Winston <= Jackie Butler Brisiel = Wade/Caldwell Vickers <= James Casey Williams - Missed nearly all of last season, and had a minimal effect on the Texans' league leading defense and playoff push. What where you saying again?
Well there is still time for that. The Texans have 8 picks in the upcoming draft. No reason they cant get a WR2, OLB and RT in the first 3 or 4 picks.
They may not replace those players in FA. It's likely they are going to get a 3rd round compensatory pick and a 3rd rounder may turn out to be better than any FA replacement we could get for them.
Have the compensatory picks been officially announced yet? I expect the Texans to get another fairly decent pick (post-3rd/4th round) for losing Mario to free agency, plus some late picks for losing other guys.
We dont get any compensatory picks this year...its based off of FA from last year...but next year we should get some since we lost all these FA this year
Oh no! How on earth will we replace a player that didn't even play in the last 14 games of the year and a mediocre-at-best fullback?
I didn't like losing Vickers. I realize he dropped a big pass but he actually has good hands and IMO is a better run blocker than Casey, even though Casey isn't bad. Also, losing Vickers means we cant play Casey at TE2 as often, which would be nice after losing Dressen. We lost some flexibility with Vickers.
They have been replaced by Reed, Butler, Casey, and Caldwell. Now we need to find their replacements.
Methinks this is wishful thinking. Also, Wade Smith is getting older and his play is declining. I expect the Texans top 3 picks to be (not in order): WR, OT, OG. I also expect Kubiak to get his tight end on in the 5th or 6th round
I really hated Kubiak's reluctance to go back to Casey (after his injury). It's my one nitpick with what I thought was a generally outstanding coaching job in 2011. I don't think much of Vickers as a blocker. He's alright, but nothing particularly good. Pro Football Focus had Vickers in 2010 at -9.8 as a blocker in 385 snaps, 28th out of 30 fullbacks. In 2009, they had Vickers at -2.6 as a blocker, 19th out of 29 fullbacks. Haven't seen his numbers for last year, but I can't imagine there's a dramatic difference. And he's been known for poor receiving skills his entire career. Not judging him by one drop at all. The running game did perk up under Vickers, but I'd argue that mostly had to do with a much weaker schedule and Arian Foster returning to health. Nonetheless, we were winning games, and Gary didn't want to rock the boat and switch back. I understand it, but I think the mismatches Casey created early in the season (remember the New Orleans game?) would've been a tremendous asset come playoff time. I also don't think that much of Casey as a TE2 option. Sure, he can play the position... but I'm not convinced he's much better than Graham or a waiver-wire pickup there. I think Casey's biggest value is the versatility and flexibility he gives you when he's at FB, and I'm pretty pumped we'll get to see it for a full season.
I thought the deal was that Casey took awhile to get back to 100% healthy and Kubiak used him lightly until he got back all the way.
It did take a while, but Casey was back at 100% in December and January and still didn't get much time at fullback. The lone exception was the Tennessee game, when the starters only played a series or so. Vickers kept the job.
Sadly, no. I'd be curious to see. I can't find the 2011 ratings yet on PFF, which is why I didn't have any for Vickers last year. Maybe they're still to come in the next few weeks. The scouts I heard described Casey as fairly average, in terms of run blocking for a fullback. Nothing particularly great, but not a liability, either. And if you combine average run blocking with the things he gives you out of the backfield... I think the Texans could really have something. Hopefully he stays healthy this time and we get a full season to see.
Winston wasn't that good in pass coverage, and Butler has looked solid. Vickers can't block and can't catch so he's useless and I'm not worried about losing him. Brisiel is an average O-Lineman and he got massively overpaid. Mario, well, Mario is tough to lose but you simply can't invest 100 million dollars into an injury-riddled player. Bottom line is these moves are for re-signing Duane Brown(who is by far the best Texans OT.) Connor Barwin, and Matt Schaub next year.
Why haven't the Colts drafted Andrew Luck yet???? What are they going to do about their QB situation next year????
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