Nothing has happened and nothing can happen while the lockout is still in effect. In all likelihood, Vonta will want more than what the Texans are willing to offer. So unless there aren't any teams willing to pay him what he feels he's worth, his days in Houston are probably over.
If the Texans are smart (and they aren't) they will come to terms with him. He is a major key to the running game.
I like Leach a lot. I really do. He's a top fullback in this league. That being said, if his demands are a penny over what the Texans want to offer, I'd let him walk. While you may not be able to find another Vonta Leach out there, you can find decent fullbacks just about anywhere. You can move people from other positions to fullback pretty easily and James Casey is a guy that I think would be pretty successful there.
You have valid argument, but I hate to tamper with what is working (and very little on the Texans is working). If Foster numbers drop, Leach may be the difference. Then it is too late.
While that's true, the last thing the Texans want to do is tie up a boatload of money into a guy that plays a position that can be played adequately by a large number of people. If he's reasonable in his demands, I'm all for signing him up. However, if he goes off the reservation, we have enough guys on this roster (James Casey primarily) who can fill in and do a decent enough job for a fraction of the price.
Offer Leach top 5 money. If he balks, let him walk. (or franchise him) James Casey catching the ball out of the backfield would give opposing defenses just as much of a headache as Leach blowing up linebackers for Arian. (whom I imagine will do ok regardless of who is in front of him)
In 2008, Greg Jones got what was the largest contract given to a fullback, $17.4 M over 5 years. That breaks down to $3.48 M per season on average. Before him, Lorenzo Neal was the highest paid when he signed a deal that paid him $5.92 M over 3 years ($1.97 M per) in 2007. Does anybody know what an average FB makes in the league? What's the real difference between what the average FB makes and what a Top 5 FB makes? I don't know what he made last year, but in 2009, Leach made $1.55 M. So how much of a raise are we really talking about here?
Texans will likely pursue Nnamdi Asomugha, Jonathan Joseph, and Gerald Sensabaugh. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...be-part-of-solution-for-texans-in-free-agency
More than double. Leonard Weaver signed a 3 yr 11.2 mill with 6.5 mill guaranteed. something comporable and i think a deal should easily be done. A total of over $4 mill a year would be too much.
The Texans need to sign a CB1 first, before they sign their own FAs. First things first. If after signing Nnamdi Asomugha or Jonathan Joseph, the Texans still have monies to sign Leach then so be it.
I'm guessing if they break the bank for Asomugha, you might see someone like Antonio Smith out the door as a cap casualty. I don't think they'd prefer to do it, but their current payroll is not insignificant, and if you need to free a large chunk, you are going to have to shed somewhere. Presumably, you start with getting rid of Orlovsky and Okoye but if you need to free up more there isn't a whole lot more significant "dead weight" along the lines of those two. And the two of them together basically equal Smith's $6 mil salary. Other "non-stars" with significant cap figures would be Eric Winston at $5 mil and Chris Myers at $3 mil. If you really need to free up money for a $15-$20 mil per year salary, just not resigning Vonta Leach for his $2-$3 million won't be that significant of an offset. Losing Orlovsky, Okoye and Smith would get you more than halfway to freeing the room. Obviously, I don't know the eventual numbers, but I doubt the Texans are so far under what the cap will be (again, they had a pretty significant salary number last year - larger that the Cowboys, for instance) that they can throw in a $15-$20 million dollar salary at a player without it causing complications with respect to the salary cap and the rest of the roster.
The last capped year was $130 million. Our salaries right now are something like $118 million. We will have the cap room to sign Aso if we want to.
To be clear, that $118M is the people currently under contract? So that pretty much assumes cutting everybody not under contract?
It accounts for everyone except Vonta Leach. Also, the cap will probably go up. Many have suggested $150 million as a possible cap number.
Everything I've seen indicates it is going to be about what it was the last time it was in effect (though it should supposedly grow significantly in very short order). That's why the players are getting the minimum floor bumped way up - as an offset. The owners originally wanted to roll it way back (IIRC 20%). With all the other concessions that the players are reportedly getting in negotiations, the owners are going to make some gains in the "total football revenue" issues which necessarily results in a tighter cap in the very short term. Say the cap is $135M and he demands $25 million per to lower his horizons and come to the Texans (and I have actually heard that number in relation to him going to a team that isn't "superbowl ready" once or twice). And keep in mind you are still going to have to sign one more starting safety and add depth essentially at all positions, so you are looking at, say, $5 million in salary to other players. In that scenario, you absolutely are going to have to start looking to shed salary.
He's not going to get a contract with a $25 million cap number. When people say things like that they aren't using "real" numbers.
It takes two to tango. I can accept the team's word that they will be very aggressive in going after him, but even then I don't see how it is possible barring a miracle. Stepping outside my fandom, I don't understand why he would want come here if he valued winning. It isn't like he is hurting for other teams that are going to be willing to throw money at him. With the exception of one or two teams, he would be a major, major defensive upgrade for the entire league. And if he didn't value winning, why wouldn't he just stay in Oakland and suck Al Davis' pocketbook dry?
yeah. That's been the texans biggest problem. Despite the popular belief that the texans don't try hard enough in the FA market, I think they have given good/reasonable efforts at times, but the problem is/was you need the player to say yes. exactly. I'd imagine his yearly cap hit will be between 8-12 mill.
