I think(hope) the Texans will be very reluctant to fix what ain't broke. Any scenario that involves moving players who had productive 2011 seasons is likely not a scenario the Texans are considering.
I like your plan, except there isn't a scenario where Mario would/can be traded. Might as well make the tackle a swing tackle, too. True, but if we're going to make any changes on the defense, getting Kareem off the field is about the only one I want to see.
if Kareem shows the same improvement from years 2 to 3 as he did from 1 to 2, then I have no problem with him being out there.
I tend to agree, but he still doesn't get his head turned around on the ball. That seems to be something that is instinctual and he doesn't have it. He turned out to be serviceable this year but as they say, you can never have too many corners.
I do. A lot of his alleged "improvement" was really a result of not playing many good offenses. When teams who could throw the ball wanted to throw over him they had no problem doing so.
I think quinn was better at corner than safety. Picking 26th, we could probally draft the 4th or 5th best corner (Claiborne, Kirkpatrick,Dennard, Jenkins) are all expected to be picked before then. Barron is the top safety. This way you solidify two positions. Reports say Texans can tag Mario and trade if they have a extention in place with the team receiving mario. i.e. Matt Cassell senario in 2010. so we can definetly get something for him. a team like Carolina with a need for a DE/OLB would gladly give a 2 and a 4 for a ProBowl guy. instead of taking their chances in a draft where is takes DE a couple years to get going,Especially when Cam is ready to get going NOW!!!
If the franchise tag works the way Charlie P says it does and Mario's number would be 20+ million, the threat of a franchise tag doesn't exist for Mario or any other Texan. Why would a team negotiate an extension with Mario and then trade you valuable assets when you were never going franchise him to begin with?
To guarantee you get him at a price you are comfortable with before he hits free agency and his price goes up. He could get 20 mill the first year(tag year) and then the new contract kicks in at maybe 15million a year after.
This isn't MLB. 20 million guaranteed for one season is unheard of for anyone not named Peyton Manning.
But I think the franchise $ is just to ensure the Texans either don't lose him or are compensated if they do lose him, right? I don't think the franchise $ actually materializes unless he signs the offer and isn't traded.
I think if you give him a tender offer, and it's large enough, you can get a 1 and 3 for compensation.
he was still picked on but I think he had very real improvement on his own and not because of the defenses. He did have bad plays and WTF moments, but not nearly as many as last year. Even when passes were completed on him, alot of the times he did have good coverage. But like Diehard mentioned, he isn't very good at playing the ball in flight. Still, you leave GQ at safety. He was very good back there and can only get better. And I don't think you spend another 1st round pick on a CB because, like we're all seen for outselves, the vast majority of rookie CBs just don't play well. I mean, i suppose I could see a CB taken if he was the best available and the texans felt good about getting their other needs/wants later and not necessarily start him and let him split time. But still, I just think that pick would be better served on other positions, be it DT, LB, O-line or WR.
Kareem's not going anywhere. They hid him well enough that he wasn't a megadisaster, and this team has issues with washing their hands of dead weight. I'm more worried if guys like Allen are going to be cap casualties - the rotation was a big reason Jackson could hide. You don't tag a RFA. You "could" franchise tag Mario and Transition tag Myers....but the tag doesn't circumvent the hard cap like the Bird exception does. Tagging Mario alone is a near impossibility. They have to hope all three guys accept deals that balloon in 2013 and are essentially prorated bonus only in 2012. Ryans and Schaub already restructured, there's nothing more you can do with them. And I'd be surprised if Kubiak can quit Jacoby. Brokeback Mt Syndrome. They're going to have a whale of a time finding the cap space to keep Mario, Foster, and Myers as it is. Let go of any dreams regarding name outside FAs.
You keep perpetuating this idea and it's simply not true. There are countless examples of them cutting bait quickly when guys have either failed them or run aground of their system - David Carr, Kris Brown, Jacque Reeves and Bernard Pollard jump to mind. They don't act irrationally; they're very measured; they're very thorough - none of which are a bad things. In fact, its at the foundation of why this team loves it coach - he doesn't jerk guys around; he doesn't treat them unfairly and he doesn't give up on them - why in the world would you NOT play hard for that guy?
Carr and Brown were not cut quickly. Especially Brown. Dude was missing kicks all season and they didn't even bring in competition until next training camp.
Carr was cut after one season. Brown hit 86% and 88% of his FGs between '07 and '08. In fact, he was a first-team All-Pro in '07. When he bottomed out in '09 (65%, inclding those crucial misses against Tennessee and Indianapolis), he was gone the following year. Teams don't ordinarily course-correct mid-season; there's no upside. You've spent months practicing and game-planning around certain personnel, schemes, systems - to throw that all away on a Monday to start fresh on Tuesday with a game five days later simply doesn't happen. But they've undoubtedly acted swiftly. They've been branded with dragging Okoye around for too many years; that's the crux of this.
Teams don't ordinarily course correct mid season, but there are times when it absolutely should have been done last season. Frank Bush staying game after game all the way through week 17 felt like a slap in the face to most fans. Kubiak dragged his feet cutting Brown, only releasing him after a lengthy position battle with Rackers. And while you could dig around and find a minority that thought Okoye could still develop into something, doing the same for dead weight like Steve Slaton would be impossible. But he stayed on and showed us some of the league's worst kick returns.
And honestly, I think we're all dreading an offseason where Kubiak tries his hardest to justify keeping Jacoby on board.
