe.
 
Runner said:
I'm sure that was said about the Colts and Manning too. It took them two years to recover.

That's a little faster than the Texans are willing/capable of moving.
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If we'd tanked at the right time and gotten Luck, we'd be winning Superbowls too.

There is absolutely nothing special done by the Colts FO other than suck at the right time to get Luck. They signed friggin Gosder Cherilus to a huge deal when he's not worth that amount of money. Luck is simply the difference between mediocrity and greatness
 
htownfan32 said:
They signed friggin Gosder Cherilus to a huge deal when he's not worth that amount of money. Luck is simply the difference between mediocrity and greatness
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According to PFF out of 75 rated OTs, Derek Newton ranks 73rd, Duane Brown ranks 48th and old friggin Gosder Cherilus ranks 19th.

One of these days some of you folks are just going to have to break down and admit that you're wrong.

Lot's of excuses being made for the 2 - 5 Texans on these boards today.
 
htownfan32 said:
If we'd tanked at the right time and gotten Luck, we'd be winning Superbowls too.

There is absolutely nothing special done by the Colts FO other than suck at the right time to get Luck. They signed friggin Gosder Cherilus to a huge deal when he's not worth that amount of money. Luck is simply the difference between mediocrity and greatness
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With Indy the lead dog pulling the sled again, the Texans are back to the usual view the rest of the pack has. Obviously the Smithiak baby step, incremental improvement, overly cautious "right way" approach isn't "the difference between mediocrity and greatness". It IS mediocrity.
 
We need a new gm that will challenge mcnair, but then again mcnair would probably fire him and get somebody that will run the team the way he wants. :kubepalm:
 
Runner said:
With Indy the lead dog pulling the sled, the Texans are back to the usual view the rest of the pack has. Obviously the Smithiak baby step, incremental improvement, overly cautious "right way" approach isn't "the difference between mediocrity and greatness". It IS mediocrity.
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Good fkn post. :bravo: MSR.

You have to take calculated risks. Look how fast the Rockets got turned around. Daryl Morey had zero loyalty to players and moved them around like chess pieces. Now they have the two best rebounding centers, a top 5 and best SG in Harden, and lots of young talent to boot.

I know Basketball is a lot different from Football in terms of Free agency and the draft, but Daryl had some serious balls when making moves.

The Texans thought they were taking small steps forward but in fact they were taking large steps back. Schaub's extension, Reed's deal, Marciano staying and Holliday gone. It's pretty pathetic.
 
jaayteetx said:
And rightly so, like I said, those two are two of the finest QB prospects this league has ever seen, no coincidence there.
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To summarize:

The Colts luckily found an approach that worked and luckily repeated it.

The Texans studiously developed an approach that doesn't work and studiously repeated it.
 
bOODRO87 said:
Wow, some are actually defending the Texans status quo? This organization needs a major shake up.
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Granted, there are a number of people here who have been consistent non-believers in Smithiak... While I have not shared their conclusions, they have clearly expressed their reasons, which have remained consistent- even when they allowed some hope to trickle in the past couple years.

Those people notwithstanding, it is somewhat reactionary for the fan base to freak out because of a disappointing (very disappointing) start to the season. Especially, to wildly throw blame around, as if the bad start to the season makes everything untrue.

I can't defend the coaching staff. They are responsible for the season. I can argue that I don't want them fired. Clearly, though, they have failed (to this point) this season.

However, all the panic regarding the personnel and the cap management is not based in reality. The cap has been managed well and the team is in a good position moving forward. Even these "big" contracts can be easily moved on from with very little damage. As of right now, there is no dead money on the books for next season. Furthermore, there is a lot of cap room available next year, depending on what veterans are let go.

Watching this team, I do not see a lack of talent. The fact that we are complaining about a 6th round pick that we attempted to stash on practice squad and is now playing well for New England is an indication of success from the personnel department. All teams make gambles that don't pay off (Sam Montgomery). All teams have high end free agents that begin to outlive the size of their contract (JJoseph). The Texans, however, have only one crippling contract on the books right now (Andre Johnson)... They have a lot of young talent (Brandon Brooks, Posey, Hopkins, Tate, KJackson, Mercilus, Graham, Keenum, EMitchell), including elite players at their respective positions (Duane Brown, JJ Watt)... other very good players in their prime (Cushing, AFoster) and a significant group of solid veterans who have manageable and/or expiring contracts (OD, A.Smith, Manning, JJo, Myers).

I do not see any cap issues nor deficit of talent. Any GM in the league either allows or is obligated by contract, to give the head coach freedom to determine the roster. Decisions like keeping Dobbins and exposing Chris Jones was almost definitely left to Kubiak... Certainly, I can't imagine any GM in the NFL fighting with a coach- demanding to that coach that he cut his draft pick and keep an over the hill street free agent for depth.
 
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