Is Hakeem Olajuwon a good player? Is the sky blue? Do cheetahs run fast? Is the SEC better than the Big 12? Are the Texans 10-1?
If I had to give him a grade I'd say 8, maybe 8.5. Getting JJ Watt was a master stroke and while he gets credit, I have a feeling no one, including Rick Smith, knew how good JJ was going to be. Over time JJ's presence on the team is going to make Rick Smith look better and better. Starting in the 2010 offseason Rick Smith has been on a roll. I'm thinking the Brandon Harris draft pick is pretty much a bust, but overall he has been good. Hopefully that continues and this team can turn into a dynasty like the Patriots or Steelers.
I think TJ Yates is also an underrated draft pick when Shaub is gone, Yates will set us up for the next 8-10 years
Hopefully. I don't have quite the same confidence in him that you do based on what I saw this past pre-season...but maybe. Rick Smith's next big test will be seeing if he can keep the talent here and manage the salary cap well. He started out well by keeping Duane Brown and Schaub...but we really need to lock up Glover Quinn if possible. I also have been a bit disappointed in what we have gotten from LeStar Jean, Keshawn Martin and Devier Posey (not as much Posey since he was brought in as a project). Hopefully some of those guys take a big step forward next year.
1st years players rarely make an impact. Do not judge the picks until at least their 3rd year in. As for Rick Smith, he's been very good evaluating top of the draft talent, but not so good in the later rounds (but who is?). Fantastic picking up undrafted free/street free agents. Could use some work handling the salary cap, we've had a few too many cap casualties. Overall, I'd probably give him an 8.
6.5 His drafts is reminicent of Kareem Jackson's play thus far... Awful start(the 2007 draft was terribad), but vastly improved.
That is true Hard to evaluate the GM if you have ishtty coaching. . . or even great coaching. I wonder how many MISSES with Frank Bush would have been HITS with Wade. Rocket River
When I look around the league and see all of the former-Texans talent making an impact I have to give him at least an 8. Even Holiday looks good already. I know it's something every GM struggles, and the NFL cap is much more of a mystery to me than the NBA's, but I have to think he's had a few missteps in cap management when I see other teams loading up on big time talent while retaining players (Eagles).
Eagles have loaded up on skill players while Ignoring the o-line (I know you can't account for injury to Peters)I realize the Texans had two cap casualties on the o-line from last year but I believe that he’ll better manage the cap moving forward based on the proactive approach they took with Foster, Schaub & Brown.
Judging from his production these last couple of seasons, I think Wade could have definitely gotten more out of Jason Babin. Probably some of our defensive backs as well.
I think it's pretty common knowledge/widely accepted that Bob McNair was the driving force behind the Wade hire. His ties to the Phillips family seem to implicate that. Rick and Gary were parading in a bunch of defensive doofuses until McNair went out and got his boy.
