With one yr left on his contract, he'd probably be a Rental. Also, we don't have as much draft capital as last yr.
.......... I post fantasy trades?...... BTW, if the Texans can somehow land Evans, that would terrific - but... do they still have enough draft capital (they don't have a 2nd next year). That's yet another potential fall-out from the Anderson trade - it's is much harder to engineer trades. Also, IMO: 1.12 + Mike Evans + 1.'24 > Will Anderson. (And, again: I like the Anderson pick: it's fun & exciting.
Evans is now or never (probably) - turns 30 this summer. Throwing cash at 30+ WR is bad business. Depending on compensation, I actually kind of like him on a one-year deal.
You're right! Why did I think they had dealt that? I'm not sure I'd deal a 2 for Evans - especially after the Anderson deal. But I'd kick the tires on him. A weapon like that, for a rookie QB, holds *tremendous* value. Having said that, I would much prefer the Texans explore possibly available players who are younger and could be part of the nucleus moving forward. That's a much smarter allocation of assets, IMO.
Caserio on 610: When did you first get a sense that you had a plan to be aggressive but also a chance of pulling it off? Once you get through March, once into April, from strategy standpoint, what are some things we can do? Teams are less inclined to have discussions until a week or two before the draft. Positioning of players is probably where we spend the most time in April. Then you’re trying to create clusters and project where we think those players will go (not round specific but in a general range). As you get closer, you have some discussions generally about your philosophy. Teams hold things close to the vest. From February to the draft, it gets filled with clutter and noise and everyone tries to speculate about what teams will do, what player they like and you’re even seeing that post draft as well. We can’t control what happens outside the building. The week of the draft is where those conversations started to gain more steam. You’re prepared for every scenario. As you get closer, that’s where deals but more substantive. If you like to keep things close to the vest, do you look at those misreports as good (because we’re keeping things quiet)? Sometimes people throw things against the wall because it’s a great story. Some of it is laughable. … We live in an information world and Information Age. Our job is to keep information specific to the Texans. Our job isn’t to divulge a lot of information. Is there misdirection that takes place? Do people put things out there in hopes of some scenario? I can’t speak to what others do. … We’re trying to protect the interest of the Texans and that’s how it should be. … We can’t worry about external noise. Anything to putting in the pick in at 2 so fast? For a TV-made event like the draft, they tell you, the first round, you can’t turn your pick in until 5 minutes on the clock. Even at 2, we’re sitting there knowing who we’ll pick but we had to wait 5 minutes. TV is behind 56 picks. Made the pick at 2 and as soon as they announce is, the 3rd pick is on the clock. Monti reached out. We had general parameters in place going into the draft. They were on the clock, they called, we had parameters in place, went back and forth on some compensation and we talked about this previously about how trades work, the actual mechanics: Houston to Arizona, agree on the terms, both teams have to call the league and the league has to make sure the terms match up so you’re not on the clock until the league gives you the green light. We were on the phone and the clock is running down and then finally said you’re on the clock with 1:30 or whatever it was. All the picks are submitted electronically so we had to make sure we had it tee’d up so as soon as we’re on the clock, hit send, hang up with the league and get the player on the phone. It was close to a minute or under a minute where we announced the pick. We were able to get it executed. The trade up to get Will, if you’re picking 1st, is that still a deal you’re pursuing? Generally speaking, we thought there might be an opportunity to get 2 quality players at the top of the draft. If we were at 1, would that have precluded us from doing something else? Not necessarily. Part of that would've been what compensation was remaining, what did we have left? Trades are player driven. If you feel you have an opportunity to get 2 players that you otherwise wouldn’t, you should think about it. Like Tim Tebow (the person, not the football player), I was always skeptical. People would say the same thing about him. Then I met him briefly a couple times and “Oh! Yeah, I get it. He’s different somehow. I can’t put my finger on it.” I was that way with DeMeco, telling other people about DeMeco. He’s different. Is that the same about Will Anderson? Everyone is different. Different personalities, different people. You’re looking for consistency, whether it’s how a player is described, what he’s about and seeing it first hand. In Will’s case, every step along the way, every check point, the same theme continued to show up. You rely on outside information but you want to confirm it first hand with what you see. Will was our first 30-man visit at the stadium following the combine. Will was the first visit. Our process can be a little intimidating. You have a bunch of people within the organization, within the football operations that will touch you on a day-to-day basis. He was by himself. Go through your story, talk about different things, spend time with the coaches, spend time with others in the building and at the end of the day, we reconvene and get everyone’s input. What are your thoughts? What did you think? We compile those notes. If you see a consistent pattern of behavior and description of an individual, it maybe confirms what you thought going on. Will has a lot of great traits, a lot of great qualities. Unique individual. He and Bryce and number of others, they held the team together when they could have gone a different way. Finished strong. They were committed to finishing strong and made a decision, both Bryce and Will, to play in the bowl game. Each player has their own unique qualities. Along the way, Will was consistent with what he brings to the table and has earned his reputation. Playing in bowl games… If you like football and like to compete, and show multiple examples of that, that speaks to who you are as a person and a player. In our process, we don’t hold it against the player. If he chooses not to play, no problem, that’s his choice. There might be circumstances surrounding that. We respect that. When a player chooses something like that, it speaks to his competitiveness, his want to and his love of football. It’s one part of the equation but when you put it all together and see patterns develop over time, it speaks to you certainly.
Was there a particular point in the evaluation process post-season that super impressed you about Stroud? All of the above. The best opportunity to get to know a player is after the season. We accumulate information. You’re relying on information from the school. Who are we getting the information from, can we validate it, are they being truthful and are they being consistent? The next component is when is the next opportunity to interact with the player? We talked to him in Indy, brought him into our building. The more time you spend around him, you see he has a certain [audio cuts out] … edge in a good way. Sometimes people think if a player has an edge, it can be a bad thing. He wants to compete. He wants to be really good. He holds himself to a high standard. You can feel that when you speak to him and talk to him. It’s something you can’t read on a piece of paper. “He’s a good leader, competitor and tough.” OK, that’s great. But when you interact with someone, then you have better idea and then you’re looking for a manifestation of that. That was one of the things among others that stood out. He’s very driven, he’s very prideful, cares a lot about football. He internalizes a lot because he cares. His ability to use that in a positive way. He was in our visit and was in a room with 3-4 other players that day. He was going through his story. You could feel his edge. He’s a real dude. He’s very authentic. That can rub some people the wrong way. CJ is a great person. Loves his mom, loves his sister. Very proud of what he’s accomplished and overcome. During the process, those are some of the things that manifested themself and put that together with the physical skills. He has things he can work on and improve, which all rookies do, but we’re excited to have him in the building next week. How is his processing? It’s good. He can recognize things, understand things. Ryan (Day) has a good system and offense he runs. Our offense will be different than Ryan’s offense. Until you roll up your sleeves and understand what we’ll do, regardless of the player and who you are and that position gets magnified, it’s going to be about work. It’s about consistent work, what’s the concept of a play, what’s the intent, what are we trying to do with the football and are you making the right decision? To answer your question, when you watch him play, you don’t say “That’s an issue.” When we get him here, everyone is starting from scratch. S2 test… Before the S2 came along, it was the Wonderlic. I’ve had the good fortune of being around some damn good football players who had 10/11 test scores so what does that tell you? And they actually had a good understanding of football. Tests are tests. I was one of the worst standardized test takers in the history of the world. I’m probably gonna embarrass myself but I scored under 1000 on the SATs. I was a horrendous test taker. A standardized test sometimes is a hard measurement. It’s a data point. You can’t put your head in the sand. It forces you to do more digging. Is there something to this? It might force you to take another look. Each team utilizes different tools. It doesn’t mean one’s right or one’s wrong. That one has been magnified over the last 1-2 years. Each team has to do what they feel is best. When going through the calculus of including the first round pick, how much do you factor in expectations and are you betting on yourself? Future picks are tricky. There’s not a value associated with them. We can’t worry about next year, what’s our record, how will we play? We focus on this season, go through the dialogue, what’s the compensation? Either you’re comfortable with the compensation or you’re not. Our focus is on the 2023 season. We can’t worry about 2024. Our job is to try and play good football. We can’t worry about if we win this many games, this will lead to this. That’s for other people to talk about that want to waste their time. That’s not for us to worry about. … Not worried about it and won’t get caught up in it. What can you tell us about Bobby Slowik? Bobby’s been great. Great energy, great attitude, loves football. It’s applicable offensively and defensively. It’s about explosiveness and quickness. OL running off the ball with quickness, urgency, intent and explosiveness. And DeMeco has talked about the SWARM mindset defensively. Bobby’s office is right next to mine. He’s been great. I’ve popped in periodically. … We have a good group of coaches. Bobby oversees the whole thing and allows the coaches to coach. He has a good grasp. I was watching cut-ups of the system. There’s highlights from RGIII. Film looks granular. They’ve built up a library of plays over time. Bobby’s been great. Great attitude, great energy. Great feel and sense for what he wants to do offensively. What’s the plan for Stroud and how does he earn the starting role? Everyone that comes in starts from square one. There’s no starters in the spring. Everyone will go earn their role. Everyone will get the same opportunity. We’ll start Friday with the rookies. Give them their first introduction and get them ready for Phase 2 workouts. Everyone starts from square one. No starters. We’re not talking in those terms. Everyone will get a lot of reps and equal opportunity and then we’ll evaluate it as we go and make the best decisions for the team. Expectations for Stingley in year 2? Stingley has worked really hard from the end of the season to where he is now. Been in the building since February. His mindset, his work ethic, he’s ready to go. He’s made a lot of progress. Cautiously optimistic about where he is and where he’s headed. Derek is a talented player. He’s in a good spot. Excited about his prospects for this season.
OMG. That is highly embarrassing! I was always an ace test taker, given my extraordinarily high level of intelligence and gallantry.
I get the desire to want to add all the offensive weapons, but I think some posters are underestimating the additions made this offseason. Adding Singletary and Schultz was huge, IMO. And I don't think they've added anyone on the WR corps as talented as Cooks, but their entire wide receiver depth chart is going to look different with Metchie, Woods, Dell, Brown and Hutchison. It's hard for me to say "We need more weapons!" when we don't really know what their offense even looks like right now with that much change. But I think it's a bit disingenuous to say they haven't given the offense any playmakers or addressed it enough. This offense isn't going to be the Chiefs next season, and they're not going to be competing for the Super Bowl. Let's accept that first. But I'd kinda like to see what this group can do before we go out and spend resources trading for a big name.
I agree with the majority of this. If we were able to get a big name WR to help Stroud, I'm all for it. We've seen what Jalen Hurts and Tua have done by just adding a "big name" WR. It just has to be one that's still playing at a high level. A big name like Odell wouldn't be it since he's coming off an injury. The only problem, there isn't one available right now.
That looks like Bill O'Brien BS again. Not caring about future capital, to overpay for today patch-ups.
Didn't see this posted anywhere... We signed Greg Little another OL, check out who Lance Z compared him to when he came out... https://www.nfl.com/prospects/greg-little/32004c49-5442-3164-c0c4-a09d5b847151
Posting this again... Who gives a ****? Texans gave up a 1, 2, and 3 to get a pick swap from 12-3. That's it. Who gives a **** about points? I don't give a ****. Overpay? Who the **** cares? It is not your money or picks. What do you want, a do-over? Texans got their player. All that matters. I extra 3rd round round pick is not going to mean much. They have well over a $100 million in cap next season. People like you are worrying about winning in trade value than winning on the field. Stop whining about ****ing trade value chart created by Jimmy Johnson, who won ONE trade as the Cowboys' coach 35 years ago. It may be a way to evaluate trades as a guide, but it is not the only to value a trade. I would rather have an Elite player than a bunch of good to decent players. I would take the risk on Anderson than the pick at 12 and 33. I don't give a **** about that 1 next year.
I don't understand it either. What was the Texans draft plan? Isn't that what ultimately matters. If they went in with a plan to execute by getting the best Edge and QB available then they knocked it out of the park. The Texans ultimately could have seen the board like this. We need to stop inflicting our OWN thoughts because ultimately we don't have Houston's draft board to grade how they did. We just go off of what Todd Mcshay, Mel Kiper, and CO THINK the board will look like. Here is a pretty realistic scenario on draft grades: QB Tiers Tier 1st Round Grade- Stroud/Young as a 1a/1b (reported by Texans insider pre draft) Tier 2nd Round Grade- AR, Hooker, Levis Defensive Tiers Tier 1st Round Grade- Will Anderson(Blue Chip), Tyree Wilson(late riser high potential) Tier 2nd Round Grade- Luke Van Ness Centers: Tier 2nd Round Grades- Joe Tippman, John Schmitz, Juice Scruggs It was reported that Scruggs had a much higher grade than analyst perception. Its not farfetched to think that the Texans felt like drafting the 33rd overall pick for a C would have been a reach to grab someone they liked equally by using captial to move back in the 2nd round. That level of execution could leave them with the thought that they pick swapped a 12-3 with next year's first in order to grab the best defensive prospect in the next two drafts. All that draft capital given up and they still have a full draft board for next year in a WR class that is MUCH deeper than this one. People will b**** about anything and yet they really don't have enough information to make these statements.
Adding to this. The point isn't to get as many lottery tickets as you can get. If you believe in the guy/s you go get him/them, you take quality over quantity all day everyday. If you're convinced Will Anderson will dominate the pass rush the next 10 years, you take him, do not **** around hoping you may have 2 players that may or may not be good as a Will Anderson.
