Signing free agents vs. Tennessee Titans

[Marcus]

I would like to get some feedback regarding what happened to the Titans. Receiver Derrick Mason, cornerback Samari Rolle, defensive lineman Kevin Carter, right tackle Fred Miller, fullback Robert Holcombe and kicker Joe Nedney were among six players released by the Titans in an effort to cut up to $27 million to get under the salary cap. They were all starters.

Isn't there some kind of lesson to be learned here? Im sure that Casserly is aware of it, but I get the feeling that most of the fans don't, due to this "desire' for the Texans to fill all their holes with high dollar free agents rather than building through the draft.

I mean, would anyone like to see, say two or three years down the road, the Texans releasing Andre Johnson, Dunta Robinson, Robaire Smith, and a couple of other key starters in order to get under the cap?

So if Casserly comes out and says that the Texans will not be doing anything significant regarding free agents this season, it isn't because he doesn't want to.

 

[Vinny]

The Titans made a decision a few years ago to keep certain older players and planned this whole time to release many at once so they could compete for another Super Bowl with the existing cast. They did it years ago here in Houston also when they got rid of Warren Moon, Chris Dishman, Sean Jones and William Fuller all at once (all pro bowlers). That enabled them to rebuild quickly and is what really led them to Eddy George, Steve McNair and their Super Bowl appearance. I think the only lesson here is that this is one way to keep a core group together and make a big run on the Super Bowl. 13-3, 13-3, 7-9, 11-5, 12-4 in consecutive seasons is the best regular season run in the NFL during this span. If you recall, we (the Oilers) were in the playoffs for 7 consecutive years before the last time Bud used this strategy.

 

[edo783]

The key is balance in what your doing. Can't build just through the draft, because folks don't stick around long enough to get it done and can't build just with FAs as it shoots your cap in the butt. Need to get to the point where your FAs are being replaced with lower round selections after 3-4 years and other FAs are being brought in to upgrade elswhere.