I thought I’d put a lot of my thoughts into a single area and try to kick-off some discussion. I’m not presenting this as a know-it-all; these are just my opinions and I’d be willing to change many of them given a convincing argument.
You won’t see a lot of player turnover in what I list here; I think the reactive “think before you do anything” defense and offense we have used severely limited our players. In addition, our coaches did not do enough to use our players’ strengths and cover their weaknesses.
There are a couple areas where I want to use a specific pick for a specific person/position. Overall I think we can get some impact players in the draft on defense and some quality players on both sides of the ball to groom for the near future.
I think we can afford one big free agent splash and a couple of reasonably priced average contributors. This is OK, since average is an upgrade for some of our positions. The collective bargaining agreement situation makes this a very volatile area right now.
I want as many draftees and free agents in camp at every position as possible, and I want everyone have to earn their job based on performance.
QB – David Car is the starter. I think Ragone is worth a look at 2nd string during training camp. I don’t think he was suited for the Texans “read and react” offense that they ran the first couple of years of his career, and I don’t know what the past season’s offense was supposed to be. He would be better in a more aggressive offense. I think that the champion team of NFLe would beat the college champion every time, so I give Rags props for being the MVP of NFLe. It’s better than a college championship and Heisman, as far as evaluating a player for NFL readiness. He’s better than Banks was, IMO. I think for 3rd string we should get a veteran free agent to manage the team in case of injuries.
RB – this is tough because Bush is a special player. If these rumors about cutting DD are true that also concerns me. It shows that the coaches aren’t evaluating him as highly as the previous staff, and they have a history of making something out of average backs. However, I like Davis, Wells, and Morency, because I’d rather use our high draft pick for Mario Williams. I’m not sure about Norris.
Receiver – Dre of course stays. I’d like to see Gaffney re-sign and Armstrong get a close look at camp as a possession receiver. I see Mathis as a stretch the field/4th receiver player. I’d look at drafting one in the later rounds. Bradford has to go. I would work on basic catching with every one of our receivers. They have got to stop dropping very catchable balls.
TE – I think we need a Bruener type for short yardage situations, and call me a champion of the underdog but I’d like to see Joppru step up and play well this year. I think he could help a lot. However, given his injury problems I’d like to see us pick up an average dual threat tight end in free agency. I say average because I don’t want to break the bank here – we’ll do that fixing the middle of our line. It would be ok to find a sleeper in the middle of the draft, but that is easier said than done. I’d like to see some hands drills with all of our TEs too. Rivers is replaceable.
OL – I would try to make our big splash in free agency to bring in a quality, proven center. I think this solidifies the line immensely. If we can stop the pressure up the middle it helps our tackles a lot. I also don’t see any rookie making an immediate impact on the O-line. On the right side I see Brown at guard. I thought he played well in the “team play” aspects of the offensive line last year. Putting him at RG lets him take advantage of his strength and helps cover his weakness of poor quickness. I think Weigert will hold down the RT spot. From what I’ve heard Wade is still limping, but it’s only been about 4 months. I don’t know where his recovery should be at this point. If Wade can play, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Weigert at RG and Wade at RT, if the coaching staff can restore Wade to the level of play he showed at Miami. I stay with my prediction of Wand at LT with competent coaching and Pitts at LG. I know this is controversial, but I am more concerned about the whole line than what is best for Pitts as an individual player. I think putting Pitts at guard further reinforces our weak middle and helps turn a weakness into a strength. I would draft for depth at tackle and guard on the first day and then groom the rookies for the imminent departure of our veterans like Wade and Weigert. Am I recycling old players? Yep – but the coaching was truly the root of a lot our problems. There are myriad examples of middle and late round o-lineman being quality players in the league. I still think some of ours have that potential.
DL – I think we are set at tackle with Payne, Smith, and Johnson. I would draft Mario Williams with our number one, whether we can trade down or not. I think he is the rookie that could help this team the most in an area of glaring weakness – that’s why I pick him over Bush. Babin and Peek can fight out the other DE starter/second string roles. They could also rotate to help their endurance in case teams try to wear them out by running at them a lot.
LB – we need to find a middle linebacker somewhere, and I don’t know if Wong is the man for that after his injury. We need to take a good look at free agency and get someone we know can perform at ML. However, if we can pick up a good, proven defensive end in free agency I would attempt to trade down and get AJ Hawk with our first pick. I think we can make do at outside linebacker with what we have but would also look at draft prospects there.
CB – Robinson stays. Some people think Buchanan can play in the right system. I guess at his cost we give him a shot in training camp and keep him as a back-up if he can’t start. We need to find a third corner in the draft or free agency.
Safety – We need help here, either to add depth or take the starting jobs. Hopefully we can find some players in the draft and a reasonably priced veteran to give us a couple of years while the young players develop.
Kicker, Punter, Long Snapper - keep them.
That's it!
You won’t see a lot of player turnover in what I list here; I think the reactive “think before you do anything” defense and offense we have used severely limited our players. In addition, our coaches did not do enough to use our players’ strengths and cover their weaknesses.
There are a couple areas where I want to use a specific pick for a specific person/position. Overall I think we can get some impact players in the draft on defense and some quality players on both sides of the ball to groom for the near future.
I think we can afford one big free agent splash and a couple of reasonably priced average contributors. This is OK, since average is an upgrade for some of our positions. The collective bargaining agreement situation makes this a very volatile area right now.
I want as many draftees and free agents in camp at every position as possible, and I want everyone have to earn their job based on performance.
QB – David Car is the starter. I think Ragone is worth a look at 2nd string during training camp. I don’t think he was suited for the Texans “read and react” offense that they ran the first couple of years of his career, and I don’t know what the past season’s offense was supposed to be. He would be better in a more aggressive offense. I think that the champion team of NFLe would beat the college champion every time, so I give Rags props for being the MVP of NFLe. It’s better than a college championship and Heisman, as far as evaluating a player for NFL readiness. He’s better than Banks was, IMO. I think for 3rd string we should get a veteran free agent to manage the team in case of injuries.
RB – this is tough because Bush is a special player. If these rumors about cutting DD are true that also concerns me. It shows that the coaches aren’t evaluating him as highly as the previous staff, and they have a history of making something out of average backs. However, I like Davis, Wells, and Morency, because I’d rather use our high draft pick for Mario Williams. I’m not sure about Norris.
Receiver – Dre of course stays. I’d like to see Gaffney re-sign and Armstrong get a close look at camp as a possession receiver. I see Mathis as a stretch the field/4th receiver player. I’d look at drafting one in the later rounds. Bradford has to go. I would work on basic catching with every one of our receivers. They have got to stop dropping very catchable balls.
TE – I think we need a Bruener type for short yardage situations, and call me a champion of the underdog but I’d like to see Joppru step up and play well this year. I think he could help a lot. However, given his injury problems I’d like to see us pick up an average dual threat tight end in free agency. I say average because I don’t want to break the bank here – we’ll do that fixing the middle of our line. It would be ok to find a sleeper in the middle of the draft, but that is easier said than done. I’d like to see some hands drills with all of our TEs too. Rivers is replaceable.
OL – I would try to make our big splash in free agency to bring in a quality, proven center. I think this solidifies the line immensely. If we can stop the pressure up the middle it helps our tackles a lot. I also don’t see any rookie making an immediate impact on the O-line. On the right side I see Brown at guard. I thought he played well in the “team play” aspects of the offensive line last year. Putting him at RG lets him take advantage of his strength and helps cover his weakness of poor quickness. I think Weigert will hold down the RT spot. From what I’ve heard Wade is still limping, but it’s only been about 4 months. I don’t know where his recovery should be at this point. If Wade can play, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Weigert at RG and Wade at RT, if the coaching staff can restore Wade to the level of play he showed at Miami. I stay with my prediction of Wand at LT with competent coaching and Pitts at LG. I know this is controversial, but I am more concerned about the whole line than what is best for Pitts as an individual player. I think putting Pitts at guard further reinforces our weak middle and helps turn a weakness into a strength. I would draft for depth at tackle and guard on the first day and then groom the rookies for the imminent departure of our veterans like Wade and Weigert. Am I recycling old players? Yep – but the coaching was truly the root of a lot our problems. There are myriad examples of middle and late round o-lineman being quality players in the league. I still think some of ours have that potential.
DL – I think we are set at tackle with Payne, Smith, and Johnson. I would draft Mario Williams with our number one, whether we can trade down or not. I think he is the rookie that could help this team the most in an area of glaring weakness – that’s why I pick him over Bush. Babin and Peek can fight out the other DE starter/second string roles. They could also rotate to help their endurance in case teams try to wear them out by running at them a lot.
LB – we need to find a middle linebacker somewhere, and I don’t know if Wong is the man for that after his injury. We need to take a good look at free agency and get someone we know can perform at ML. However, if we can pick up a good, proven defensive end in free agency I would attempt to trade down and get AJ Hawk with our first pick. I think we can make do at outside linebacker with what we have but would also look at draft prospects there.
CB – Robinson stays. Some people think Buchanan can play in the right system. I guess at his cost we give him a shot in training camp and keep him as a back-up if he can’t start. We need to find a third corner in the draft or free agency.
Safety – We need help here, either to add depth or take the starting jobs. Hopefully we can find some players in the draft and a reasonably priced veteran to give us a couple of years while the young players develop.
Kicker, Punter, Long Snapper - keep them.
That's it!
