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Texans trade Osweiller to Browns

Yeah, that Jeff Allen had actual experience against the big boys. Glad we signed him. He was a guarantee.
If you're responding to my post, I think the word I used was "mitigate", which is considerably different than guarantee. But then again, I'm pretty sure you knew that when you called me out on something I didn't say.
 
If you're responding to my post, I think the word I used was "mitigate", which is considerably different than guarantee. But then again, I'm pretty sure you knew that when you called me out on something I didn't say.

I was not responding to your post. I should have quoted the post I was responding to, but I try not to do that when I think my response will only be the next post.

Sorry for the confusion.

I agreed with your post, almost guaranteed that we will not convince one another on this.
 
I'm sick of this stupid argument about a second round pick.

Then people need to stop with the, "We needed to get Brock out of the locker room" argument.

If you want to argue the merit of the cap space freed up, that's fine. But if the goal was simply to get him out of Houston we didn't need to dump a 2nd round pick to do it.
 
Then people need to stop with the, "We needed to get Brock out of the locker room" argument.

If you want to argue the merit of the cap space freed up, that's fine. But if the goal was simply to get him out of Houston we didn't need to dump a 2nd round pick to do it.
Is a future, hopefully late round 2 draft pick, worth the cap space that was freed up and a potential locker room cancer being removed? That's what the question ultimately boils down to. That's a hard one to answer when you consider Smith's draft history. I can see both sides of this argument and, ultimately, I don't care. I'm glad that Os is in the rearview mirror.
 
Is a future, hopefully late round 2 draft pick, worth the cap space that was freed up and a potential locker room cancer being removed? That's what the question ultimately boils down to. That's a hard one to answer when you consider Smith's draft history. I can see both sides of this argument and, ultimately, I don't care. I'm glad that Os is in the rearview mirror.

Yep. At the end of the day, this is what it comes down to.

I'm too cynical to get emotional about any of it, much less insult other fans or care about being insulted.

This organization is inept. They are pretty good at .500+1 in a crappy division, but nothing I've seen since 2002 really leads me to believe that they can be anything other than what we've seen for 15 years.

So I'm just eatin' my popcorn.

On a random throwing darts moment, wouldn't it be funny if they sent Brock to the Browns out of spite? :evilb: Nah, "of course not!". . .
 
Yep. At the end of the day, this is what it comes down to.

I'm too cynical to get emotional about any of it, much less insult other fans or care about being insulted.

This organization is inept. They are pretty good at .500+1 in a crappy division, but nothing I've seen since 2002 really leads me to believe that they can be anything other than what we've seen for 15 years.

So I'm just eatin' my popcorn.

On a random throwing darts moment, wouldn't it be funny if they sent Brock to the Browns out of spite? :evilb: Nah, "of course not!". . .
Brother, I have wholly adopted your version of fandom. I will watch every single thing that I can that is Texan, but I'm not emotionally involved. What happens will happen and I will hope for the best but not even bother to expect the worst.
 
Giving away future assets to get rid of a current mistake is only going to lead to future mistakes. That's short term decision making and shows that the people in charge have no vision for our direction. They are just winging it day by day.

But the Texans have always been okay with making decisions based on emotion instead of logic.

If Os just had to go then you cut him outright and take your medicine right now. No kicking the can down the road. Don't create a future mistake just to soothe the blow from the current one.
 
On a random throwing darts moment, wouldn't it be funny if they sent Brock to the Browns out of spite? :evilb: Nah, "of course not!". . .

Are you insinuating sending a QB to the Browns could constitute cruel and unusual punishment? Lol. Watching Osweiler attempt to throw on the shores of Lake Erie in cold weather and getting slammed to the frozen ground might not be a pretty sight. I'm really curious as to what the Browns plan to do with Osweiler, especially with Cleveland cutting RG3 loose.
 
Are you insinuating sending a QB to the Browns could constitute cruel and unusual punishment? Lol. Watching Osweiler attempt to throw on the shores of Lake Erie in cold weather and getting slammed to the frozen ground might not be a pretty sight. I'm really curious as to what the Browns plan to do with Osweiler, especially with Cleveland cutting RG3 loose.

Their plan was to get a second round pick next year. Thats it.
 
Is a future, hopefully late round 2 draft pick, worth the cap space that was freed up and a potential locker room cancer being removed? That's what the question ultimately boils down to.

No. You're missing the point. Brock would have cost us $19M against the cap in 2017. $6M in 2018. Whether he was on our roster, or designated a June 1st cut.

We had $23M before he was traded, we'd have had $23M had we cut him. There would have been an additional $10M on the 2018 cap.

Trading away our 2018 2nd only freed up $10M this year because the Browns are willing to pay him the $16M.

We could have cut him for free.

So the question boils down to is a future 2nd round pick worth an additional $10M on 2017's cap.

I think it is if we get Romo on his current contract. Or maybe a guy who can start at OT for the next three~four years. Even if we have to add Cleveland's 4th to make it happen (it's basically our 6th).

If we sign Romo as a free agent for more than $14M against the 2017 cap, I think it was a bad move. If we're committed to Romo beyond 2017, I think it's a bad deal. If we don't acquire an OT through FA, or trade, I think it was a bad deal.
 
Just to clarify a little bit:

The Texans received the 3rd to last pick in the 4th round and gave up the 4th pick in the 6th round. We moved up 46 picks there. It probably sounds like it should be more like 70, but it's not.
 
Just to clarify a little bit:

The Texans received the 3rd to last pick in the 4th round and gave up the 4th pick in the 6th round. We moved up 46 picks there. It probably sounds like it should be more like 70, but it's not.

I thought they got Browns' higher pick in Rd 4. Clearly remember seeing multiple messages about that last Thursday.
 
I thought they got Browns' higher pick in Rd 4. Clearly remember seeing multiple messages about that last Thursday.

No, it was their comp pick, which is the 3rd to last pick in the 4th round (#142) and the 6th round pick we gave up was the Bears pick in that round (#188).
 
My argument ... Cap space is easy. Unless Rick Smith is even less than what Steelb thinks of him, we had a financial plan in place for 2017 that included Brock's salary. Had we simply cut Brock, the money comes back all by its self the following season.

2nd round picks are NOT easy to come by. They are an assumed starting football player. A potentially great player locked into a minuscule contract, a part of the foundation of building the team.

A bit of money that was already spent? or a Starting football player. Which one is more important to a football team?
 
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2nd round picks are NOT easy to come by. They are an assumed starting football player. A potentially great player locked into a minuscule contract, a part of the foundation of building the team

And this is the main point. When you hit on these players, it provides great flexibility, because of the return vs the contract. It allows you to add more to your team in FA, where you rarely are able to get more than what you pay for and instead usually get less. When you trade those picks away, you are essentially banking on your ability to sign contracts with vets at a rate that is equal or less than their value.

It's hard enough to build a great team. You need to hit on these players in order to be at the top, nobody can pay full price for every player and be a championship contender. We just lost one of our limited chances to achieve that.
 
There's not a Texans fan in the world who's not happy Brock's gone. The only difference is that some (you for example) think that a 2nd round pick was too high a price to pay to make that happen. Others (me for example) think that $16 million in cap space (10 immediately, 6 more next season) was reasonable compensation for a 2nd round pick, and you get rid of Brock to boot. I believe league-wide statistics indicate the odds of finding a consistent starter in round two are about 50/50 (although it's somewhat dependent on the position drafted), so I'm good with using that money for finding an established NFL player and mitigating the risk of adding a bust.

I'm not as certain as some that the Texans did the deal because (and only because) Romo is expected to become available, but that's neither here nor there, as no matter what happens or doesn't happen between the Texans and Romo, we'll never definitively find out that answer. Regardless, I don't view it as $10 million for Romo - I view it as $16 Million they wouldn't have if they'd kept or cut Osweiler, and they can use it for whoever they want, whenever they want (this year, next year, whenever).

You view it your way, I view it my way, you're not gonna convince me I'm wrong, and the chances of me convincing you you're wrong are probably identical.

Or not use the cap space at all, which appears to be what's happening.

Also the odds of Ricky getting more than a XSF type starter appears to be less than 50-50.
 
And this is the main point. When you hit on these players, it provides great flexibility, because of the return vs the contract. It allows you to add more to your team in FA, where you rarely are able to get more than what you pay for and instead usually get less. When you trade those picks away, you are essentially banking on your ability to sign contracts with vets at a rate that is equal or less than their value.

It's hard enough to build a great team. You need to hit on these players in order to be at the top, nobody can pay full price for every player and be a championship contender. We just lost one of our limited chances to achieve that.

Ricky McNair wouldn't have a clue about what this post is about.

Roster building to Ricky is like a big foot sighting.
 
Easy now TK. You run the risk of being labeled a whiner if you dont like the trade. It's our duty as Texans fans to walk the company line and stomach the shoveled turds. Just pretend it's all unicorns and rainbows...

Ricky kicked the can down the road.
 
It's getting to be very hard to take what you say with any credibility when you incessantly use that stupid nickname for Rick Smith. Is this 7th grade?

He's little Ricky McNair to me. (Family)

My credibility shouldn't matter to you. If it does don't respond or put me on ignore. I'm perfectly fine with myself.
 
Rosenfels: How not to take a risk on an NFL quarterback
by Sage Rosenfels 1d ago


I don’t recall a year when the start of free agency for quarterbacks was as exciting and surprising as what occurred last week, and it’s not over yet. Combine a mix of veterans with plenty left in the tank, some backups with upside, and a poor draft class, and the conversation about NFL quarterbacks is much more intriguing in March than it will be in May this year. The dominoes began to fall in Houston, yet we are far from knowing where everyone will land.

The Brock Osweiler trade was last week’s biggest story because it is something we don’t see in the NFL very often. He was signed to a terrible contract by Houston general manager Rick Smith, and the Texans are convinced they no longer want him around as a starter or backup. The situation had soured so badly that, in essence, they relinquished a second-round draft pick to get rid of him. This type of strategy happens in the NBA and MLB, but not in the NFL.

Amazingly, the Browns don’t seem to want him either. They just have enough cap space to eat his absurd guaranteed salary as they chase the quarterback of their dreams, Jimmy Garappolo. If Garappolo ends up in Cleveland, who is the real winner of this fiasco? The New England Patriots of course! Again, the Patriots somehow find a way to capitalize on the mistakes of one of their former coaches’ teams.

The Patriots won the Super Bowl and have already won the first week of free agency. A Garoppolo trade for a first-rounder or two would be thick icing on the cake. This Belichick guy seems to know what he is doing up in Foxboro.

I played for the Texans for three seasons and Smith was the GM for all of my time there. He came in from Denver, with Gary Kubiak’s blessings, as the youngest GM in the league. The Texans have had some success in Houston, but haven’t reached an AFC Championship Game in their 15-year history. The No. 1 reason is the quarterback position. This isn’t news for Texans fans. The Texans are so desperate for a top-flight starting quarterback that they're taking extreme risks to get the right guy. While I love an aggressive GM, making a mistake at the quarterback position can dig you into a deep hole of mediocre offensive production.

Even after the Osweiler trade (one that cleared much-needed cap space to sign Tony Romo) nothing has been finalized with the Dallas Cowboys. At the time of the Texans-Browns swap, Houston fans imagined Romo would be introduced as their new quarterback within a few days. This hasn’t happened...yet. The question in Houston is: can the GM repair his mistake without creating an even larger one?

Right now, the Texans have one of the best situations in the NFL for a quarterback to succeed. They have quality players at most positions on offense and one of the best defenses in the league. The Texans just need a quarterback to run the show. This is something Smith has failed to do in his 11 years as general manager.

If Rick would have called me before he chased Osweiler a year ago, I would have tried to convince him to chase Mike Glennon instead. While the overall win/loss record for a quarterback is an important piece to an evaluation, it can skew the reality of a quarterback's play. The Denver Broncos of 2015 won the Super Bowl despite their quarterbacks, not because of them. Peyton had a mediocre year, and Osweiler did a nice job filling in. But this team was so loaded defensively that the job description of the QB was to not screw it up. Peyton and Osweiler excelled at not screwing it up in 2015, but that doesn’t mean the latter deserved a huge contract after the season.

On paper, making a run at Osweiler made a lot of sense for the Texans. Rarely does a young quarterback with potential enter the free-agent market. To land one of these unproven players takes an aggressive team willing to take a risk. But that risk shouldn’t control a team’s destiny for two seasons, which is where Smith made his mistake.

By comparison, Chicago just gave Mike Glennon a big contract despite not being a full-time NFL starter. I see these two players and their contracts very differently. First, the contract Glennon signed “only” guarantees the quarterback $18.5 million. Essentially, it’s a one-year deal. If they guess wrong, they move on. If they guess right, the Bears have found their future quarterback.

On the field, I like Glennon much more than Osweiler. People love looking at stats, which can be spun in every direction, but I like to dive deeper.

Glennon completed a shade below 60 percent of his passes, and had an impressive 30 touchdowns and 15 interceptions during his 18 starts.

Osweiler completed a shade above 60 percent of his passes, but finished with 11 touchdowns and six INTs over 7 starts.

These are very similar numbers in a lot of ways. The biggest difference is their win-loss record, which is where Smith made too many assumptions. Glennon was only 5-13 while Osweiler was 5-2.

This is why I feel it’s so important to look beyond these initial statistics. While their numbers are very similar, Glennon has twice the career attempts as Osweiler. This means the Bears have more tape to analyze and make a more informed decision. Most importantly, Glennon put up his stats while playing for an awful football team. The 2013-14 Bucs were terrible. The team had drafted poorly and refused to upgrade its roster in free agency. This is why they had the “opportunity” to draft Jameis Winston with the first pick in 2015.

In 2013, somehow their rookie quarterback, who was a third-round draft pick, threw 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions. If Glennon would have been on a better team - for example, the Patriots - everybody would have been touting him as a future starter in the NFL. I look at Glennon’s poor win-loss record as a good thing. To me, it means he found a way to compete against the rest of the NFL while being stuck on a bad team.

By contrast, Osweiler had one of the best defenses in NFL history as well as an extremely talented group of offensive weapons. Also, Glennon was a rookie and Osweiler had the advantage of waiting three-and-a-half seasons to marinate. I have told people for years that if I had to start as a rookie in the NFL, I wouldn’t have been on a roster by Year 2. The jump from college to the pros is a much longer leap for quarterbacks. Glennon shined as a rookie, and he did it on a bad team.

The Osweiler-Texans saga has yet to conclude. Nobody knows where he will end up, and the Texans have yet to find their starter. Hopefully Smith has learned a few lessons about finding a franchise quarterback. In sports, and in life, you learn a lot more from losses than you do wins. The Texans lost big time on the Osweiler signing. Whatever they do next at the quarterback position, they have to hit a home run. Otherwise, owner Bob McNair could be looking to make major changes in Houston in the near future.
 
McNair is in a bubble.

Rick has been his "GM" forever and he only interviewed O'Brien and Lovie Smith (Rooney rule) for the last coaching job.

Maybe if he interviewed multiple candidates for coach AND GM he'd get some idea on how to build a team (for example by not throwing away draft picks for no reason)
 
McNair is in a bubble.

Rick has been his "GM" forever and he only interviewed O'Brien and Lovie Smith (Rooney rule) for the last coaching job.

Maybe if he interviewed multiple candidates for coach AND GM he'd get some idea on how to build a team (for example by not throwing away draft picks for no reason)

Pick. Singular.
 
Easy.
BO = Brock
OB = O'Brien


That's what I thought .... Dude lost ALL credibility stating that BROCK would have a better career than O'Brien .... Brock just posted one of the worst seasons in recent memory by a quarterback and got benched in the process ..... O'Brien posted a 9-7 record with that dude at Quarterback.
 
How many for nix and strong?

In general they've been way too careless with picks since Obrien got here.

Not careful with compensatory picks either (foregoing them with Daniels and Manning)

You said "throw away for no reason". Both Nix and Strong graded well and were a position of need. Being busts is not the same as throwing away picks. :uprights:
 
Geez man. Look up his history (rickys) on picks and free agents. There's usually some merit to need in every pick (usually) , but dont come knockin on the door like some two bit car salesman trying to sell us Tupperware.

images
 
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Geez man. Look up his history (rickys) on picks and free agents. There's usually some merit to need in every pick (usually) , but dont come knockin on the door like some two bit car salesman trying to sell us Tupperware.

images

Are you responding to me? I'm not selling anything. It's easy to look at a situation in hindsight and say a draft pick (or FA signing) was a waste because they busted. But the Texans didn't go into the situation thinking they were wasting an asset. Nor did they go into those situations for "no good reason". With Brock, they intended to waste a draft pick to get rid of him, and there is clear debate about whether there was no good reason. It's a very unique situation, and stating such doesn't mean I am making a referendum on the Texans organization as a whole or Rick Smith in particular when it comes to success in the draft or with free agents. Everything doesn't require a 10-year regression analysis.
 
Or not use the cap space at all, which appears to be what's happening.
Also the odds of Ricky getting more than a XSF type starter appears to be less than 50-50.

This is what is getting me upset. you made this move, you cleared the cap space now put the cash to work. Extend D-Hop and other valuable assets, before they go the way of AJ B. and Simon. If you sit around waiting for Jerry to give you Romo for no compensation you are on a fools errand. The free agency pond is evaporating by the day. Get an O-lineman before its to late, or you can throw a rookie in there to protect the QB and make holes for miller. Rookie Linemen are not plug and play items unless they are the best of the best.

You will get more out of Weeden the next three years than you could with Romo on the sidelines nursing another back injury.
 
You said "throw away for no reason". Both Nix and Strong graded well and were a position of need. Being busts is not the same as throwing away picks. :uprights:

Fair enough. But in general, the smart teams don't trade up, they tend to trade down and add more picks. Not always, just generally speaking.
 
I don't think that happened. Are you thinking of Minnesota and Bridgewater?
you're right

I thought they traded to get that pick but actually it was always a NE pick. I guess my memory registered as a surprise pick because I wasn't expecting NE to draft a QB in the second, and in time the memory morphed into "NE traded up to get garoppolo"
 
you're right

I thought they traded to get that pick but actually it was always a NE pick. I guess my memory registered as a surprise pick because I wasn't expecting NE to draft a QB in the second, and in time the memory morphed into "NE traded up to get garoppolo"

That's interesting they have continually drafted QBs even when they had Brady. Heck they drafted Brissett even though they had Brady AND Jimmy G. It's all about value for them. They know they can trade these QBs for more later.
 
That's interesting they have continually drafted QBs even when they had Brady. Heck they drafted Brissett even though they had Brady AND Jimmy G. It's all about value for them. They know they can trade these QBs for more later.
Yes, I just wasn't expecting them to draft one in the second round.
 
Wade Smith, former Texans LG who played 10 years for 5 teams (4 for HOU) on 610AM...

Q: Is O'Brien's system too hard or have we just had some crappy QBs?


Wade Smith: "This system got above average QB play out of average to below average QBs the two years previous to Brock Osweiler, so we really can't say that the system is the thing that's killing everything. It's just they made a bad choice of the guy they put in the system with Brock. He couldn't do it. Hoyer had a good year, Fitzpatrick had a good year... they just tailed off at the end. They had good stats , they had good numbers, they moved the ball so the offense was nowhere near as bad as it was this past season with Brock."
...
"As far as Tony Romo and Brock comparison is , Tony knows he's good and he conducts himself in that way. Tony knows he's good and he's going to conduct himself like he's good and he does have experience in this offense working under Bill Parcells and they were doing a lot of the same stuff. I don't think it's going to be as difficult for him to pick up the offense, I think he's a much more accurate quarterback than Brock is..."
...
"That was Brock's undoing. He just wasn't accurate. You have wide open receivers and you're overthrowing them, you're causing interceptions on wide open... the scheme was perfect, the system was perfect... they got you open receivers and you just couldn't hit them. And so when you can't do that, and it's so inconsistent, and the receivers don't know when the ball is going to come to them or where it's supposed to be... it affects every body and every thing."


Andre Ware on Brock Osweiler on 610 AM:

I waited a week before attending training camp, I told Marc [Vandermeer] I'm not coming out because I don't want to base a decision off just such a short period of work... I'm gonna give Brock a chance to get himself settled in. After the first day I looked at Marc and I said, "This isn't the guy."

Now here you toe the company line, you want to be as optimistic as you can possibly be... but he was sailing passes the first time I saw him in practice.

Then you go through the season... and you see a coverage and you're looking at the game through the quarterback's eyes having played that position -- knowing the coverage, that's not where I'm going with the damm football. But in that instance, that's where he went with the football and I couldn't understand it for the life of me.
 
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