[ESPN.com] What I'd do if I ran the Texans

I'm surprised a ESPN guy would be that knowledgeble on the the Texans. I would franchise Arian though and try to work out a long term deal.

 

I have a feeling this is exactly what will happen. I love Mario and would love to see what Wade can do with him, but we should follow the Pats model and not overpay people.

 

He thinks the Texans' cap situation is much worse than it actually is.

 

He writes the AFC South blog. During the season, especially, it's a pretty good read. A ton of Texans fans hate on him constantly, but I like PK. He's usually pretty fair with his commentary.

He's pretty on par with his statements above, except he doesn't go into restructuring deals too much. I really think you can keep Mario, Foster, and Meyers by restructuring, and I think the Texans will do it. There are plenty of decent receivers to be had in the draft (Stephen Hill would be very intriguing to a team that doesn't have many true needs), and don't forget about Lestar Jean and Jeff Maehl.

 

That sounds about right.

 

I agree, but I do agree with him on several points:

1) make 1 strong offer to Mario and if he doesn't except draft his replacement in rd 1. I would think not retaining Mario would make it easier to hang on to the other FA s

2) Id cut Jones, he's just not worth 3m. I have a feeling ML is gone too

3) I'm not in favor of messing with Ryans too much, if we can restructure him great if not I love his on the field leadership.

 

Jones is undoubtedly gone, he's always been a mistake prone under achiever, but the cataclysmic playoff mistake had to seal his fate.

Leinart is probably gone, Yates to me has earned the backup job. I think kubes has proven we can turn just about any QB into a functional player, just draft a guy later in the draft to be 3rd string or pay a FA the minimum.

DeMeco has to restructure, don't see why he'd be that opposed.

I agree with Kuharsky on Mario, offer him a big deal. But if someone offers him an outrageous deal let him walk. We saw how effective this D was without him. I think Mario will certainly make it better, but the cost of him to potential defensive improvement isn't great, we don't lack a pass rush.

Pay Arian, he's been nothing but class. Franchise is an absolute last resort.

 

This dude is a Tennessee hack. The AFC South Blog usually reads as the Titans Blog.

 

To be fair, that is where most of his NFL ties started.

But yeah, now that the Colts and Titans blow he has to write about the big dawg Texans, and it's about damned time.

 

Titans missed the playoffs by one lousy game. Heck, if the Jets had won their game, the Titans would have been in.

The guy is pretty spot on.

 

Really, 2. We gift wrapped that last game for you. Got a lead with our starters, then took them out after the 1st quarter. Don't forget about that 2-point conversion at the end that would have never happened if the game had mattered to the Texans. Not to mention that it wouldn't have come down to that if we left our starters in.

Anyhoo......

I certainly agree with cutting Leinart and Jacoby. Not sure why we signed either one of them in the first place. The only 2 head-scratchers from our epic offseason last year.

I'm still undecided about Mario, but I'm leaning towards letting him walk. I love the guy, but I don't think he deserves to be the highest paid defensive player in the league.

 

In addition to the obvious which ima pointed out, you do realize that the Titans had an almost identical SOS to the Texans (bottom 10), and managed to be 100 points behind the Texans in point differential, despite not having their QB get his foot smashed to bits? Losing Kenny Britt sucks, but it's not even near the caliber of what happened to the Texans (star QB, WR, RB, DE, FS, all out for significant time). The Titans overachieved and had some definite fortune shine down upon them. It was a minor miracle they didn't have a losing record, let alone a winning one.

 

Losing Arian Foster would be bad for our red zone offense.

Really bad.

 

Because the Texans were a better team, that doesn't mean the Titans were lousy.

 

you know what i'd do if i ran the texans...

Spoiler

 

Same stuff we've all been thinking... and I think the post feels too short. Okay, I get you'd offer 3 guys something and cut the others mentioned... but what if they don't accept? Whats the contingency plan? We obviously were interested in adding a CB via free agency -- which came as somewhat of a shock, especially to pursue on so early. What happens if we do lose Foster and Williams, where do we turn? I felt that article ended about halfway in.

 

The contingency for Foster is pretty obvious. Tate becomes #1 and resigning Ward becomes a bigger issue.

If they lose Mario, finding another 3-4 Rushbacker in the draft becomes more important. I think they'll take a rushbacker in the top 3 rounds anyway, but if they lose Mario it becomes a 1st or 2nd round concern.

Bottomline, the Texans are extremely fortunate that both the RB and Rushbacker positions are wants instead of needs.

 

The only thing I disagree with is the RG Briesel/Caldwell thing, if you're going to let Briesel go, you better draft or sign a viable replacement(Briesel isn't an All-Pro or anything but with Caldwell last year there was a sizeable difference in O-Line productivity.)

 

I disagree. If you lose Mario and Foster, yes, you replace them, whatever -- that's small potatoes (rookies and Ward? C'mon). The question is -- what do you do with that cap room.