Interest in the Texans, from a PSL/Season ticket standpoint, a parking pass/tailgate renewal standpoint, the texans fans that used to travel to all the road games standpoint, and a merchandise sale standpoint... are at an all-time franchise low. The city of Houston has checked out. They probably checked out before this year and won't be back till there's sustained competence. The Texans are no different of a pro sports team (despite the fact that they play football) than any other Houston pro sports team.
You need a competent GM in order to tank successfully. Just look at the Sixers. They coulda had Embid, Tatum, Ingram or Jaylen Brown, Mikal Bridges. Instead they draft Simmons, traded up for Fultz, and traded Bridges for Zhaire Smith. They coulda been a dynasty.
The Astros tanked there way to their dynasty. The Texans have also tanked they are just not as good at it. They are going to end up with anderson, Carter, young, or stroud regardless. They are ripe with draft picks and cap space. Next year has been the target season to end the tank from the beginning. The Texans will make a leap to mediocrity next year and will be contending for the south within two years.
The Astros don't get a dynasty simply with their high draft picks (two of which actually never made it to the big leagues). They were actually just plain bad (not even trying to tank) the last year of Drayton which got them the first pick that netted them Correa/LMJ. The intentionally being bad (not spending any money) years got them Appel, Aiken (which turned into Bregman) and Tucker. They still had to have some good fortune (Keuchel, Altuve, Springer already in system and all exceeded expectations), still had to draft well overall, still had to recruit/sign the right manager, still had to recruit/sign the right FA's... and then the hidden gem in what has extended the current window was their international scouting/signings that got them Javier, Valdez, Garcia and Urquidy. If it was just about getting high draft picks in baseball, more teams would have been building dynasties since the Astros started... but its not just about that. Similarly in the NFL... although you may be right that they're ready to ascend in 2 years because that's usually how this works (unless the GM has picked the wrong coach, whiffed on some high draft picks, and made some bad FA signings). But the Texans don't even know if they have the right GM to get them there. That's the main difference between this situation and the Astros. Luhnow/Crane had a plan. Caserio was brought in by Easterly and they prayed on it...
How do you know Caserio doesn’t have a plan? In my opinion, he has drafted well. They have their safety of the future and their running back and hopefully their slot receiver Stingley will be a great CB if put in a position to succeed. He was exactly the wrong cornerback for Lovie’s scheme.. Still like the OL pick and the linebacker pick as well. Cooks signing was more about seeing if Mills could be the guy or not and at the time Cooks was being very professional. You can fault the coaching hires, but it looks that is way more about Cal politicking than anything Caserio did. He had tons of dead money on the books until next year so he went and signed a bunch of journeyman to preserve cap space. If they don’t start at least some solid spending for the future this off-season then blame it on Casserio. I, for one, recognize a tank when I see it and think Casserio is building through the draft which is the right idea. People sure have short memories when it comes to the sh*t show that Casserio was handed by Bill and Deshaun.
Aren't you the guy who claimed that Zach Wilson was going to be awesome, and should be drafted ahead of Justin Fields?
As a true QB? No. But he finished about middle of the pack in QBR. There’s some upside there for sure, bc he’s an outrageously good running QB. The problem is he plays in CHI so he’s damned to be a shitty thrower of the football.
That’s the problem, he’s far more of a RB than a QB. He’s already hurt from it, this is why I say mobility should always be secondary to passing. Still a necessity, but passing is and will always be the most important aspect of being a QB. Fields is arguably worse than Mills as a passer. Also, QBR is not a stat I put much stock into. It’s too subjective imo
Agree in some respects, but Zac Wilson is arguably a worse passer than Fields. May not even be arguable.
Absolutely. Wilson has been a complete bust, his arm talent is special and he has athleticism. But none of it has translated, he’s an idiot apparently. Fields doesn’t throw as good a ball, processing might be a little better but still way below what is needed. He just used his legs more, he also was hurt because of it. There’s a reason there’s talk of drafting another QB in Chicago
A lot of these are way-too-early evaluations too. People were calling Tua a bust last year. Trevor Lawrence looked like a bust midway through this season. Goff has been labeled a bust multiple times. Daniel Jones was written off. Kyler I think went from being a bust to a potential star to a bust already. Sometimes, a terrible looking player can actually be good if they have the right scheme and coaching around them.
That's true. But no amount of coaching is going to prevent Tua from landing in concussion protocol the moment he hits the turf; jury still out on him.
The difference of course, being that tons of teams evaluated all those other guys based on years of data and thought they had potential (thus why they were all mid-to-high first round picks). No one thought the same of Mills. I know that might be too complex for your reflexive "must defend Texans at all costs" mentality.