Exactly, Rick Smith for all the wrongs he's done, he's actually doing this one right. He wants Ed Reed here no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean that he should give it all up for him. And if Ed Reed ends up staying in Baltimore, because the Texans offer was "too low", then that doesn't reflect poorly on Rick Smith. Rick Smith is handling this situation just like any respectable GM should. Right now WE'VE got the largest offer on the table, yet he hasn't signed here yet. That says that in order for him to go somewhere else he's going to have to take less money, which shouldn't in any signal a failure on our part. Because if he were to sign Ed Reed to a multi-year 50 million dollar deal, but we have to let Cushing and Watt walk, then imagine what they'll say about Rick Smith then!
I would agree to a point. Our superbowl window is closing (if not closed already) and I would love for them to have Reed. The problem with building through draft is those rookies won't pan out for 2-3 years, exceptions of course. AJ and Schaub aren't getting any younger. Then again I have to acknowledge that we have to be smart with our cap situation for future years as well. Not easy to be GM, yet super easy to be arm-chair GM. *sigh our 2011 team at full health... what could have been...
baltimore setting up a meeting with Michael Huff- Should have Ed Reed Pissed off. They are already looking for a back up plan, before you even decide... I know Baltimore is being smarter than the Texans for looking for the plan B Early, but man I just think this shoul dhelp the Texans Snag Reed.. We are showing we want him more...
Again, I feel silly yet compelled to mention that the Texans are 24-12 the past two seasons.... How many "wrongs" has the guy had, exactly?
In a league where its pretty much established that a team will go from 10 losses to 10 wins EVERY YEAR, I don't buy the "windows" argument anymore. Sure, some teams are better set up for the future than others... but to say that a team has a set # of years to compete implies that they have players that cannot possibly be replaced. Yes, AJ is a top-notch reciever acquired with a top level pick, and has continued to perform at an upper echelon level (including last year). He would be the one player who's getting old who it would be a challenge to find an immediate replacement for. But, remmeber... going into this year, nobody was expecting AJ to have the kind of year he had... and the Texans were STILL a super bowl pick by some. I'm not even going to discuss Schaub as its been beat to death around here, and there is still no consensous of whether or not this team is better off with or without him. In the end, it has to be more than a "if Schaub plays good, he should stay... if not he should go" type mentality. Certainly nobody here should feel that he's irreplaceable at this point. That leaves you with the following core: 1. Foster, Watt, Cushing, D. Brown, C. Myers (the prime/elites) 2. O. Daniels, Jonathan Joseph, Manning, W. Smith, A. Smith (the almost past-prime, still productive) 3. K.Jax, B. Reed (the almost prime, could be elite or could be average). And everybody else. I think with the right replacement pieces, continued quality draft, and continuing to rebuild with players that fit their system, the Texans could extend any percieved "window" by several yeras.
He's so wrong for finding studs like Watt and Cushing and for not being able to retain mid to late round picks that panned out and were over-paid for the most part. Tbh, the only thing I can criticize him for is prematurely extending Schaub.
Kubiak picked Smith. Kubiak signed off on everybody, every draft pick, and every signing. Nobody knows who really is the main person.... if I had to bet, Kubiak is more involved in the selection of players, and Smith is there to work out the $$ and cap issues.
How very convenient. And the Schaub extension was smart. Period. He has - for a top10-ish QB - a remarkably manageable cap figure the next two years. By then, he's either done and you can more easily absorb the hit, or he's proven worthy of the bigger payday ahead. It's a light years better deal than Flacco's - that sunvagun's gonna haunt the Ravens.
I'm not on the anti-Schaub bandwagon, but even I'm on the fence about that extension. In a league where you almost always need GREAT QB play to win a Super Bowl, we extended a guy who has been far from great and was coming off of a year where he missed more than half a season. I know he's put up consistently solid numbers throughout his career and it's scary not having your QB position settled, but I would have liked to see the Texans at least make him play out the season before extending him. That would have given me some confidence that they at least weren't completely sold on him being the QB that could lead us to the promised land. But I also understand that Rick and Gary's jobs are always on the line and having to find another QB would have put that in jeopardy.
His wrongs have been getting us into terrible cap situations year in and year out for the last 3 seasons. I obviously love Arian Foster and Andre, but their contracts have somewhat hamstrung this team going forward. Then when you talk about drafts look at the last 3 drafts we've had: From 2007 - 2010 (When Rick Smith got here to when Wade got here) we drafted 31 players, out of the 31, 5 turned out to be above average players (Cushing, Duane Brown, Kareem Jackson, Glover Quin, and technically Ben Tate ) From 2007 - 2009 Out of 22 players only 5 are still even with the team, and of those 5 only 2 are starters (Duane Brown and Cushing) So for a 3 year stretch we only were able to get 2 long-term starters.....that qualifies to some as "wrongs" You look at a team like San Francisco and from 2007 - 2010 out of 30 players they drafted 13 players turned out to be legit, above average NFL starters who are still with the team. 5 turned out to be NFL All-Pro's. I'm not saying that's the norm cause it's not, but what I am saying is that there was a stretch where Rick Smith was colossally failing this team with his inability to draft good players at the normal NFL rate (50% success rate is normal/good), and he also has seemingly kept us in a bleak cap situation as well....so yes he's had his share of "wrongs"
Yeah, but none of them were legitimate SB contenders like the Texans were (supposed to be) last year. Or even playoff teams, for that matter. Ravens beat them twice. Broncos lost by 10. Seahawks beat them. 49ers beat them. Colts got destroyed by them, but you yourself said the Colts were a fluke last year, which I agree with. And then, there's the Texans who were absolutely GREASED by them both times they played. And neither game was as close at the final score. No one was giving us a shot to beat them in the playoffs. NE fans were basically saying they had a bye week. Turns out, they were pretty much right. BTW, we were the only team they blew out twice last season. Jets, Dolphins and Bills all played them to within at least a TD in one of their 2 games respectively.
Yeah but if we had been able to play them in September, we probably would've made it closer. So everyone else is just stupid and this team is PERFECT!!!
All of these core guys that you mentioned above are over 30 (I didn't look to see when their respective bdays are so they could be even older once the season starts). Myers (31) Daniels (30) Manning (30) W.Smith (31) A. Smith (31) All of these players have already played their best football and are in decline. When JJ's contract comes up he's going to demand around 15 mil per yr (possibly more). They're going to have to clear some serious cap space to make this happen, which ultimately means losing more players we've seen the past two seasons (just goes with the territory). Will be interesting to see how long Foster holds up if he continues to get as many carries like last yr. Also, I am NOT a Schaub fan AT ALL!!!! However, the reason he was extended is what other option would they have? Look at who the FA qbs were this yr. Alex Smith was the best of the bunch. The Kubiak/Smith regime have pretty much tied their fate to Schaub, because if he can't get them over the hump they're going to lose their jobs ultimately. If he can't get them to the Super Bowl McNair will finally come to the conclusion after 7-10 yrs that Kubiak needs to be replaced. They're losing players to FA and thus they're having to use their draft picks to fill these voids. They're NOT going to draft a qb (especially with a high pick). And even if they did they'd still have Schaub and don't think this regime would have the luxury of developing a new qb. Especially after Kubiak claimed he could develop Carr and we see how well that turned out. In my opinion the BIGGEST thing this team needs to address is the pass rush. They've made the playoffs the last two yrs, and now it's time to take it to the next level. Who do you face in the playoffs/SB? Brady, the Manning's, Brees, Rodgers, etc and if you can't put pressure on them it's going to be a LONG day just as it was last yr when we got BLOWN out by NE (twice) and GB. Watt is THE only one who consistently brought pressure. They need to bring someone else into the mix (either another OLB or a DE). They don't have the cap space to address in FA thus it better be in the draft. Personally I think they can find a good receiver in the 2nd. I would use that top pick on someone who could bring pressure. Without it the Texans aren't serious SB contenders next yr.
Regarding windows argument, I understand your point but I think it only applies if a team can consistently draft well. Thankfully, the Texans have been drafting more producers than busts. Our last draft class TBD... Would you agree we have better shot at SB with our 2011 cast then how our current cast stands right now? Hence the window argument.
i've always been a believer schaub can go from the 14th ranked qb to the 8 th with the right circumstances. polls tend to swing all the time, as he was ranked 7th before entering the final games. But the extension, and I'm saying this because hindsight is 20/20, could have been stalled one more season. maybe we could have gotten him for 5 million less. the same thing with foster. Even Brees had to be jerked by his organization before they finally caved. Either way, I had the texans losing to the Ravens in the afc championship this season but the stupid pats got in the way. I don't see why we can't still accomplish our goals with better execution on D against the 1990s passing schemes. It's not like we lost probowlers in barwin and GQ. in conclusion: if you're a battlefighter you get rewarded. if you're a deserter and start writing crap on your armour, you get the boot. pay me ric!
Possibly... but I would have said the same thing about the Ravens before last year. I thought the Chiefs were set up for a nice run, then they fell apart the last two years, now with Reid (and still with the same Pro Bowlers), they seem poised to have a nice extended run. The Saints looked in good shape when the extended Brees... now, even with Payton, I'm not sure they have a realistic run left with the Seahawks and 49ers looking good for the forseeable future.
