I don't belive Butler turned down the chance to start for another team. Although he expressed publicly that he wanted to be a starter, I don't believe any team gave him that opportunity or offered starter money. Hence, he resigned with the Texans.
It's still hard to believe the Texan's are in such a bad cap position that we have to cut half of our team just to make "ends meet". Holy ****. This isn't even contracts adding up, players aging and not being worth their deal, etc. This is just mind-boggling that our cap situation is like this after 1 season. God damn the idiots in the front office.
2008-2009: Bunch of contracts get signed, mainly resigns of expirings (Winston, Smith, etc.), or guys getting bonuses/pay raises (Demeco, Andre, etc.) 2010: Lockout becomes imminent, not much done in FA (a few scrubs signed, backup QB, kicker, etc.) 2011: Lockout resolved, uncapped year. Salary cap remains flat for 2012 and 2013 per CBA. Team signs only vital FAs. 2012: Because of the new cap (both the size, inflexibility, and timeline), which could not have been foreseen by anybody, the Texans are forced to cut overpaid veterans. So, would you have rather the Texans thumbed their noses at those players who wanted to get resigned/pay raises in 2008 and 2009 in preparation for a CBA that wasn't even written yet? I fail to see the basis for outrage.
Take it easy Francis. Texans are being prudent in not seeing the higher offers given to their players in Dreessen, Brisiel and Mario. So a # 2 TE found in the garbage, a G who was picked off the side of the road and a # 1 pick who received ridiculous money but yet the texans still managed to have a quality defense without him. They were also freeing up some of that money to keep Myers. Demeco was a case to not only save money on the cap next year, but also get something on return. For as much as we love him he wasn't playing nearly as many snaps. I heard that by getting rid of him this season rather then next saves money. Don't forget, the texans have some true key players coming into contract years...namely brown and Barwin but especially brown Look, I like each player they have lost/let go so far....a lot. It's tough to see them go. But once you take a step back and look at the entire situation as a whole it makes more sense. This is just how the nfl is. Oddly enough this is really the first time in texans history that I can remember them losing beloved players to the open market. So maybe it's just something we aren't use to
If you think you won't have a job the next year why not go all out and cap out to the top Worry about next year when it comes Well . . .next year is here now .. . and you have managed to buy yourself 2~3 more years Rocket River
So you are outraged. What are you going to do about it? Do you have season tickets you can cancel? Can I buy those season tickets from you? The waiting list is long and the Texans are going to destroy the oppostion next year. Cant wait.
Can you blame Texans fans though. It's not like Texans fans really understand the price of obtaining talent. It's easy to have cap room when your team range from sucking to mediocrity. Half your draft picks turn out to be cut years later. And your most significant FA signings are the likes of Ahaman Green, Todd Wade, and Antonio Smith. Texans fans are used to not having anyone worth a damn worth giving fat contracts to. It's for this reason that fans were all on the side of Andre when Andre wanted more money from the Texans. I was actually quite surprised at that time. Because it seemed like fans are basically saying "we don't care if this means we have to cut other players, we just want to make Andre happy." This is why you don't see Pittsburg or NE fans having this attitude. Since they're already used to seeing players leave because the hard cap means you can't keep all your talents together. They actually root for the team amidst the changing players.
NE And Pitt have a track record of being able to replace talent with talent and still be competitive. Their fans also accept the attrition because it comes with multiple consecutive years of being a superbowl competitor. In New England's case it's a little weird to put them in the same group because they always have cap room. They make choices not to bring people back, but it's usually not because they can't afford them. I'd like to see examples of other teams that were mediocre of bad for 10 straight years, went to the playoffs once and then were in a bad cap situation that caused them to release/let go/not resign 7 significant players from the year before. I think you'll find if you look back through history you are talking about teams that have been in the playoffs over and over competing for titles that get into bad cap situations. Not the fringe teams. We aren't the Ravens, the Patriots, the Steelers, etc. We're in a group with teams like the Bengals and the Bucs who, surprise surprise, have tons of cap room.
Great post. Anyone that can't see our cap has been poorly managed for years is drinking too much of the homer cool aid.
I think we need to wait and see how well the Texans perform next season before we make judgments on how the Texans have managed their cap space. If they can adequately fill holes with competent backups or newly drafted players, then the Texans will show that they know what they are doing. If the Texans have a bad year, then I guess fans have a reason to whine and gripe. I'm sorry to see some of my favorite players leave, but I'm not ready to push the panic button. I'm really looking forward to this years draft.
I don't think that's necessarily what justtxyank was saying. I thought he was explaining why it's harder for fans to accept, not comparing the Texans' personnel situation to the Bengals and Bucs. To me, as I've said numerous times, what it comes down to is massive underachievement on the field in 2009 and 2010. The Texans talent base is much closer to the Pats/Steelers than Bengals/Bucs, and has been for at least three years. It took until 2011 for it to finally show up, though. Unfortunately, contracts don't fall in line with that timetable, and we're paying the price for having an elite squad in talent for multiple years. As such, the blame rests more with Frank Bush (and Gary Kubiak, by association) than Rick Smith and cap management. I think the Texans have built a contender the right way, but we missed out on at least two of the early years (when cap issues aren't as significant) by goofing up on the field.
Indeed. And the Texans have a similar talent base right now, QB position notwithstanding. Hence, I want our fans to understand that you can't maintain all your talent by their market value. And yes, because NE and Pitt can replace these talent, they maintain their winning ways. The Texans can afford Mario too. But instead they chose to sign Joseph and Manning last year. Otherwise we could've matched Buffalo's offer. If you're implying that it's better to not sign impact FA but simply maintaining your own, then that's a personnel decision. Not about cap management. As The Cat mentioned above, the Texans had playoff talent for 3 years now. The fact that we never had a D Coordinator has nothing to do with cap management. Also, when you're counting your backup FB and backup TE as "significant", then you and I have some fundamental disagreement on what constitutes as a significant player. If you think our current talent level is at the Bucs/Bengals level, then I can only respectfully disagree with you. Unless of course you're implying that Schaub can't be healthy next year. Otherwise I don't see our talent in the Bucs/Bengals category. Perhaps next season will prove one of us is correct in assessment of the team's talent.
Hmmm.....Kubiak's underachieving teams are causing the present "cap issues"? C'mon now, the apologists here can't have it both ways. While I believe the Texans have underachieved under Gary and will continue to do so(hope not), the latest salary shredding/moves(?) better yield a team capable of going to the big dance or the front office is accountable too.
I really want the Texans to extend Brown, Barwin, & Schaub now instead of waiting until next offseason. They will likely get a cheaper deal if they can.
if we can't pull off a terrible draft that yields no one that requires a decent amount of money down the line so we can retain all of them and win 6 games a year, everyone should be fired
