Tell Kareem Jackson that he's moving to safety. Sign many OLinemen. Cut Cushing (why hasn't this been done yet?) I keep Lamar Miller. With a more competent line and the threat of Watson full time, I think he can return to what he can be.
There are not a lot of current FA offensive linemen worth the money. You've got to get playmakers wherever you can get them. As well as Watson played, the defense played so bad. Even with the fully healthy front seven. Good coaches can scheme to get a few more seconds for their QB against a good front. That's why you need that pass rush to be more than just good. You need it to be dominant. You need to get at least one solid OLB opposite Whitney and keep Clowney and Watt on the line while rotating Covington, Reader, and Watkins. But you absolutely need to get that OLB. If you get Trumaine and Malcolm, that takes care of a huge need. Even if they can't get to the QB, you have some confidence that the DBs will hold up.
BTW Espn graded our last offseason: http://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/22113660/nfl-re-grading-every-team-2017-offseason#HOU
Jackson isn't that much better. https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/kenny-vaccaro/7796 https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/kareem-jackson/5545 At least Kenny has shown promise in his first two seasons. Kareem has been average his entire career. Too bad we didn't keep Bouye over his crappy ass.
That seems to be less and less the case. Bolles, Ramczyk, and Robinson all had an immediate impact this season, 2 of them for playoff teams, in what was a relatively weak class for OL. The 2016 class was pretty stellar with 6-7 guys starting and playing well for their teams. Of course most of them were 1st rounders which doesn't bode well for us but it seems that lineman are coming in more and more ready. With that said, would rather not start a 3rd round rookie to protect Watson but guess it all depends on how FA goes. Gaines has his work cut out for him that's for sure.
Your best bef for O-linemen is to see who gets cut and going after the best of the bunch and then drafting for depth.
1. Housekeeping Cut Cushing, Newton and AllenExtend Clowney & McKinney Re-sign Ellington, Lechler, and Joseph to short deals (1 or 2 years) 2. Free Agency Sign Andrew Norwell: will take a lot of cash but this is the top priority target (backup is Justin Pugh). Sign Kyle Fuller: will start opposite JJo and move KJ to Safety and Johnson to nickel (Backup is Malcolm Butler) Sign Jordan Matthews: insurance for Will Fuller, good compliment for Hop Sign a few guys with an eye toward special teams 3. Draft 3- Will Hernandez or Wyatt Teller: starter at RG 3- Kyzir White: starter at SS 3- Tyrell Crosby: starter at RT 4- Kevin Toliver: depth/prospect corner with top flight measureables 6- Ralph Webb: sleeper RB 6- BPA: depth/special teams 6- BPA: depth/special teams 7- BPA: depth/special teams New Oline: Davenport-Norwell-Martin-Hernandez/Teller-Crosby New Secondary: Fuller-Jackson-White-Joseph
Our opening day starters: Kendall Lamm: LT XSF: LG Nick Martin: C Jeff Allen: RG Breno Giacomini: RT Had ~$30M in cap space to address this, just last-minute front-loaded the heck out of contracts for DHop, Fiedorowicz (who was in the concussion protocol when he signed), Hal, Prosch, Griffin. Absent the QB pick that McNair ordered, F-. So he wants to get rid of BMac and sign Kevin Johnson to an extension...? And he's tweet-pumping that for clicks?
That's what they said about fa lineman last year and I believe that most of them worked out well for their new teams. You can't put it off any longer. We got Cunningham early in the draft last year. We can't afford to keep spending money on a front seven that arguably could be one of the best in football if healthy. Watt and Mercilus went down in the first game, remember.
Darqueze Dennard is my under the radar guy if you can get him at a price. He reminds me of Kareem Jackson, right when he turned the corner and went from embarrassment to solid #2 guy. If you could get him at a decent price he could be a scrappy 2nd corner like KJ was for 4 or 5 years. Move KJ to saftey and you've got some toughness in your DB's. I wish Tyler Eifert wasn't broken. Eifert from 3 years ago would be awesome. I doubt the Texans touch Sefarian-Jenkins with his DWI's and other issues. He's a relapse away from becoming a hot mess again. IMO, high risk. Vaccaro would be a nice "buy low" guy. Didn't specifically watch him, but apparently he was terrible this last year after his knee injury. There are a lot of "name recognition" college stud, pro bust o linemen out there... Cyrus Kouandjio,Greg Robinson, Luke Joeckel, XSF, D.J. Fluker, Weston Richburg, Travis Swanson, etc.
Liked him coming out of Michigan State. But would like more size at the CB position. Alexander V-tech Toliver LSU Beal Western Michigan McFadden FSU Are some of the bigger CBs I have my eye on.
The preferred strategy from Texans fans seems to be to cut all the bad players and sign/draft good ones. Wow, why didn't anyone think of this before?
The Jags added Malik Jackson and then Calais a year later. They started Ramsey and then Bouye the next. Ivory and then Fournette. They are one game away from the superbowl. Cunningham is an inside LB. They need playmakers all around. No offense to Scarlett, but they still need a bigger threat opposite Mercilus. Watt had 0 sacks in 4 games, Mercilus had only 1. They could use some pass rush help. The issue with the linemen last year was the no ey they were commanding. The biggest acquisition was probably Whitworth. At that time the Texans didn't need another older LT because of Duane Brown.
