After thinking things through, I dont think the ESPN grade is inaccurate. I think the Texans did a decent job with the money they had to play with, so they get a B to B+ for cap management...but if we're just looking at talent level, C+ is what I'd be giving the team. I dont like the QB situation, we downgraded the OLine and WR positions...we took a lateral step at safety...lateral step at LB...and upgrade on the Dline. Again, given the cap situation, the Texans did well...however, we didnt add anyone that is going to have a major impact on the team beyond a year from now. Im hoping Wilfork and Shorts are serviceable, but we're still pretty much in the same position as when the season ended. We need a great draft...or we need to trade for a QB. If either of those happen, then it will be an "A" offseason. Now, next offseason, anything less than an A- is a HUGE disappointment.
I think that's a super negative way of looking at it. I don't see how we downgraded the O line, I don't see a significant downgrade at WR. At worst those look like lateral moves (but now that we won't be forcing passes to a declinging Dre even a lateral move is an upgrade). Safety was a clear upgrade as was the D line. That's a solid B IMO.
I think we did about as good or better than I hoped in FA. ESPN Bill Polian didn't give any of our moves anything over a C and he gave the Colts B's for Gore and AJ. He also gave a whopping A+ to the Dolphins for the Suh signing. So I can sign two past their prime players at high cost if I'm the Colts and I can cash strap my team for years to come that will not translate into wins on the field If I'm the Dolphins and its a great move? It's why I don't watch ESPN much, their so called experts ie Bill Polian, Bayless, S.A. Smith etc... all suck butt!
Andre is better than Shorts...so you want to say lateral move...fine. We lost Chris Myers and added nobody...how is that a lateral move? But you want to say lateral move? Fine. Safety was not a clear upgrade. We lost Lewis and added Moore. Moore is not that good. He's average. Ask any Broncos fans. FYI...my entire wife's side of the family is loaded with die-hard Broncos fans. Proof: http://tinypic.com/r/2coloj6/8 Safe to say, they are happy he's no longer on the team because he was constantly caught out of position. He brings some good to the table, but he's really no better or worse than Lewis. It's a lateral move. We upgraded the DLine. I dont see how we were anything above average. In college, if you were average with the curve, you were right at the C+/B- line. However, I still dont see how losing Chris Myers is a lateral move. Or going from AJ to Shorts is lateral...but whatevs.
If you think Moore is a lateral move from Lewis than you either overrate lewis or underrate Moore or both.
I think you based a lot of what you said on what players used to be once upon a time instead of on what they are now. Chris Myers isn't a good center, he isn't even a decent center all the time anymore. He got rag-dolled quite a bit last year in fact. Same story for Andre, once upon a time he was a great receiver, but that's simply not the case anymore and IMO the team will be better off not forcing him passes. I honestly think there is a very good chance that Shorts ends up with more receiving yards this year than Dre.
I look at it as a "solid" offseason and a "B" grade is what I consider solid. A is good, C is "well at least I passed" and D is "oh damn I have to do this over again.
I wouldn't call a C- mediocre, it's Houston! We are always the Rodney Daingerfield of sports, No Respect.
The Texans did well at buying but I think they could have got more for a player like Fitzy. The non move of JJo is also a head scratcher.
I hope you are kidding... Chris Myers had the best run blocking grade of any of the Texans' offensive linemen. He had 3-4 games that I remember were very poor performances, but he played at least three quarters of the season at average or way above average levels. So no, Im not talking about years past...Im talking about last season where he had a top 5 run blocking rating amongst ALL centers in the NFL. Andre Johnson may have regressed...but as he is currently, he's still better than Shorts has ever been in his career. Once Shorts can top 70 catches or 1000 yards, then maybe we can start the conversation. If Shorts has better numbers than AJ it's going to be due to the fact that we have nothing outside Hopkins...and because the system we are going to be running will basically force feed the slot. Andre is on a different level, even by today's standards. There isnt 1 team out there outside of Houston that would choose Shorts over Andre. There is a reason we were the highest bidder for Shorts at 3 million per season. Just let that sink in for a moment...nobody else was willing to pay Shorts more than a couple million per year. I think he will be a nice fit for our system, but we did not improve in that category. Watch last year's game tape and you will see that on many of the long completions to Hopkins, it was AJ80 that was drawing attention away from the safety. Some of the success that went in Hopkins direction is purely a result of Andre just being on the field. Nobody is going to give a crap about Shorts on the field...because, quite frankly, nobody has ever given a **** about what Shorts has done on the field. Again, other than DLine...we did not make any improvements, only lateral moves and negative moves. And none of our additions will be game changing. And really, to even mention that losing Myers improves the line is hilarious.
49ers waive Jonathan Martin ... could he be a decent pick-up for our OLine? Worth a shot, IMO. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12564071/jonathan-martin-waived-san-francisco-49ers
I live in denver, the consensus among my friends who are all die hard Broncos fans and pretty much everyone else around town is that Moore is .....OK
The best possible scenario in free agency is that you hold serve. NFL teams that "win" free agency don't usually go on to win titles. It all will depend on whether players who didn't contribute from the 2014 draft bounce back, how many contributors the 2015 draft provides in determining the upside to this season, and if the Mallet/Hoyer combo can give us at least leage average QB play. As long as you set yourself up to have the capspace to add depth where needed and to allow your draft to infuse young talent with upside, you are doing things right. The Texans are in that position now so let's hope they use the resources at their disposal to keep improving the team. The law of averages pretty much dictates they are due for a better draft this year.
kaep anyone? <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/0vVYLzNBCS/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Always heard Houston was live...... I had to come find out for myself #IDontGetTired</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by colin kaepernick (@kaepernick7) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-03-27T17:30:37+00:00">Mar 27, 2015 at 10:30am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
