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Mario movement rumors (MERGED) Signs with Buffalo $100 million

That wouldn't be true. But I can say that NONE of our OLB's were DT'd down the stretch without Mario though. I know for a fact Antonio and JJ Watt got plenty of DT's, but Barwin and Reed did not.
Really? NONE? You might want to go back and watch some games. Watt got free up the middle a few times because Barwin was DT'd.
To make such a blanket statement as that doesn't make much sense to me.
 
I am ready for Mario to be here or to be gone so this topic can be over with.

rep your way...I'm just about tapped out on the subject as well. Glad we got Foster back in the fold (as if there was any doubt) but cbs does make a good point as far as us having to get 17 other guys signed. All these articles you do have to take with a grain of salt b/c none of them really know what our cap situation is.

Even signing all these guys to league minimums would still appear to put us over the cap for 2012 when you factor in Arian new deal & the assumption that Meyers, Brisiel & Dreesen will be brought back at higher salaries & then there's our draft class.

The other thing about Arian's deal is that even if Mario's outta here & we save whatever we would've paid him, Foster's deal still doesn't appear to be that friendly in the first few years for us for next year; At least not friendly enough for the texans to be able to bring in a quality 2nd WR in FA this year & then be able to give Brown & Barwin what they may command for next year.

So something's amiss imo..either we're not as up against the cap as all these capologists say we are or they don't plan on doing anything in FA this year or next & we'll likely be losing another guy next year between Barwin, Brown & Schaub.
 
Really? NONE? You might want to go back and watch some games. Watt got free up the middle a few times because Barwin was DT'd.
To make such a blanket statement as that doesn't make much sense to me.

Since I do not have copies of every game I did go back and watch all of the INT's and Sacks and I never saw Barwin or Reed DT'd one time but Watt and Smith got plenty of G/C DT's all season.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/houston-texans

This may not be game film but you can see the D-line and what's going on the play. What games did you see either Reed or Barwin DT'd (and did it lead to sack or INT)? I only asked if it led to a sack or INT because that's all can view on nfl.com I did not see DT'son Reed or Barwin but plenty of JJ and Antonio.
 
Not exactly. Losing Mario will suck, but we can certainly sign some players with the money we were going to give him. Add depth to certain positions. That doesn't even include the draft either. In the draft we can get some depth as well. Mario leaving sucks, but it is not the end of the world.

I hope we can get Mark Anderson back. I think he'll be a stud in Wade's defense.
 
That wouldn't be true. But I can say that NONE of our OLB's were DT'd down the stretch without Mario though. I know for a fact Antonio and JJ Watt got plenty of DT's, but Barwin and Reed did not.

And that worked out OK, right? #1 defense for most of the season and finished #2 overall?
 
And that worked out OK, right? #1 defense for most of the season and finished #2 overall?

Sure it worked out nice. I am just saying wouldn't it be nice to add a 3rd DT commander in Mario? I don't think you would argue against. I have already presented argument on how we could make it work financially.

But let me ask you this question...If we let Mario walk and replace him with a FA or rookie...do you think we will be #2 defense with essentially the same team next year?

I ask you this because well we really did not play many elite offense (Saints and...) do you think those same guys could keep that intensity up. IMO status quo is the worst way to build a franchise. That's like taking success for granted by saying "We'll do fine next year because we did fine last year". You have to improve every year.

If you think we are better without Mario. I really cannot debate with you because it will go nowhere. But if you think it's about financial security. Well I've already presented my argument against this (check my recent post). Now my argument is not we will keep Mario but we CAN keep him without hurting the team financially. Now everything else is just up the management and Mario.
 
And that worked out OK, right? #1 defense for most of the season and finished #2 overall?

A wise man once said:

"Don't ever let good enough be good enough."

* Bill Parcells

Not to take anything away from the Texans' success, I'll be shouting "#2 Defense" from the top of my lungs as well.

But I wonder what we'll look like next year, when we replace 5 of the league's worst offenses with 5 of the leagues best.
 
Playoffs, you started a whole new argument now! Look at what you did!!!

LOL.
Like puppets on a string.
1sm050puppet.gif


:ahhaha:
 
:smiliepalm:
you're not getting what im saying! :)

forget about the 2011 cap. thats gone for all intents and purposes. we will be at/under that on March 13.

im saying if the texans made no other moves/re-signings etc now until March 14, we'd be roughly 3m over the 2012 salary (we were <5m under based on projections + arians 8m 2012 hit= 3m over)

and its you v everyone else in the media on that take that the texans arent in cap trouble so if you think not even a handful of all these guys are competent and that theyre all morons that dont understand cap 101 except for you then by all means go ahead. but id drop the god complex a bit and accept these guys have contacts and access to alot more accurate cap figures than you and I, then i think youre in a bit of denial. yes the final 2012 cap limit or individual teams cap hits are by no means finalised but theyre all in the same ballpark so imo theyre 95% accurate

I actually understand exactly where you are coming from. The article says we are X amount under the cap and you believe it. I just take these articles with a grain of salt. What contacts do you think these "experts" have because the Texans keep alot of information SECRET? Do you think these guys have secret 2012 contract info that we do not have available on the internet? They just get paid to do what we do for free. Nobody heard ANYTHING about Foster until this morning. Hell John McClain said we were $20 million over the cap...do you want me to believe him too? Look there are SO MANY conflicting reports ALL of them cannot be accurate. That is why I said take them with a grain of salt. At the end of the day we have 17 FA's coming of the books March 13th and 12 roster spots to fill with their cap space. NONE of your "experts" even mentioned this ONE TIME when they listed their conflicting salary cap projections.

Let's look at it like this...
Mario Williams made $18.325M last year
Let low ball the other 16 and say they made on average $600k (which is the avg of all the minimum salary scales)...16 * 600k= $9.6m.

So you want me to believe "experts" who have conflicting reports that we'll only clear $1m-$2m with AT LEAST $28m coming off the books on March 13th. We have 17 contract coming off the books. To believe the "experts" we have the assume that we invested over $28m more than what the current 2012 roster made in 2011, which has 17 LESS contracts on the books than last year. Like I said grain of salt.
 
Speaking of which, how can we still have dead money in 2012 for guys like Slaton & Okoye? I thought all that would be escalated into the year said player was let go.

If a player is released after June 1, any remaining un-amortized bonus is written off against the salary cap of the following league year. Amobi signed a 6 year deal as a rookie (2007 - 2012). Slaton was signed in 2008, and if he had a five year deal, it would have run through 2012. Okoye was released in July of 2011, and Slaton was released after the 2011 season started. If either had un-amortized bonus remaining when they were let go, it would hit 2012.

The flip side of that is that neither can be a whole lot of money. Okoye's entire contract was less than $18 Million, and Slaton was a third round pick.
 
So something's amiss imo..either we're not as up against the cap as all these capologists say we are or they don't plan on doing anything in FA this year or next & we'll likely be losing another guy next year between Barwin, Brown & Schaub.

Agreed. I figured they must have been talking to Arian as the Tag deadline was so close, so I had an idea that we might sign him.

But if he's got an $8M tag... that will put a damper on future plans if the numbers we are hearing is accurate. Signing Arian to an $8M tag in 2012 & $9.25M tag in 2013 tells me the Texans have more room than we think.
 
So you want me to believe "experts" who have conflicting reports that we'll only clear $1m-$2m with AT LEAST $28m coming off the books on March 13th. We have 17 contract coming off the books. To believe the "experts" we have the assume that we invested over $28m more than what the current 2012 roster made in 2011, which has 17 LESS contracts on the books than last year. Like I said grain of salt.

Agreed. The only way their numbers can be true, is if Rick Smith has been thinking short termed for a long time now, he & Chris Olsen must have been playing too many rounds of golf or something.
 
If a player is released after June 1, any remaining un-amortized bonus is written off against the salary cap of the following league year. Amobi signed a 6 year deal as a rookie (2007 - 2012). Slaton was signed in 2008, and if he had a five year deal, it would have run through 2012. Okoye was released in July of 2011, and Slaton was released after the 2011 season started. If either had un-amortized bonus remaining when they were let go, it would hit 2012.

The flip side of that is that neither can be a whole lot of money. Okoye's entire contract was less than $18 Million, and Slaton was a third round pick.

Yeah, but with regard to the Texans' dead money, that 'source' that stated Okoye, Slaton and David Anderson had dead money in 2012 was just a guy on the SomethingAwful messageboard. Really no better a source than anything we have on TTalk. Here's a link, I think it's complete BS. No way do we owe David freaking Anderson 1.4 million this year.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3464116&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post400187767
 
Really? Because this is all I got.


I remember an article on ESPN earlier this season that reported the Texans at about $2M under the cap with Mario's $18M (and 11 other upcoming FAs) before we added our 5 IR replacements.

2011 salary cap WITH Mario.
http://blogs.nfl.com/2011/08/29/updated-salary-cap-space-numbers-for-all-32-teams/

I also found an article on ESPN confirming this (I can't find it right now so I 'll look through my posts because I've posted it before). So now you want me to believe that with 17 FA coming off the book we are only able to clear $1M-$2M of cap space to sign 12 people for the 2012 season?

IMO John Clayton does not elude to anything and barely devotes a fragment of a sentence to discuss the Texans cap situation. I don't know how you get all that "homework" you are talking about in that limited capacity. JMO.

Wow, quoting Jason La Canfora on last year's salary cap in August 2011. I got news for ya bud, things change from 2011 to 2012. We restructured Antonio Smith, AJ and Demeco Ryans last year (that we know of). Source That money has to go somewhere, and some of it gets pushed to 2012. We don't know how much, but it could easily be 8+ million. They did it to make room for JJo and Manning. Then there's the general uptick in player salaries, incentives that were met, and whatnot. There's plenty of reasons that the payroll could be considerably higher this year. Places like Sportrac and Rotoworld do an admirable job of gauging team salary caps, but they simply aren't that accurate.

In any case, John Clayton is a well respected writer on the subject, so are a number of other sports journalists. I think they know more about these things than you're willing to accept. They have lots of sources around the league and use them to get an idea of each team's cap situation. Heck, he might be getting this info from a guy at the NFL office who administrates the salary cap room. Either way, I'll take his word over random people's speculation. He may be off by a couple million, but I seriously doubt he's off by 20+.
 
I fear we are blowing it.

Mario's too good of a talent to let go. I have a sick feeling that Barwin and Reed won't be able to duplicate the success they had last year as teams get more film and our competition gets better. I also have a bad feeling that if Wade leaves after next year, our pass rush will really take a huge decline.

I love watching Smith/Watt play and think those guys will be solid for years to come but I'm not sold on the remainder of the front seven. Our divison will be a lot better offensively next season and beyond so we can't plan to stand still either. Our lofty defensive ranking was built in some part against three poor division offenses - where two of the three will probably take big steps forward this season.

Mario's dominated when we had nobody else on the DL outside of Smith and a terrible secondary. You don't win Super Bowls with groups of good players.

I also get a sick feeling that the cap will be so blown up in 2013 and 2014, we will regret not giving Mario a huge backloaded contract.
 
Yeah, but with regard to the Texans' dead money, that 'source' that stated Okoye, Slaton and David Anderson had dead money in 2012 was just a guy on the SomethingAwful messageboard. Really no better a source than anything we have on TTalk. Here's a link, I think it's complete BS. No way do we owe David freaking Anderson 1.4 million this year.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...3464116&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post400187767
Here's a link to the Texans 2010 salary cap page on inthebulleseye. From that, it shows that Okoye still had 2 x [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$1,875,937 of non-amortized bonus. Slaton had just one year at [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$166,097 of allocated bonus left. Anderson had [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$333,333 of dead money. Others:
Orlovsky - $800,000
Molden -
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$188,503
Adibi -
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$113,125
Anthony Hill - 2 X
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]$114,125 - $228,500

Only Okoye and Hill could possibly have anything show up on the cap this year. A little over $2 million dead money, maximum. Of course if Jacoby is cut, that bonus money would be due.
[/FONT]
 
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Wow, quoting Jason La Canfora on last year's salary cap in August 2011. I got news for ya bud, things change from 2011 to 2012. We restructured Antonio Smith, AJ and Demeco Ryans last year (that we know of). Source That money has to go somewhere, and some of it gets pushed to 2012. We don't know how much, but it could easily be 8+ million. They did it to make room for JJo and Manning. Then there's the general uptick in player salaries, incentives that were met, and whatnot. There's plenty of reasons that the payroll could be considerably higher this year. Places like Sportrac and Rotoworld do an admirable job of gauging team salary caps, but they simply aren't that accurate.

In any case, John Clayton is a well respected writer on the subject, so are a number of other sports journalists. I think they know more about these things than you're willing to accept. They have lots of sources around the league and use them to get an idea of each team's cap situation. Heck, he might be getting this info from a guy at the NFL office who administrates the salary cap room. Either way, I'll take his word over random people's speculation. He may be off by a couple million, but I seriously doubt he's off by 20+.

Yeah and John McClain is well-respected (doesn't he have a HOF vote) and he said the Texans are $20 million over. Who are you gonna believe? Both are "well-respected".

Dude I know what you're saying BUT you're missing the point. I just said take these "experts" with a grain of salt. You look at "experts"and believe what they tell you. I look at it as speculation.

I know that some people's salaries will increase. I am well aware that we've restructured some deals so they will increase as well. I've mentioned that in some of my past posts. BUT we still have 17 FAs coming off the books. I know it's the 2012 league year (starting March 13th) BUT to believe the "experts" you have to ASSUME that we invested over $28m more in salary for our 2012 roster, which has 17 less contracts than 2011.

They DO NOT have any info on 2012 contracts than what is available online. The Texans do not disclose much information within the organization. What makes you guys so confident that these experts have these tight connections within the Texans organization? Remember they have conflicting info. The "experts" just say the Texans have X amount of cap space yet they fail to mention any of the things you assume are included in their projections. They do not say the Texans have X FAs for 2012. They do not say the Texans have X players on contract for 2012. They do not even list a source where they got their contract info from. They just report it and people role with it.

I am not acting like I know the 2012 cap or the 2012 contract numbers for the 2012 contracted Texans (because I don't but neither dothe "experts"). But I do know we have 17 FA's that will account for AT LEAST $28m of freed up cap space. If the 2012 roster as it stands, with 17 LESS contracts than in 2011, only frees up $1m-$2m next year it will not be good for the Texans in the long run. You cannot restructure every year.
 
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So something's amiss imo..either we're not as up against the cap as all these capologists say we are or they don't plan on doing anything in FA this year or next & we'll likely be losing another guy next year between Barwin, Brown & Schaub.
Here's the truth: There's not enough information in the public domain to be a good armchair GM. Not anymore. Everyone's pulling crap out of their arse. The situation might not be as bad as reported. It could be worse. There's no way to know for sure.
 
Here's the truth: There's not enough information in the public domain to be a good armchair GM. Not anymore. Everyone's pulling crap out of their arse. The situation might not be as bad as reported. It could be worse. There's no way to know for sure.

^^^^
This

Surely Rick wouldn't put the team in cap hell just by re-signing Arian?

Rick/Gary are going to try to win in 2012. But it appears that they want to see how MS comes back from injury. If he doesn't make it back, then I could see the Texans being major players in draft/FA finding another QB.

They should have the cap room with the expected cap increase in 2013. Of course with the myian calander thingy, none of this will matter. LOL
 
Here's the truth: There's not enough information in the public domain to be a good armchair GM. Not anymore. Everyone's pulling crap out of their arse. The situation might not be as bad as reported. It could be worse. There's no way to know for sure.

Looking at Arian's deal, I'm of the opinion it's not as bad as people think. I refuse to believe that Olsen & Smith have been that incompetent.; It's probably not good enough to get Mario & every 1 of our FA's back in the fold, but not so bad that we'll be facing these same challenges next year with Brown, Schaub & Barwin.
 
I can almost guarantee that there aren't any "experts" that know how much the Texans are over/under the salary cap. How can I make this bold statement? Because the teams themselves don't know what the cap number is.

The time for using the franchise tags has come and gone. And most of the teams that used the tags still don’t know exactly how much it will cost.
That’s because the base franchise tenders now flow from a calculation that ensures the tenders will match the average cap percentage consumed by the tenders in the past five years. So without knowing the current year’s salary cap, there’s no way to know the outcome of the application of the percentage.


And that continues to be the problem — teams still don’t know the 2012 salary cap.


On Saturday, we explained that the league and the NFLPA are “scrambling” to find a way to increase the number, given the impact of benefit costs on a total salary-and-benefits pot that goes to the players. Eight days from the start of the new league year, and there’s still no answer.


We’ve got a feeling it’ll arrive via press release at roughly 5:00 p.m. on Friday.
 
Yeah, but with regard to the Texans' dead money, that 'source' that stated Okoye, Slaton and David Anderson had dead money in 2012 was just a guy on the SomethingAwful messageboard. Really no better a source than anything we have on TTalk. Here's a link, I think it's complete BS. No way do we owe David freaking Anderson 1.4 million this year.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3464116&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post400187767

He didn't ask if it was correct - I wouldn't have answered that because I don't know. He asked how it could happen, and I told him.
 
Questions:
1. There was a salary cap in 2011. If Texans were over why did NFL allow?
2. If teams were allowed to be over why not for 2012?
3. How come no one states their sources?
4. Why is there not a confirmed source for accurates amounts of salaries & bonuses?
5. If Foster is guaranteed $18m year one yet bonus amount and bases not identified, how does anyone know how much the cap hit is as some of you have posted. You are guessing.
6. If Foster's 2012 cap (when known) is apprx the 2012 Leinert's + Jacoby's + Foster's 2011, how does that impact signing Mario? Seems they just cancel each other out and we can sign for Mario at anything less than his 2011 cap and still be ok. Yes, there is an amount for draft but cuts of other non-essentials players, or contract re-adjustments that Smith and Olsen are working on should take care of that.
7. Escalators happen every year and we signed two major free agents last season despite escalators. Why is this suddenly an issue?
 
If our defense goes one on one this season we have several guys who are gonna increase their productivity. toot- toot.
 
Sure it worked out nice. I am just saying wouldn't it be nice to add a 3rd DT commander in Mario? I don't think you would argue against. I have already presented argument on how we could make it work financially.

Yes, no doubt, I agree. I stated that it worked out nicely, that's not saying it wouldn't have been better without Mario. 5 games, 5 sacks is impressive, no doubt. As much as #90 is BA, there's no questioning his injury record.

But let me ask you this question...If we let Mario walk and replace him with a FA or rookie...do you think we will be #2 defense with essentially the same team next year?

I think that would depend on the FA or rookie. If they show anywhere near what #99 does, c'mon.

I ask you this because well we really did not play many elite offense (Saints and...) do you think those same guys could keep that intensity up. IMO status quo is the worst way to build a franchise. That's like taking success for granted by saying "We'll do fine next year because we did fine last year". You have to improve every year.

I don't disagree referencing my statement above. If we can get any player, at any position, that can run with JJ Watt, bring him on.

If you think we are better without Mario. I really cannot debate with you because it will go nowhere. But if you think it's about financial security. Well I've already presented my argument against this (check my recent post). Now my argument is not we will keep Mario but we CAN keep him without hurting the team financially. Now everything else is just up the management and Mario.

You won't find me stating we'd be better of without Mario anywhere. In regards to the financial state of the team, I think the Texans are in pretty good hands. JMO

A wise man once said:


Not to take anything away from the Texans' success, I'll be shouting "#2 Defense" from the top of my lungs as well.

But I wonder what we'll look like next year, when we replace 5 of the league's worst offenses with 5 of the leagues best.

Legitimate concern, I think, TK.

I think if ya squint just right, this bears out what cbs1507 and I were discussing above. Gotta field the best team with what we have to work with, whatever Rick has to do to get there.
 
Yeah and John McClain is well-respected (doesn't he have a HOF vote) and he said the Texans are $20 million over. Who are you gonna believe? Both are "well-respected".

I personally don't respect John McClain as much of a source. The only things he seems to know are what the Texans spoon feed him. He consistently gets things wrong like that 20 million quote. He couldn't differentiate between what the team spent last year (~140 million), and what the team counted against the salary cap (~118 million). Signing bonuses of JJo and JJ pushed that number up, but they are amortized over the length of the contract. Anyways, he does seem to screw up the nitty gritty details a lot from what I have read.

Dude I know what you're saying BUT you're missing the point. I just said take these "experts" with a grain of salt. You look at "experts"and believe what they tell you. I look at it as speculation.

Here's the problem though, none of the respected NFL guys are saying we have 28 million or whatever number you think it is. None, except a few guys on messageboards. I don't doubt that John Clayton could be off by a few million, but I don't think he's off by 20. Same with Florio who pegged us around 5 million in free space, and Andrew Brandt, etc etc... The only certain variable I see is the 2012 cap total, which as stated above hasn't been released. Most of those projections are going off the 2011 number of 120.3 million. If it goes up 5 million, we probably have a bit more to work with, but don't count on it yet.

I know that some people's salaries will increase. I am well aware that we've restructured some deals so they will increase as well. I've mentioned that in some of my past posts. BUT we still have 17 FAs coming off the books. I know it's the 2012 league year (starting March 13th) BUT to believe the "experts" you have to ASSUME that we invested over $28m more in salary for our 2012 roster, which has 17 less contracts than 2011.

They DO NOT have any info on 2012 contracts than what is available online. The Texans do not disclose much information within the organization. What makes you guys so confident that these experts have these tight connections within the Texans organization? Remember they have conflicting info. The "experts" just say the Texans have X amount of cap space yet they fail to mention any of the things you assume are included in their projections. They do not say the Texans have X FAs for 2012. They do not say the Texans have X players on contract for 2012. They do not even list a source where they got their contract info from. They just report it and people role with it.

I am not acting like I know the 2012 cap or the 2012 contract numbers for the 2012 contracted Texans (because I don't but neither dothe "experts"). But I do know we have 17 FA's that will account for AT LEAST $28m of freed up cap space. If the 2012 roster as it stands, with 17 LESS contracts than in 2011, only frees up $1m-$2m next year it will not be good for the Texans in the long run. You cannot restructure every year.

Look, I hope you're right and the Texans have 50 gazillion dollars to spend, but I just don't see it happening. If you have a good source that says otherwise, please link it, cause I haven't seen it.
 
I personally don't respect John McClain as much of a source. The only things he seems to know are what the Texans spoon feed him. He consistently gets things wrong like that 20 million quote. He couldn't differentiate between what the team spent last year (~140 million), and what the team counted against the salary cap (~118 million). Signing bonuses of JJo and JJ pushed that number up, but they are amortized over the length of the contract. Anyways, he does seem to screw up the nitty gritty details a lot from what I have read.

Ok sowe both agree John McClain is unreliable. Cool. :highfive:

Here's the problem though, none of the respected NFL guys are saying we have 28 million or whatever number you think it is. None, except a few guys on messageboards. I don't doubt that John Clayton could be off by a few million, but I don't think he's off by 20. Same with Florio who pegged us around 5 million in free space, and Andrew Brandt, etc etc... The only certain variable I see is the 2012 cap total, which as stated above hasn't been released. Most of those projections are going off the 2011 number of 120.3 million. If it goes up 5 million, we probably have a bit more to work with, but don't count on it yet.
You know now that I am thinking about it I could be over-simplifying it. I'm basically subtracting what the 17 FA counted against the cap in 2011 and assuming that even though salaries will increase in 2012 it won't increase enough to exceed the $28+m the 17 FA's made last year will free up about that much space. It sound plausible when I thought about. But at the end of the day we need to know the 2012 contracts to make a sound calculation. And I do not have that (so I cannot say how much we have).


Look, I hope you're right and the Texans have 50 gazillion dollars to spend, but I just don't see it happening. If you have a good source that says otherwise, please link it, cause I haven't seen it.
I do not have a source that lists contract other than rotoworld and sportsrac. I'm not sure how reliable they are. I just know we had 12 FA's going into the season and 5 people went on IR. I just estimated the 17 salaries and gave the low estimate of $28m. But of course we do not have a firm source to indicate the 2012 contract, which are probably more important than the $28m.

So I am not proclaiming myself right or anything like that. I was just presenting my case since the experts seem to have conflicting information. So I guess we'll just wait until March 13th.
 
I personally don't respect John McClain as much of a source. The only things he seems to know are what the Texans spoon feed him. He consistently gets things wrong like that 20 million quote. He couldn't differentiate between what the team spent last year (~140 million), and what the team counted against the salary cap (~118 million). Signing bonuses of JJo and JJ pushed that number up, but they are amortized over the length of the contract. Anyways, he does seem to screw up the nitty gritty details a lot from what I have read.

I don't respect any of them. It is incredible to me that fans on here collectively consistently know more than these yahoos in the print and radio media. I mean c'mon folks you are on the radio for four hours and this is your chosen profession. It isn't just about getting free access to the games. Learn something. Can't remember which one but I think it was John Granato who was going on and on about how the Texans would take a $20+ mil cap hit if they cut Carr when that was blatantly wrong. I don't blame people for not having deep throat inside sources but at least study your chosen subject.
 
I understand losing Mario, but let's not pretend that it isn't going to hurt.

Here are the offenses we played last year and their points ranking:
Indy 28th
Miami 20th
New Orleans 2nd
Pittsburgh 21st (and they were much worse on the road)
Oakland 16th
Baltimore 12th
Tennessee 21st
Jacksonville 28th (same ppg as indy)
Cleveland 30th
Tampa Bay 27th
Atlanta 7th
Cincinnati 18th
Carolina 5th.

That isn't exactly a murderers row. 10 of 16 games were against teams in the bottom 3rd. 6 were against the one of the 5 worst offenses. So, yes we had a good defense, but saying it was the 2nd best defense last year isn't telling the whole picture.

When we did play good offenses we got lit up for 40 and 28. And then classify Atlanta however. They scored over 30 seven times, and 16 or less 5 times.
 
I understand losing Mario, but let's not pretend that it isn't going to hurt.

Here are the offenses we played last year and their points ranking:
Indy 28th
Miami 20th
New Orleans 2nd
Pittsburgh 21st (and they were much worse on the road)
Oakland 16th
Baltimore 12th
Tennessee 21st
Jacksonville 28th (same ppg as indy)
Cleveland 30th
Tampa Bay 27th
Atlanta 7th
Cincinnati 18th
Carolina 5th.

That isn't exactly a murderers row. 10 of 16 games were against teams in the bottom 3rd. 6 were against the one of the 5 worst offenses. So, yes we had a good defense, but saying it was the 2nd best defense last year isn't telling the whole picture.

When we did play good offenses we got lit up for 40 and 28. And then classify Atlanta however. They scored over 30 seven times, and 16 or less 5 times.


Yep.

Bottom line, I think the Texans should strive to be the best defense in the league every year and losing Mario in no way will help that.

Add in this years schedule and if we are Mario-less there is reason for concern, not concern as in we are screwed but maybe another second round exit depending on how the rest of the off season plays out.
 
I actually understand exactly where you are coming from. The article says we are X amount under the cap and you believe it. I just take these articles with a grain of salt. What contacts do you think these "experts" have because the Texans keep alot of information SECRET? Do you think these guys have secret 2012 contract info that we do not have available on the internet? They just get paid to do what we do for free. Nobody heard ANYTHING about Foster until this morning. Hell John McClain said we were $20 million over the cap...do you want me to believe him too? Look there are SO MANY conflicting reports ALL of them cannot be accurate. That is why I said take them with a grain of salt. At the end of the day we have 17 FA's coming of the books March 13th and 12 roster spots to fill with their cap space. NONE of your "experts" even mentioned this ONE TIME when they listed their conflicting salary cap projections.

Let's look at it like this...
Mario Williams made $18.325M last year
Let low ball the other 16 and say they made on average $600k (which is the avg of all the minimum salary scales)...16 * 600k= $9.6m.

So you want me to believe "experts" who have conflicting reports that we'll only clear $1m-$2m with AT LEAST $28m coming off the books on March 13th. We have 17 contract coming off the books. To believe the "experts" we have the assume that we invested over $28m more than what the current 2012 roster made in 2011, which has 17 LESS contracts on the books than last year. Like I said grain of salt.

-only 12 of those contracts coming off counted against the cap most likely (as they were street FA replacements ie not in the top 51 salries)

-i didnt mean mclain when i said local, i meant aj and others who actually understand cap and do their homework.

-jjoe has a 9.75 m cap hit this yr. look at that again. 1 player is taking up 1/12 of the probable cap. granted hes prob the highest hit but look at all the guys that will have pretty big hits too- schaub, aj, OD, DB, winston, antonio, meco, cush, manning. then the mid level guys like KW, jacoby, wade, JJ, leinart, cody. That makes 16 guys with sizeable cap hits so its not that farfetched to think that with those guys accounting for that much cap (not even mentioning the other 23 cheaper guys under contract) that we're pressed up against the cap with 39 players
 
I understand losing Mario, but let's not pretend that it isn't going to hurt.

Here are the offenses we played last year and their points ranking:
Indy 28th
Miami 20th
New Orleans 2nd
Pittsburgh 21st (and they were much worse on the road)
Oakland 16th
Baltimore 12th
Tennessee 21st
Jacksonville 28th (same ppg as indy)
Cleveland 30th
Tampa Bay 27th
Atlanta 7th
Cincinnati 18th
Carolina 5th.

That isn't exactly a murderers row. 10 of 16 games were against teams in the bottom 3rd. 6 were against the one of the 5 worst offenses. So, yes we had a good defense, but saying it was the 2nd best defense last year isn't telling the whole picture.

When we did play good offenses we got lit up for 40 and 28. And then classify Atlanta however. They scored over 30 seven times, and 16 or less 5 times.

& no matter how you substitute any 3 of the bolded in with GB, NE & Det...3 of the most potent offenses in the league led by 3 of the best qb's in the league..it ain't gonna be pretty.
 
Seriously?

Yeah, thinning out the talent on defense usually makes serious injuries to starters more devestating. Crossing my fingers that we don't have to go through the Braman/Nading experience at any point in 2012.
 
Yeah, I understand all that, and I think the sportwriters who do this for a living understand that as well. That's why when they say 2012 cap figures, I assume they are talking about post-March 13. I would imagine they have already accounted for the money coming off the books, dead money, escalating salaries, incentives and 2011 rollover. I have a hard time believing guys like John Clayton and Mike Florio don't take that into account when talking about cap numbers.

Clayton on the cap:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7570116/nfl-plenty-cap-room-improve

It's quite obvious that he's talking about 2012 cap space. Although, he's assuming a 120 million total cap, which means if it turns out to be 125, we will have a bit more to work with.

What I think of when I see John Clayton talking on TV:

128760817162036681.jpg


128979739806721029.jpg
 
Since I do not have copies of every game I did go back and watch all of the INT's and Sacks and I never saw Barwin or Reed DT'd one time but Watt and Smith got plenty of G/C DT's all season.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/houston-texans

This may not be game film but you can see the D-line and what's going on the play. What games did you see either Reed or Barwin DT'd (and did it lead to sack or INT)? I only asked if it led to a sack or INT because that's all can view on nfl.com I did not see DT'son Reed or Barwin but plenty of JJ and Antonio.

Ummmm

The way Wades 5-2 defense is set up is for the DL to get double teamed. Which they did. This sets the LB's free to make plays. Watt was such a stud that he made plays despite being double teamed. (Same with Antonio to a lesser degree) Imagine if the Texans added a stud NT this offseason. The defense would be awsome.

And yes Barwin did get his fair share of double teams. That's how Cushing got some of his sacks/pressures. (Stunts) Instead of breaking things down by double teams, people should look at the pressure the Texans got on the QB as a whole. Man it really feels good to have a well coordinated/thought out plan and a DC that is great at making in game adjustments.

Gary could learn a thing or two about in game adjustments on the offensive side of the ball.
 
Yeah, thinning out the talent on defense usually makes serious injuries to starters more devestating. Crossing my fingers that we don't have to go through the Braman/Nading experience at any point in 2012.

I'm actually very high on Braman. (not in a shroom kind of way.)

We will see what Wade thinks of Bramans improvement, by how high the Texans draft an OLB. I think it will be the 3rd rd or later. There will still be some very good OLB's left in the 3/4th rd. The draft pick will probably be a high intensity type guy. Lewis/McClelland etc...
 
Ummmm

The way Wades 5-2 defense is set up is for the DL to get double teamed. Which they did. This sets the LB's free to make plays. Watt was such a stud that he made plays despite being double teamed. (Same with Antonio to a lesser degree) Imagine if the Texans added a stud NT this offseason. The defense would be awsome.

And yes Barwin did get his fair share of double teams. That's how Cushing got some of his sacks/pressures. (Stunts) Instead of breaking things down by double teams, people should look at the pressure the Texans got on the QB as a whole. Man it really feels good to have a well coordinated/thought out plan and a DC that is great at making in game adjustments.

Gary could learn a thing or two about in game adjustments on the offensive side of the ball.

JJ Watt and Brooks Reed contain an inner mechanism that guys like Travis Johnson and Amobi Okoye did not. I believe Antonio Smith is a lot like JJ Watt and Brooks Reed.

The two guys who had the ability to become good (TJ and AO) just never found a way to put it together. We spent a good 2 or 3 years on the TJ project, and then another 2 or 3 years on the Amobi Okoye project. Both guys end up being about 6 years of wasted time on that DL spot they occupied.

The mistake of wrongly pegging a guy in the draft as being "an answer on the DL" was a huge factor in our anemic defense. Enter the 34 D master, Wade Phillips, and he identifies the weaknesses and goes out and promptly grabs a better CB, a better S, and hits home runs on his 1st and 2nd round picks (Watt and Reed, respectively) and the defense is #1 or #2 all year in 2011.

This is why, IMO, if the Texans made the choice of Foster over Mario...and IF Mario ends up walking away...we have to trust that Wade Phillips knows best.

There was a day when Mario Williams represented our only real weapon on defense, in the 43 Defense style before Wade arrived, and we HAD to have Mario on this defense. Now? The focus is now upon three really active DL, which we have in Smith, Watt, and the 3rd guy whomever that is at the moment (Cody or Mitchell) and four lunatic LBs--2 of those LBs are smaller and 2 of them are larger, but all four of them represent a berserker style of crashing running lanes or sneaking through gaps to blitz the QB.

The money will be better for Mario on a team who runs a 43 Defense and needs that ONE guy who can be the double-team drawing DE for them. Period. There will be a team out there who needs him worse than we do.
 
& no matter how you substitute any 3 of the bolded in with GB, NE & Det...3 of the most potent offenses in the league led by 3 of the best qb's in the league..it ain't gonna be pretty.

Agreed

This is why the texans should look to the draft to bolster the defense in the draft even more.

If it was me the draft would look something like this.

Rd.1 Gilmore
Rd.2 McClellin
Rd.3 Marvin Jones (If they dont fall in love with Hill/Randle
Rd.4 Chapman

Gotta keep improving the defense.
 
JJ Watt and Brooks Reed contain an inner mechanism that guys like Travis Johnson and Amobi Okoye did not. I believe Antonio Smith is a lot like JJ Watt and Brooks Reed.

The two guys who had the ability to become good (TJ and AO) just never found a way to put it together. We spent a good 2 or 3 years on the TJ project, and then another 2 or 3 years on the Amobi Okoye project. Both guys end up being about 6 years of wasted time on that DL spot they occupied.

The mistake of wrongly pegging a guy in the draft as being "an answer on the DL" was a huge factor in our anemic defense. Enter the 34 D master, Wade Phillips, and he identifies the weaknesses and goes out and promptly grabs a better CB, a better S, and hits home runs on his 1st and 2nd round picks (Watt and Reed, respectively) and the defense is #1 or #2 all year in 2011.

This is why, IMO, if the Texans made the choice of Foster over Mario...and IF Mario ends up walking away...we have to trust that Wade Phillips knows best.

There was a day when Mario Williams represented our only real weapon on defense, in the 43 Defense style before Wade arrived, and we HAD to have Mario on this defense. Now? The focus is now upon three really active DL, which we have in Smith, Watt, and the 3rd guy whomever that is at the moment (Cody or Mitchell) and four lunatic LBs--2 of those LBs are smaller and 2 of them are larger, but all four of them represent a berserker style of crashing running lanes or sneaking through gaps to blitz the QB.

The money will be better for Mario on a team who runs a 43 Defense and needs that ONE guy who can be the double-team drawing DE for them. Period. There will be a team out there who needs him worse than we do.

MSR

Great post

This is the way people should be looking at the defense. (As a whole, instead of who's getting pressure and who's not. BTW, I expect Reed to really improve in his 2nd yr. It sure feels good to have a young intense front 7 on defense.
 
I don't respect any of them. It is incredible to me that fans on here collectively consistently know more than these yahoos in the print and radio media. I mean c'mon folks you are on the radio for four hours and this is your chosen profession. It isn't just about getting free access to the games. Learn something. Can't remember which one but I think it was John Granato who was going on and on about how the Texans would take a $20+ mil cap hit if they cut Carr when that was blatantly wrong. I don't blame people for not having deep throat inside sources but at least study your chosen subject.

Nobody? Really? I like some of the sports writers like Clayton, La Canfora, Andrew Brandt, Evan Silva and our own Lance Zerline. They tend to be very accurate from what I have read, but there are those who stick out as being incompetent like McClain or anyone who currently works at 610. McClain's the one that really bugs me though, he has such great contacts and access to the Texans, but couldn't get the inside scoop on a bowl of ice cream.
 
Nobody? Really? I like some of the sports writers like Clayton, La Canfora, Andrew Brandt, Evan Silva and our own Lance Zerline. They tend to be very accurate from what I have read, but there are those who stick out as being incompetent like McClain or anyone who currently works at 610. McClain's the one that really bugs me though, he has such great contacts and access to the Texans, but couldn't get the inside scoop on a bowl of ice cream.

We need a McClain face palm.........
 
You won't find me stating we'd be better of without Mario anywhere. In regards to the financial state of the team, I think the Texans are in pretty good hands. JMO



Legitimate concern, I think, TK.

I think if ya squint just right, this bears out what cbs1507 and I were discussing above. Gotta field the best team with what we have to work with, whatever Rick has to do to get there.
Oh! My eyes! Aqua?
 
Nobody? Really? I like some of the sports writers like Clayton, La Canfora, Andrew Brandt, Evan Silva and our own Lance Zerline. They tend to be very accurate from what I have read, but there are those who stick out as being incompetent like McClain or anyone who currently works at 610. McClain's the one that really bugs me though, he has such great contacts and access to the Texans, but couldn't get the inside scoop on a bowl of ice cream.

Well my comment was directed to local sports reporting figures. Heck not too long ago Zierlein made the idiotic assertion it doesn't matter who plays with you on a defensive line you just have to beat the guy across from you mano a mano. Previously I had found him somewhat grating in delivery but fairly knowledgeable but that was just an ignorant assertion.
 
Nobody? Really? I like some of the sports writers like Clayton, La Canfora, Andrew Brandt, Evan Silva and our own Lance Zerline. They tend to be very accurate from what I have read, but there are those who stick out as being incompetent like McClain or anyone who currently works at 610. McClain's the one that really bugs me though, he has such great contacts and access to the Texans, but couldn't get the inside scoop on a bowl of ice cream.

McLain has never had an inside line to the Texans orginization. His ties were to the Oilers ... Once they left town , he should have followed as since , all hehas stated is opinion and reported after the fact.

My sources are better than McLain's ....

.... and from my understanding they are close to a deal with Foster (take that for what its worth).

damnit , I quoted myself .... :mariopalm:

Well my comment was directed to local sports reporting figures. Heck not too long ago Zierlein made the idiotic assertion it doesn't matter who plays with you on a defensive line you just have to beat the guy across from you mano a mano. Previously I had found him somewhat grating in delivery but fairly knowledgeable but that was just an ignorant assertion.

Surprised you could be fooled by that guy .... He's no more knowledgeable than the average fan .... He's just a fan with a louder voice than most since he gets to share it in the media.
 
Look, I hope you're right and the Texans have 50 gazillion dollars to spend, but I just don't see it happening. If you have a good source that says otherwise, please link it, cause I haven't seen it.

Here is a post, from another thread..


these were the numbers I had for 2012
Player Salary Cap Hit
J Joseph $7.250 $9.750
M Schaub $7.150 $8.316
A Johnson $6.500 $9.328
O Daniels $6.500 $6.500
D Ryans $5.900 $7.150
A Smith $5.500 $8.000
E Winston $5.500 $5.500
D Manning $5.000 $5.000
J Jones $4.791 $4.941
K Walter $3.500 $3.500
M Leinart $3.000 $3.000
S Cody $2.250 $2.250
W Smith $2.000 $2.000
R. Butler $1.533 $2.158
B Cushing $1.153 $2.359
JJ Watt $0.856 $2.524
D Brown $0.781 $1.362
K Jackson $0.700 $2.013
G Quin $0.565 $0.607
C Barwin $0.565 $0.917
A Caldwell $0.565 $0.766
J Casey $0.565 $0.611
T Jamison $0.565 $0.569
B McCain $0.565 $0.591
B Harris $0.546 $0.771
B Reed $0.546 $0.884
E Mitchell $0.490 $0.899
D Sharpton $0.490 $0.624
G Graham $0.490 $0.821
S McManis $0.490 $0.538
S Smith $0.490 $0.516
B Tate $0.490 $0.490
R Carmichael $0.490 $0.589
D Newton $0.465 $0.489
TJ Yates $0.465 $0.511
J Nading $0.555
S Keo $0.555
T Nolan $0.565
B Braman $0.490
M Alexander $0.490
B Hartmann $0.490
L Jean $0.490
J Maehl $0.490
A Gardner $0.490

That's $101.469M

Foster's deal adds $8M..... Okoye & Slaton, probably work out to be about $4M of dead money. Say we set aside $4M for our draft picks. So we're looking at $117M

$7M in cap space, without any cuts or Re negotiations. & 10 Roster spots to go.


That looks a lot closer to what the "experts" have been saying, but that also includes Foster's new deal. What do you think?
 
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