I agree with just about everything emjohn posted, wanted to comment on a few pieces. I think you make an effort to keep Jones unless Hartman is healthy and we don't have beef with him (legal). Don't need to waste time finding a punter, losing him is a small loss that could hurt you in a big way. ILBS - we need to keep at least 2, we need depth. Butler - want to keep him, need depth. Not sure Phillips prioritizes ILB in the draft, he went and got James for a reason. He wants a guy that knows the system. Not sure he's looking to the future. Hopefully Rick Smith is.
I agree, Casey dropped a big touchdown pass against the Patriots , Smith is over payed, and Barwin is done.
I really have no problem with Smith's production. And if you let him and Cody walk, you would have to replace 2/3 of our DL via "promotion", draft or FA.
He went after Sean Lee in the 2nd round of 2010. And if it weren't for back to back season ending injuries, he'd finish 2012 as a top 5 ILB. Bradie James was a stop gap for losing Demeco, and I think they knew that seeing how he regressed in his last year in Dallas as well as the one year contract he got here.
I'm not so sure James was a stop-gap, I think Phillips saw an opportunity to bring in his guy which made Demeco expendable, not the other way around... You can't tell me Phillips drafted Sean Lee when 7 million people are telling me Jerry Jones pulls all the triggers. Besides, that was a different situation (they didn't have a Cushing), my point is that I feel like Phillips is comfortable, hell confident in James. I'm worried he doesn't see much need to find another ILB, the same way Kubiak didn't feel like WR2 was a priority. There will be ILB's than can make an impact on this team available in the first round, I'm worried we wait until round 3 again.
My beef with the drafting strategy so often used by Kubiak (and I do put this on Kubiak cause he's the guy who loves his TEs) is that every year we would end up with 2 highly touted TEs according to the organization yet always seem to miss that one big star TE (i.e. Gates, Hernandez, Gronkowski, etc.) OD was pretty good his first few years becoming a pro-bowler but then injury struck. So now we end up with Graham's, Casey's, and that one only black TE drafted by us that hardly ever played a snap before being released. Point is, we suck at Kubiak's "specialty" drafting, blocking/receiving TEs.
I think we should look into trading Ben Tate. If someone gives up a 2nd or a 3rd+4th or 5th, cash in. The guy is constantly nagged by injuries and is clearly not in the good graces of the coaches. We need to improve our depth and if there's one position that we are good at finding guy under the radar, it's RB. There are always undrafted FAs that turn out to be decent at RB and usually plenty of decent vets (eg Derrick Ward, Forsett) available after cuts.
This was a possible scenario at one point, there were rumors of teams wanting to trade for Tate last offseason, but that's over. He's 5th round material at this point. Wont make sense to trade him while his stock is so low.
Probably right. Maybe they can get him healthy and showcase him during preseason and get better value for him for the 2014 draft.
Yep. From #19 in rushing yards as a backup to #64 as a hobbled backup that never fully bounced back from a bad hammy. You pretty much explained on your own why no team will bother to give up a worthwhile draft pick for Tate. The NFL has the least trade activity of any pro league, and this is a big reason why. This is a passing league now, and RBs have become a very disposable commodity. He will be a free agent then. And this league isn't one where teams showcase and trade players.
An ILB from the 3rd round could step in and start without question. You don't need to take one in the first round if there's not value there. Bowman from the 49ers was taken in the 3rd round because he was "undersized". The same thing will happen in this draft where some starting quality ILBs fall to that spot.
Hearing the New York Jets understand they won’t be able to afford to resign LaRon Landry. One less expensive option they will consider is Glover Quin, if the Houston Texans don’t resign him. The word is the Texans will do all they can to resign Quin.
An under-the-radar free agent name is Brice McCain of the Texans. McCain, a sixth-round pick in 2009, emerged as one of the NFL’s better slot corners, a position that becomes more significant each year. If the Eagles think Brandon Boykin has the skill set to play outside, McCain could be one of those low-level acquistions who makes a big impact in 2013. There were rumblings in Indy that the Eagles had some interest. They will keep the option of a franchise tag for Glover Quin as a possibility for as long as possible: The safety tag is about $7 million. It’s a palatable number, but the Texans have only $5.768 million in cap room. If they can’t reach a long-term deal that will produce a lower salary-cap number for 2013, tagging Quin will force the team to restructure a deal or two or cut someone that helps create room.
I'm absolutely shocked you guys don't see CB Brice McCain as a major asset to this team. Did you guys not watch what happened to our secondary when he went down? The Patriots game in particular. Listen Brandon Harris is absolutely positively the worst option at nickel we have. We need to re-sign McCain and just flat out cut him and accept our losses that he was probably one of our worser draft decisions. All this being said it's easily Glover Quin, James Casey, and Brice McCain that would have to be the absolute must keepers here because I just see no other way around not keeping them. Finally free agency wise I think the Texans need to seriously consider Greg Jennings in Free Agency. He'll compliment Andre well with precise route running and hopefully YAC and is just the age to allow for us to have the proper time we'd need to find a stud predecessor of a receiver. If it were up to me it'd actually be Dwayne Bowe but I don't think he's going to be let go in Kansas City so we'll probably have to find a good in the draft and that's not going to be easy. As far as draft the more I think it the more I believe the Texans will probably take Manti' Teo in the first if he's available by their pick. It makes sense. We need a ILB. He has the credentials. If he's able to convince the staff that he's over the hoax thing I wouldn't be shocked. Honestly if this offseason went like that I wouldn't mind at all. If you truly break it down our run first approach allowed for teams to pin their ears back and just come at our run game hard. Arian Foster still got his just not the way we're all use to. If we can get a couple of strong years out of Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels added with Greg Jennings and hopefully one of the freaking young guys at slot (I'm hoping it's Keyshawn Martin because he shows some flashes and promise from time to time) we just might have an offense that's balanced again and our offensive line issues might just get solved on their own. Plus a 2nd year for guys like Brandon Brooks and Derek Newton in this system might just be enough to get our O-Line back to where it needs to be. James Casey's versatility might finally matter with the balance and our defense wouldn't take a step back in any way and in fact may even take a step forward if all stay healthy. That's my opinion.
