The timings of these extensions are so weird. Mainly the Schaub one happening right after the first game of the season, and this one happening right in the doldrums of the offseason.
Agreed. If Brock turns out great next season -> extend Rick and Bill. If after two seasons, Brock is complete **** (a long with the team), then you start a new regime. Regardless - hopefully Rick and Bill's draft selections turn out above-average.
What's weird about them? I'm scared these guys will leave, and then I won't be able to make a decision. -Bob McNair
Think about it this way, Smith is still the best NFL GM in Texas, and the Texans are still the best NFL team in Texas. Small victories.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rick Smith is the only GM during the NFL's current playoff format (since 1990) to be employed 10 years w/o conference title game appearance.</p>— Greg Rajan (@GregRajan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregRajan/status/759148852628762624">July 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Gosh darn it, I look good & Bob loves me! Meh, whatever. He's got a lifetime deal with the Texans.
Someone from the BRB blog did some research on the inepitude of Rick Smith: Since 2012 the Houston Texans have drafted 40 players. Of those 40 players: only 20 are currently on the active roster (19 vs. the Vikings – Mumphery healthy scratch) only 10 are starters (including Ervin for Special Teams) of the 20 on the active roster – 50% have been drafted in the last two years (2015 – 2016 draft classes) 2 players on IR (Martin and Ballentine) of the remaining 18 players no longer with the Texans – only 4 are still in the league (Swearinger, Brooks, Jones and Crick) 14 players drafted by the Texans since 2012 don’t play in the NFL
I really don't want to defend Rick Smith right now, but I'd like to see how those numbers compare to the rest of the league before making judgement. The average NFL career is 3.3 years and not everybody is a top, high round prospect. It's not exactly surprising that a large number wouldn't still be in the league.
Best I could find: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...h-gms-have-the-best-success-rate-with-rookies and this if you put the table to list 50 entries: http://www.hogshaven.com/2015/3/1/8083611/scot-mccloughan-and-the-nfls-best-and-worst-drafting-gms
Y'all were giving me a hard time when I said Rick Smith is a top 15 QB. Almost every stat and non-biased NFL analyst will put him that high. Sure you would hope he is top 5 or top 10 but a GM's success is always tied to this coach's ability to train up talent. His biggest failure is undoubtedly not getting a QB. At least he went out and got the best free agent QB this past offseason. It just isn't looking so good right now.
