That's where the Texans made a poor assumption about the salary cap increasing in 2011, 2012, 2013, & 2014. I say poor assumption, because it was wrong. We're not the only team struggling because of it, but all the contracts signed between 2007 & 2010 were affected by that assumption. That assumption & those contracts are the main reason we lost Casey, Barwin, Demeco, & even Jacoby who were thought to be part of the core.
Some teams "guessed" right & they're reaping the benefits. Personally I think there is a difference between mismanagement & poor assumptions. I think the Texans are managing the cap well, considering they made the poor assumption.
We've got one more year of this level cap & the Texans will be in the best position they've been in, in sometime, for the upcoming season.
Watt had nothing to do with Mario. He was drafted when Mario was here & they played completely different positions. Barwin's inability to produce in a contract year, along with Reed's ineffectiveness led to us drafting Mercilus to try to replace what we were getting from Mario with Watt.
That pick could have been Kevin Zeitler, Brian Quick, Coby Fleener..... or A.J. Jenkins.
Poor assumptions get managers fired everyday, poor assumptions are the reason most small businesses fail.
Poor assumptions are the reason MW was let go, atleast Rick had the foresight to see that he wasn't going to be able to re-sign Barwin, hence the Mercilus pick.