The Texans

sharper isn't a high dollar guy -- he's signed for 3, 4 years at about $3-4M/per; relatively speaking, that's reasonable, if not downright cheap. in fact, lewis (jermaine, not ray) actually makes more.

why's he on the list? good question. likely, he was one of the most expensive players baltimore deemed expendable. they're $20M over the cap.

well, not get all technical, but the texans aren't allowed to talk with any of the players on the expansion list -- they're all under contracts to other teams. they brought him in for a physical, but casserly said today they wouldn't necessarily take everyone they brought in for physicals.

imo, lewis is too expensive for what limited production he gives you. i hope they pass.

 

Amen brother ! I don't care if we go 1-15....


Man, I really hate the Cowboys

 

What Ric said.

The Ravens are projected to be 20 mill over the cap come March.

It's either we take Sharper and Lewis, and 7.5 or so million off of the Ravens cap.

Or we take one of them, and the Ravens end up having to cut Lewis or Sharper, and still have to pay for their signing bonuses.

In the NFL, any player with a signing bonus does not get cut 100% cleanly. The signing bonus total is prorated over the life of the contract, the Ravens would not want to pay 1-2 mill or so a year on a player they cut.

 

Michael Bates is almost as good of a returner as Lewis, and makes 800,000 next year. Which is 1/5th what Lewis makes.

I don't want 4 mill bucks per year to be used on a kick returner.

 

I don't understand all the Boy hating. Real Houston fans hate the Steelers, Ravens Browns, Bengals, and now, the Titans. Especially the Steelers (ruined our best teams) and Titans (Traitor Butt Adams).

 

I may be the only person who feels this way, but I want Jermaine Lewis. Certainly, I wouldn't want him ahead of Sharper, but assuming he's still on the table, I'd take him in a heartbeat. To be competitive as a young team, you're going to need big plays out of special teams and some trick plays offensively. I know it's common these days to look for the biggest value, but, I don't see these return men like Bates or Rogers as dynamic as Lewis is. Certainly, they are good. But Lewis, to me, is special. Anytime you put the ball in his hands, there's a chance it could go the distance. While he may not be the best receiver, he would be very useful in running short slants across the middle and some end arounds. There are several good return men in the game today, but Lewis is the only one IMO that can take over a game. That's something I'd love to have for a young team like the Texans. I'd take both Sharper and Lewis.

 

cat, wadr, lewis doesn't return punts by himself. with that in mind, i think it's foolish to spend $4+M on a player who's skills may, or may not, carry over. few return men move from team-to-team and succeed universally. gerald mcneil ring any bells?

lewis' success in baltimore may be as much a product of the scheme and/or the other 10 blockers as anything lewis is doing. something to think about... now head over to bracket #4 of the clutch bbs tournament and vote for me! oh, i'm sorry, was that out loud?

 

I voted for you Ric. I also have a good memery and believe in vengaence.

 

Real Houston fans have the ability to hate many teams. My hatred for the Boys doesn't mean its any less for the Steelers, Brown, and Bengals. Titans they also suck.

 

Jermaine Lewis has no hands at all, he will dissapear like Desmond Howard and Reggie Barlow . Jamie Sharper isnt Ray Lewis or Peter Boulware but He is certainly better then Lewis.

 

I thought we in Houston already made our expensive kick returner mistake when we signed Mel Gray.

 

The Texans have publicly stated that they won't take guys over 30 years old, which means that Michael Bates, who was born in 1969, is out of the Texans' plans. Jermaine Lewis will be 28 this year, however. Of course, that rule is more or less r****ded because Boselli (and Aaron Glenn) are a hair under 30 and theoretically subject to the rule as well. Then again, rules are meant to be broken...

I say bring back Mel Gray.

(Damn, Timing, you beat me to it...)

 

well... glenn has a year left on his deal; if he's selected, it won't be because he fits into any long-term plans. they'll take him because a) he helps meet the minimum cap number; b) they can wipe his $8M off their books next spring.

re: boselli, OL tend to have longer careers; it's likely he could play 4 or 5 more years.

 

Does age really matter with a kick returner? At least look at Brian Mitchell for Philly.

 

I predict I'm going to be watching FOOTBALL next season...

Dang, it's been awhile...

GO HOUTSON!

RR

 

I don't hate the Cowboys because they're a rivalry of Houston... I hate the Cowboys because Jerry Jones sucks. And I'd loooove for that jerk to get his come-uppance by his team getting whipped by an in-state expansion team .

PS. I hope Emmit doesn't play for Dallas next year. He's a decent guy.

 

Here's a link to the Texan's site, that shows the players chosen & which ones made it from the last 5 expansion drafts. It's obvious that the Texans have a much better selection of talent & explains why they've decided to go for quality, rather than quantity. They should be able to fill the entire offensive line with quality starters, with the exception possibly being the center position. I've also added the link & transcript of the Texans approach to the expansion draft for those that haven't read it yet.

http://www.houstontexans.com/history/index.cfm?page_type=sub&cont_id=46976

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/index.cfm?page_type=sub&cont_id=86229

Strength in small numbers
February 5, 2002

By Carter Toole

HoustonTexans.com



Texans Insider archive

The numbers might be thinner, but the names will be bigger.

That's the message Texans general manager Charley Casserly delivered Tuesday when he addressed the upcoming expansion draft at a workout at Rice's Autry Gymnasium.

"Really, you enter into two processes when you approach this draft," Casserly said. "You have to decide whether you're going to go the 30-35 player route, which is what the other three teams did, or are you going to go with less players.

"We're going to go with less players."

The three most recent expansion teams -- Cleveland, Carolina and Jacksonville -- selected an average of 34 players in their respective expansion drafts. But when the Texans tee it up at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Feb. 18, expect less than 20 names to be called. By NFL guidelines, those names need to encompass 38 percent of Houston's 2002 salary cap (roughly $27 million).

"We anticipate we'll take between 12 and 18 players," Casserly said. "Now, could that change over the next 10 days? Yes, it could. But I don't think it's going to change by much."

Why this route? When the league announced most of the unprotected players on Jan. 25, Casserly and his staff poured over the list to see who might make the inaugural 53-man roster.

"We went through our list and said 'Let's do this like the other teams did it. Let's take 30 players and see how many of them we think can make our club,'" Casserly said. "We ended up with about five.

"Now any player that we take that's on our roster after June 1, their minimum salary is guaranteed. Now you've got $10 million of dead money on your cap."

The Browns selected 37 players in their 1999 expansion draft. Sixteen of those players made the 1999 roster, but only eight of the final 26 players selected suited up. Four of those eight were gone by the next season. Those numbers weren't encouraging to the Texans.

"So we decided to take the other approach where you take fewer players, but quality players, even though their cap figures are higher than what we anticipated," Casserly said. "So you're taking the $10 million of dead money and adding it to the good players. We feel it's a better way to do it."

The quality of the free agent market also affected Houston's philosophy. In 1995, the Panthers and Jaguars were content to spend a majority of their cap dollars on the free agent market. But teams are doing a much better job of protecting their free agent gems in this day and age.

"The free agency market is not very deep," Casserly said. "The more players we take in the expansion draft that are starters, the less players we have to take in March."

Nothing is set in stone yet. The Texans are still looking at medical records and contract language. Houston is also waiting for the unprotected lists from the two Super Bowl XXXVI participants (New England and St. Louis). And once the Texans select a player from a team, that team can pull another player back, which could alter Houston's decision-making process on the 18th.

"When I say 12 to 18, it could be closer to 12 with the pull-backs," Casserly said.

Regardless, it's looking more and more like some recognizable names could don Texans jerseys in 13 days. Let the speculation continue.

 

I'm going to be rooting for the Texans this year, I just like to watch a new team come in and see what they look like.

GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!

But More Importantly

GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!