Remember the thread on his personality preventing good free agents from coming here. LOL the depth on this team is remarkable considering where smith and kubes had to start from
Playoffs are in Houston for the first time in 18 years. Texans win the division by week 14, with arguably their top three players missing significant time. (!!!!!) ...and you're b****ing about the GM? Really? #b****ersgonnabitch I don't pretend to know who carries more of the weight for compiling this roster, although I think it's pretty evident Wade had a lot of influence on this year's defensive acquisitions. All I've got to say is: Holy crap, this team was scary good. Think about what the Texans assembled. Think about if you still had Mario, playing the way he freaking was playing, on the already-best-in-the-NFL defense. Think about if you have AJ80 16 games. Think about if Schaub were still under center (may have won yesterday by two touchdowns). Seriously. I was... So. WRONG. ...about this team before week one. My God, what a ridiculously good team.
but how much better would Mario have been vs. Barwin and Reed's performances this year? Mario seems fairly expendable to me, given the emergence of these guys
Okoye is playing a big role for a damn good defense in Chicago. He's Frank Bush's failure, not Rick Smith's.
I hated the guy for years but I can admit when I'm wrong. He's done a solid job of drafting. He took over in '07, and improved every year. 07- Jacoby Jones 08- Duane Brown & Steve Slation 09- Brian Cushing, Connor Barwin, Antoine Caldwell, Glover Quinn, James Casey, Brice McCain, Troy Nolan 10-Kareem Jackson, Ben Tate, Earl Mitchell, Daryl Sharpton 11-JJ Watt & Brooks Reed, TJ Yates Signings of Joseph and Manning While you still have to wait on '10,'11, I'd say this roster has depth and it shows, we may not land many high priced free agents but the team has finally came around. If you compare it with Charlie Casserly who hit on a player every draft until '06 I'd say he's done a good job.
I find it funny how, other than Joseph and Manning (two guys we already knew were talented), all of these "great" draft picks and signings basically sucked until Wade Phillips got here. Sorry guys, in the pecking order of kudos, Rick Smith gets a golf clap compared to Wade and Kubes. I get the feeling that Smith is pretty much just a contract negotiator and business manager, rather than actively involved in personnel acquisition. We all know that every defense pick this year were Wade's choices, and Kubiak is largely in charge of the offensive personnel, in particular QBs and setting up the running scheme (at least he brought in Dennison to take care of that).
I have no idea who does what in their front office, but their player personnel decisions have been universally terrific. Kubiak now has two near-legendary drafts under his belt ('06 and '09); they've signed impact free agents, made good trades; discovered undrafted free agents...... And they've built a roster top to bottom that has not lost a step despite losing Schaub, Foster, Johnson, Williams and Manning, plus Leinart, for extended periods. As MM said, every single person in this organization deserves kudos.
But you can admit they are talented players? It's not his job to coach them up or to put them in positions to succeed, all he can do is put them on the roster and let the coaches do as they will. The guy is still a average to good GM but with what the team has accomplished despite injuries, he deserves some credit.
I know it's easy to rag on some of his draft picks, but what impressed me the most about Smith was the way we nabbed Joseph. He pulled out early of the Asomugha sweepstakes and grabbed Joseph instead of waiting for Aso's nonsense. There's obviously a lot of credit due for Wade Phillips for the defensive turnaround but the upgrade at the secondary by grabbing Joseph and Manning was all Smith.
