Here's the Houston Texan's stocking plan. http://sports.excite.com/news/01032002/v7866.html Houston to get extra draft picks, choose from expansion pool of 155 Jan 3, 2002 3:08 PM (EST) Email this Story NEW YORK (AP) - The NFL approved a stocking plan for the expansion Houston Texans that requires each of the 31 existing teams to expose five players from the 53-man roster. The plan, similar to the one used for Cleveland in 1999, also gives the Texans, who become the league's 32nd team this year, 14 extra picks in the 2002 and 2003 drafts. For the expansion draft on Feb. 18, each of the 31 teams will submit a list of five veteran players for the Texans to choose. Only one of the five can be a player who was placed on injured reserve after the start of the 2001 season, and only one can have more than 10 years of experience. Punters and kickers can't be part of the expansion pool. The Texans then can choose between 30 and 42 players, who must make up at least 38 percent of the team's salary cap, expected to be in the vicinity of $72 million next season. Houston can pursue veteran free agents in the same way as other teams after the playoffs and Super Bowl. "The plan is very similar to the one we used for Cleveland," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "It is designed to offer the Texans the opportunity to become competitive at an early date." Cleveland won five games in its first two seasons. It has six wins this year with one game left. The Texans will get the first pick in every round of the draft this year and also will get one selection in the middle of each round after all teams with a 2001 winning percentage of under .500 have chosen. The seven extra picks in 2003 will use a complicated formula that depends on the team's record in 2002. The current teams will have to submit their expansion list by Jan. 22, except for the four teams in the conference title games. The losers of those games will have to submit their lists by Jan. 29, while the two Super Bowl teams will have until Feb. 5.
