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2016 Free agent targets

ChampionTexan said:
But it's not just money. Washington (and every other NFL team) has exclusive negotiating rights from now until March 12 with every player with an expiring contract on their roster, and until March 15th they're the only team that can actually enter into a contract with them. And there's always the franchise tag, and it's been mentioned that Washington will probably use it on him if an agreement can't be reached prior to the deadline.

The Texans could be willing to make Kirk Cousins the highest paid player in NFL history, and even if Cousins is fully aware of their intent to do that, the Redskins can easily prevent it from happening.
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Exactly Cousins, Osweiler and a lot of the other FAs folks are talking about will have new contracts before a bidding war can even start.
 
No to RG3 - we do not need the drama

No to Bradford - he is made of glass and what I saw of him this year not much better than Hoyer

No to Kapernick - he is just horrible - we already have horrible

Cousins on the other hand looked pretty good the second half of the season, but I doubt he will be available, Washington will lock him up before he can hit free agency.
 
ChampionTexan said:
But it's not just money. Washington (and every other NFL team) has exclusive negotiating rights from now until March 12 with every player with an expiring contract on their roster, and until March 15th they're the only team that can actually enter into a contract with them. And there's always the franchise tag, and it's been mentioned that Washington will probably use it on him if an agreement can't be reached prior to the deadline.

The Texans could be willing to make Kirk Cousins the highest paid player in NFL history, and even if Cousins is fully aware of their intent to do that, the Redskins can easily prevent it from happening.
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Yeah I hadn't really thought about the likelihood of him actually hitting the market, him, Osweiler and maybe Stafford I'd probably be willing to do that type of deal with, obviously the chances are that none of the 3 are going to be an option, but if one was to become available I'd be a full go with it, especially if you can get out from underneath it after a couple of seasons.

What the Saints got with Brees, I could see a similar type signing being our best chance of hitting the jackpot at QB this offseason.

I'd love to see it but it's highly unlikely going to happen.
 
Grams said:
No to RG3 - we do not need the drama

No to Bradford - he is made of glass and what I saw of him this year not much better than Hoyer

No to Kapernick - he is just horrible - we already have horrible

Cousins on the other hand looked pretty good the second half of the season, but I doubt he will be available, Washington will lock him up before he can hit free agency.
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I assume you wouldn't want to sign Johnny Manziel either? You do realize that all of those quarterback options you mentioned are better, at least with more upside, than what we have right now?

Kaepernick hasn't been released by the 49ers yet, but he's a guy who once came up one game-winning drive short of potentially winning two Super Bowls in a row. He had the ball in his hands against the Ravens in the Super Bowl and against the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game a year later, with a chance to win both games. He just came up short on those late drives.

I wouldn't call Kaepernick horrible at all just because of one bad year. Everything fell apart for the 49ers after last season. They lost a great "quarterbacks guru" head coach in Jim Harbaugh, who Kaepernick worked tremendously well with, and several of their best players left. A couple of their best defensive players also retired. That organization was just a hot mess in 2015.

And keep in mind we would just be signing one of those guys to compete with the rookie quarterback that I expect us to draft at pick #22 in the first round. It's not like that free agent quarterback we sign will be given the job without earning it.

People act like we're going to sign one of these free agent quarterbacks and that's the only option we have. I expect us to do our due diligence and be smart about how we approach this upcoming draft as well.

Targeting a quarterback in free agency and the draft (both) is smart.
I expect the Houston Texans to bring in two new quarterbacks this off-season.
 
Here, I posted this in another thread, and it sucked there, so it will probably suck here, too:

Screw it! Peyton Manning isn't long for Denver, so let's pick him and have him run OB's offense any way he wants to. Manning will perform much better outside of Kubiak's prohibitive offense, and we might even win a championship while he tutors a young guy behind him. Putting Manning back into the division with Luck to kick the young kid's ass.

Don't be so quick to poo poo. Johnny Unitas was still playing at a high level in 1971, at the age of 38. John Elway won his last Superb Owl at 38. George Blanda had a remarkable season in 1970, leading the Raiders to a championship game at the age of 43 (he didn't retire until he was 48). Joe Montana was still in the playoffs at the age of 38. Dan Marino was still Dan Marino (arguably) at 38. Warren Moon was still pretty good at the age of 42 (he retired when he was 44).

I'm not saying I'm totally jacked on the idea, but if you could have Manning as a retiree for two seasons - and compete - would you do it? The guy still wants to play. I'm sure he'd have OB's playbook memorized in a couple of days.

The arm isn't quite what it used to be, but I disagree with the whole "noodle" thing. He just has to put a little more effort into his throws nowadays.
 
steelbtexan said:
They will have that type of QB, even if Savage is the QB. Personally I hope they look at bringing RG3 home.
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I'll have to disagree with even contemplating the signing of RGIII. And this is besides the fact that he has already undergone his second ACl reconstruction, a serious ankle dislocation and 2nd concussion in the shortened 3 seasons that he even played in.

He has never been considered the sharpest tool in the chest and this has revealed itself once he left the free style of college and entered the NFL.

I would offer that you read this concise article by The National Football Post...............and tell me that it doesn't make you wonder if they are not talking about the transitional difficulties we've be watching in Manziel.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/why-has-rgiii-failed-as-an-nfl-player/
Why has RGIII failed as an NFL player?
Posted September 1, 2015

In the spring of 2012, there were some media analysts and even some NFL personnel who were predicting that RGIII was a better prospect than Andrew Luck. The fact is RGIII was never a better prospect than Luck. Andrew Luck is a once-in-every-10-year type quarterback, in other words a generational player. Since he has come into the NFL he has proven that over and over.

Robert Griffin III, on the other hand, was an extremely gifted athlete who was still trying to learn how to play quarterback. Part of the problem was that the system he played in college was not conducive to developing NFL quarterbacks.

Art Briles is a great college coach, but his offensive system that was used when RGIII was at Baylor was based on speed an athleticism. The strategy was to spread the field out and let the best athlete on the field make plays. The scheme was actually fairly simple, it allowed Baylor to recruit top athletes and let them use their athleticism to outplay their opponents.

Because of the athleticism that Griffin III and the other skill position players had, they were able to put a lot of points on the board and basically just outscore their opponent each week. RGIII had little knowledge of reading defenses and playing within the confines of a structured and complex NFL offense.

RGIII had the basic skill set to become a very good NFL quarterback, but he needed time to develop. As a rookie, the Washington coaching staff kept things simple for Griffin and let him play within himself. The result was a rookie year that was sensational. He completed better than 65% of his throws for over 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns. He looked like he would have a great future, but that hasn’t happened. He has regressed every year since. It is entirely possible that in the near future Griffin III may be a former Washington Redskin.

How can this happen? How can a player with that much talent not continue to improve and grow? Some may say it’s coaching, but that isn’t the answer. The answer is simple: RGIII lacks any kind of football character.

For most to succeed in the NFL they must have excellent football character. Don’t be confused, football character is not personal character, they really don’t have much to do with each other.

Football character is about the desire each player has to become great. It includes his work ethic, leadership, passion for the game and ability to be coached. Most players fail or bust because they lack a degree of football character. RGIII has great talent, but he lacks football character.

Going back to a comparison with Andrew Luck, Luck has superb football character. He loves the game and does everything he can to become the best player he can be. He has endeared himself to his teammates and is a strong leader. He is well liked and respected by both his teammates and coaches. That isn’t the case with RGIII. He is not the most liked person in the locker room and by all accounts he has very questionable work habits. He can’t improve if he doesn’t work at it.

When RGIII was growing up and in college everything came easy to him. He was a very smart kid and the best athlete on campus. When a player gets to the NFL, every player on every team is a great athlete, the best of the best. If a player wants to improve he has to work at it. Once RGIII got to the NFL he had never been in that kind of environment before. Things no longer came easy. He had to work and he didn’t know how.

Quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady didn’t become as good as they are because they lacked worked ethic. They are who they are because they put countless time and energy into becoming great. That is something RGIII doesn’t know how to do.

Can a change of scenery help Griffin III to develop? Maybe, but in reality the only person who can help Robert Griffin III become the player he has the talent to be is himself. He has to change his whole attitude about the game. That can be/is very difficult to do. I don’t know of many players who have been able to do that.
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I'm all for rolling the dice on Peyton Manning too, but I just don't think it's going to happen. He's more likely to retire this off-season. Whether he can win the Super Bowl or not. I truly believe he's playing his last game, or three games total, during these 2016 NFL Playoffs.

We shouldn't overthink any of this. Robert Griffin III, Johnny Manziel, Colin Kaapernick (if he becomes available): Sign one of those three guys in free agency. And then draft a quarterback at pick #22 in round one. I'm hoping Connor Cook will fall right into our laps.

But in any case, we should be thankful that this free agent class at the quarterback position may provide some more talented guys, who are still young and in their prime, compared to last year's free agent class at the position.

Also this draft has at least six or seven quarterbacks I like. So one of them will be there for us to draft with the 22nd pick. Either way we're going to have a chance to improve the quarterback position.

We may have two quarterbacks in 2016 who are both better than all seven quarterbacks we have played in the regular season the past two seasons.
 
amazing80 said:
None of the free agent QBs do it for me.
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Really? Given the seven different journeymen, stop-gap quarterbacks we have played in the regular season the past two seasons we should all be jumping for joy and feeling very excited for the quarterbacks that are available in this upcoming 2016 free agency. A lot of them are still young and either in their prime or about to enter their prime years. If some of those guys end up in the right place they could become a Super Bowl winning quarterback.

That being said we can't afford to limit ourselves. I expect us to draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft as well. It doesn't hurt to increase our odds of having a franchise quarterback for a very long time.
 
Bulls on Parade said:
Really? Given the seven different journeymen, stop-gap quarterbacks we have played in the regular season the past two seasons we should all be jumping for joy and feeling very excited for the quarterbacks that are available in this upcoming 2016 free agency. A lot of them are still young and either in their prime or about to enter their prime years. If some of those guys end up in the right place they could become a Super Bowl winning quarterback.

That being said we can't afford to limit ourselves. I expect us to draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft as well. It doesn't hurt to increase our odds of having a franchise quarterback for a very long time.
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Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer are young and in their "prime", doesn't make them good. Just like the current crop of free agents.
 
amazing80 said:
Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer are young and in their "prime", doesn't make them good. Just like the current crop of free agents.
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Ryan Mallett hasn't had much NFL success, outside of some scattered regular-season wins though. There's a big difference between him and some of those free agents, in my opinion. And Brian Hoyer is already 30. I wouldn't call that "as young" as some of these other guys. He's a veteran in my eyes.

Robert Griffin III, as a rookie, was big time. He led the Redskins to the playoffs and a two-score lead (14-0) over the Seattle Seahawks in a wild-card game before tearing his ACL. The Redskins went on to lose that game and RG3's career has never been the same. If he goes to the right environment he could still become very good.

And Colin Kaepernick, as previously mentioned, lost nailbiters in the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game two years in a row. He played very good for two seasons in a row under Jim Harbaugh's guidance. There's a reason why the 49ers once ditched Alex Smith because Kaepernick was looking like the best young QB in the game at the time. His game-winning drives came up short in both games. With a little luck he'd have maybe won one or two Super Bowls in a row. But he showed much more than Ryan Mallett ever has as well.

Johnny Manziel is the only guy I won't debate. He hasn't experienced much NFL success like Kaepernick and RG3 have. If you want to compare Ryan Mallett to Johnny Manziel then go ahead. They're two different quarterbacks in terms of size measurements and playing style. But they probably both share some of the same immature tendencies off the field. Neither has shown any real leadership at the NFL level.

All that being said I don't want to jump the gun so fast. We still have to wait and see when, and if, the 49ers release Colin Kaepernick. A lot of people, like me, are just assuming he's going to become a free agent just like Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel.
 
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CloakNNNdagger said:
I'll have to disagree with even contemplating the signing of RGIII. And this is besides the fact that he has already undergone his second ACl reconstruction, a serious ankle dislocation and 2nd concussion in the shortened 3 seasons that he even played in.

He has never been considered the sharpest tool in the chest and this has revealed itself once he left the free style of college and entered the NFL.

I would offer that you read this concise article by The National Football Post...............and tell me that it doesn't make you wonder if they are not talking about the transitional difficulties we've be watching in Manziel.
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While I agree with this article, maybe BOB/Godsey can teach Griffin how to work after the reality of getting cut sets in. The skill set is there and BOB just has to figure out how to get it out of RG3. He couldn't be worse than Hoyer looking on the bright side.
 
If you envision a free agent and think to yourself that guy will come in here and wreck shop. Assume that he will not be available.
The available ones are the ones that likely it will be tough to envision success with them.
That's how it works.
Get the guy you want to bet on and hope he out performs expectations.
 
thunderkyss said:
Just to be clear... you think one of these guys would greatly improve our team speed?
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Agreed steel. I dunno what kinda straight line speed jones has but he's a quick guy with good vision and elusive in the open field. He's an upgrade over shorts.

Mumphry is just a jag for me. Strong should secure the other outside spot.

Add jones. Add Spiller. Add just an average te with a more seasoned dose of strong and hunt..i feel better about our o production already. That doesn't even account for a 2nd or 3rd round pick.
 
steelbtexan said:
Strong ran a 4,42 but is neither fast or sudden. Jones is. Hopkins is. Mumphrey is slow. 4.55/4.6.
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I am hoping now that Strong has lost 20-25 + pounds and achieved NFL "shape" we will see him as he was in college; even if not 4.42 fast, more successful. I really like some of his catches and hope to see more of them.
 
Hervoyel said:
TE: I want to fix the TE situation but again nobody is parting with any truly good TE's so I'd focus on the draft instead of free agency for this. At the same time I find myself thinking that while sure, we need a better TE will it even matter? The Texans don't use their TE's nearly as much as I expected them to when OB was brought in so..... No, **** it I want a good TE. No more rationalizing this stuff. We need a guy like Travis Kelce or Tyler Eifert or even Colby Fleener. If all those teams can find useful TE's so can we. Maybe we could get Fiedo some stickum or something?
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Been thinking about this position since last season when the group did collectively .... Nothing.

Same guys had productive seasons previously .... then you watch the QB play and realize that the guy chucking them the ball may just be the problem. Balls too high , too low , wide left / right and generally just off target and poor timing no matter which of the scrubs was chucking the ball around ....

With Schaub one of them had 49 catches and 8ish? TD's .... with these scrub QB's they cant manage that as a group.

Not saying we don't need to upgrade the talent there , just that it aint going to matter until we upgrade the guy chucking the ball in their general direction.
 
Corrosion said:
With Schaub one of them had 49 catches and 8ish? TD's .... with these scrub QB's they cant manage that as a group.
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49 for 545 yds and 5 tds splitting time with OD with Schaub/Keenum throwing to him. Re-signed by OB (over keeping OD) and then effectively benched this season in favor of guys who didn't combine for that.
 
Bradford, Weeden, Savage and drafted rookie. They "compete" and we cut the worst of the 3 veterans

I'm not a Kap fan. I agree with Cloaks article on RGIII with the addition of being an entitled little brat. Bradford's health will always be a concern, but I think he'd fit what OB wants to do. In a perfect world he plays a year or two while the rook is catching up. You never know, maybe Bradford can really grasp the offense. The dud's had about 47 different OCs
 
Cecil shorts was a perfect fit for what we needed in the slot. Unfortunately, he didn't work out for the same reason he was so cheap in free agent market- he got hurt.

I wanted spiller a year ago. At this point, he seems unlikely to remain healthy. I would dather work with Hunt as the scat back and look for someone who is a more traditional 3 down back.

We must upgrade TE. Having a TE that is a threat and decent blocker creates so many problems for the defense.
 
dalemurphy said:
Cecil shorts was a perfect fit for what we needed in the slot. Unfortunately, he didn't work out for the same reason he was so cheap in free agent market- he got hurt.

I wanted spiller a year ago. At this point, he seems unlikely to remain healthy. I would dather work with Hunt as the scat back and look for someone who is a more traditional 3 down back.
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I felt the same way about shorts and was excited about that signing. He wasn't the player i thought we were getting. No explosion, no quicks, no threat. Maybe he was injured most of the year (I dunno) ,but mostly he was just a possession receiver.

My push for Spiller isn't with the intent he'd be our full time back. For me he'd be a relief back who also returns kicks. If in the first round we drafted e Elliott @ rb i'd still want Spiller. Cj IS lightning in a bottle and can flip the field or score on any given play. I'd give him maybe 8-12 touches per game. Spiller will be cheaper then last year which is also a nice bonus.
 
powda said:
I felt the same way about shorts and was excited about that signing. He wasn't the player i thought we were getting. No explosion, no quicks, no threat. Maybe he was injured most of the year (I dunno) ,but mostly he was just a possession receiver.

My push for Spiller isn't with the intent he'd be our full time back. For me he'd be a relief back who also returns kicks. If in the first round we drafted e Elliott @ rb i'd still want Spiller. Cj IS lightning in a bottle and can flip the field or score on any given play. I'd give him maybe 8-12 touches per game. Spiller will be cheaper then last year which is also a nice bonus.
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I generally agree, and I am not worried about Spillers pricetag. However, similar to Shorts as a solution at slot receiver, i am reluctant to go into the season depending on a player with his injury history to fill a needed role- even if it is a limited one. Granted, if we do sign Spiller, i will be pretty excited about hpw it could potentially work out.
 
FuzzyLogic said:
I ran a 44 once, the lack of a '.' is indeed intentional.
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I ran a 7.7 40 in Jr. High once. I was probably faster in college, but never ventured to find out. It doesn't really matter how slow you are after you know you're slow.
 
DocBar said:
Fleener is the only one that really interests me. The rest are jags and we have enough of those.
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LaDarius Green is a very under the radar guy. Dude is very talented but is stuck behind Gates.

Give me Green and Lamar Miller in FA. Re-sign Jones/Brooks/Clark and that's a great offseson FA class.
 
DocBar said:
Fleener is the only one that really interests me. The rest are jags and we have enough of those.
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I think the biggest reason Graham quit seeing the field was due to poor blocking. I don't think Fleener offers much of anything when it comes to blocking. He's intriguing to me too, but I doubt OB even has his name jotted down anywhere
 
Bulls on Parade said:
Robert Griffin III is a good bet to sign with the Dallas Cowboys, but I'm sure he would be open to signing with the Houston Texans if our front office showed any interest.

RG3 just wants to come back home to Texas and try to jump start his NFL career. He should be the healthiest he's been since his solid rookie season coming out of Baylor.

All he needs is good coaching and some offensive weapons around him. I must admit, the thought of Robert Griffin III throwing to DeAndre Hopkins and handing off to Arian Foster in 2016 (if he's healthy and we keep him during his contract year) does intrigue me a little bit.

I'd rather have Colin Kaepernick if the 49ers release him, but Robert Griffin is only 25 years old and has a lot of physical tools you can have success with.

It's kind of funny because when Bill O'Brien hosted a quarterback seminar three years ago while he was still at Penn State, he mentioned both Kaepernick and Griffin as young and successful quarterbacks in the NFL who are not only athletic but accurate passers as well. Who knew at the time he'd be coaching the Houston Texans with a potential chance to land one of those guys to quarterback his team?
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I like everything but the Foster analogy, he is Percy Harvin at RB, can't stay on the field, if your not on the field your useless. As foster has been 80% of the time the last 3 years.
 
The Rundown: A Closer Look at the Houston Texans Salary Cap Situation Entering the 2016 Season
This is a guest spot from our good friend Troy Chapman and lining out the upcoming salary cap situation for the Houston Texans for the 2016 season.
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With 57 players now under contract for the 2016 season the Houston Texans head into free agency with more cap space than they have had the past few offseasons.

During the offseason the NFL teams will calculate their salary cap amounts using the Top 51 Rule (top 51 contracts count + any pro-rated bonus money). Until the NFL releases the official team salary cap figure we will use $153,000,000 as the amount each team will start with. The Texans are scheduled to carry over $1,637,055 remaining cap space from 2015 into the 2016 season. This will put the Texans’ Adjusted Salary Cap at $154,637,055 before any further adjustments are made. The team already has $394,582 in dead money on the books in 2016. The Top 51 spending is currently at $125,841,796.
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$154,637,005 (Texans adjusted salary cap)
- $125,841,796 (Top 51 Rule)
- $394,582 (Dead Money Rolling into 2016)
= $28,400,677 in available cap space.
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The team does have 11 players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on March 9th and the team does have the option to attempt to resign these players prior to the start of open free agency.
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http://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/

Just to add on to what TK has contributed, this is a list of all the teams' respective cap space projections for next season.

We sit with the 13th most available cap space projected moving into FA, don't have any marquee FA's to resign, and you'd assume are one of the more attractive destinations for FAs amongst teams with money to spend in FA.

I'm hoping they plan first on future resignings which we'll need to sustain progress, then hopefully make a couple of good signings that will be able to put us over the top on the field in coming seasons.

You'd have to think that they need to spend big on QB sooner or later but make sure the team isn't going to be crippled when that time comes also.

There'd seem to be no single potential FA signing that the Texans can't make a competitive run at should they so wish.
 
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