This is exactly what I was thinking and quite frankly if this happened would be thrilled. As far as everyone talking about Arian Foster and his age I think the exception rather than the rule needs to be applied on him. There are great players and then there are SPECIAL players. Arian Foster is SPECIAL. Perhaps you fear A.Peterson more because of physicality nature of his run style or CJ2K cuz of the speed but A.Foster not only fits this zone 1 cut system but is probably the BEST BURST OFF THE CUT running back there probably even is in the league in my opinion. His talent and skill are quite honestly bar none and mix that in with his patience he's going to be here to stay in my opinion. Lastly I don't know if you all notice it but A.Foster when he runs seems to have so much body control that he seems to limit the way a defender line up to hit him & stays on his feet when going out of bounds limiting the amount of damage he takes to his body. I really believe this guy is going to be a staple of our franchise for years to come. Then comes the opinion on Mario. Though I disagree with the notion that we have to choose 1 because assuming both players want to be here we can structure their contracts long term as such so that they can both be had on the roster and their salaries are capable of being within our cap, Mario Williams is an ELITE pass rusher. You do not lose him for nothing. The real question is does M.Williams fit the rule of thumb of what most GM's consider for their respective franchises (12 PLAYERS CAN BE COMMITTED TO FOR BEING YOUR CORNERSTONE PLAYERS) leaving the rest of the players to being draft picks or moderate free agent signings. By my count we currently have 8 considered cornerstone players & 12 mid-level cap hits : QB- M.Schaub WR- A.Johnson RT- E.Winston DE- A.Smith MLB- D.Ryans CB- J.Joseph FS- D.Manning OLB- M.Williams (in rookie contract but gets paid as a cornerstone franchise player due to being 1st pick of the draft) Notable 1st Round contract salaries or mid-level free-agent contracts ILB-B.Cushing WR- K.Walter RB- D.Ward LT- D.Brown LG- W.Smith DE- J.J. Watt QB- M.Leinart WR- J.Jones DT- S.Cody OT- R.Butler CB- J.Allen CB-K.Jackson So since we have a total 20 players I would only assume 8 guys would have to come off this list at some point some day. Additionally we have to consider the contract of center C.Myers which would be tough because if I'm not mistaken he was considered to be a pro-bowl alternate and quite frankly we can't take the chance of our O-Line losing any bit of the chemistry that it has going on for them making it potentially 9 players in our cornerstone list. Add running back A.Foster's restructured contract in the mix hypothetically making the overall list now 10. I personally think the better question is if we had to cut this list down to 12 assuming we have these 10 (Schaub, Foster, AJ, C.Myers, Winston, A.Smith, Demeco, Joseph, D.Manning, Mario) who would they be OR would a player of these 10 just flat out not make your list? (For the purposes of this exercise also I'd also say leave J.J Watt & Kareem Jackson out of this since they are in the early part of their rookie contracts and franchise cornerstone decisions don't necessarily have to be made on them anytime soon) Lastly please remember the cap figure will be rising like it always does every year and if I'm not mistaken in the new CBA it is required that 90% of your cap be used. So I don't believe it is not possible for Mario and Arian to be back on this team together. I just think it is simply a matter of if management believes they are worth the investment or not. And that's my take.
Sorry my phone hit post. I was about to say Arian Foster is not going anywhere. He is our MVP and after Joseph our most unreplacable player.
You would never franchise Arian. Franchise tag is for unrestricted free agents like Mario or Chris Myers. Foster's a restricted free agent, if the Texans want to be turds they would just tender him and he could either play for it or sit out with no penalty cause he wouldn't be under contract till he signed the tender which would be like 3-4 million for one year.
I would like to see Mario buy into the idea of staying in Texas and being a part of this team as it becomes a contender. Sign a longer contract with more incentive pay to allow room for Foster to sign as well. Since that doesn't happen in real life, you have to lock up Foster.
Love Mario but Arian has proven to be a bigger difference maker on wins. I still would love to sign both, but if we had to make a choice, especially after last season, Foster is more pivotal to the offense.
Lots of talk this morning on 1560 from Granato, who says he is hearing the Texans will sign Mario. I still think this is going to end up costing us something I'd rather not part with.
I love Arian more than any straight man should. But to be honest, I think he's expendable. Elite defensive ends don't grow on trees, and we already got 2 full years out of a guy at a position that has a normal shelf life of 3-4 years... The riskier play is letting Mario walk, honestly. Plus Arian seems like a guy that won't be all about the coin. Sign Mario to a lucrative, but intelligently structured deal... and then do what you can to keep Arian. He's restricted, so the deck is stacked in our favor, at least. Backload Mario's contract, and frontload Arian's... that's what I'd do.
I might be paranoid, but I'm worried that the Texans aren't serious enough about re-signing Chris Myers. There are some good teams that really need help at offensive line, and are probably willing to overpay for Chris Myers. The Steelers could steal Myers, move Pouncey to guard, and get much better right away.
I strongly suspect and have also heard rumblings that the FO has written off resigning Myers. They want to shoot for the moon with Arian/Mario and are eyeing a center in the first round. It's not what I would do...but if they manage to keep both Mario and Foster (both would require at least 6 year backweighted deals), I can't complain too much. If it backfires and they lose Myers and Foster to keep an oft-injured/hampered Mario? I might carp about it....a lot.
Have to backload both - the guaranteed money due to both of them, even spread out over 6 years, will clog up 2012's already slim cap room. The base salaries for both would have to be tiny this season and balloon after (2012 cap is expected to barely increase, while 2013 cap is expected to leap up).
Yeah, Myers, Dreessen, Jacoby's contract, and the possibility of franchising and pissing off Arian Foster. Konz in the first making more sense than ever. I can handle it if it means Mario stays.
Outside thoughts on Mario's FA http://www.sbnation.com/2011-nfl-fr...012-nfl-free-agents-matt-flynn-mario-williams Listed: Hou, BUF, CLE, TEN Gets tougher once you screen all of the fan/media blogs speculating if he'd be a good FA to add - half the league would be included....but that does not indicate any FO interest.
I somewhat agree with this just because RBs have such short lifespans. But then you have to deal with the non-Foster/Williams players that need contracts.
