Maybe Phillips had settled on Reed already, it'd explain why we never made an offer to Quin (from that what's-her-name tweet earlier).
This isn't the NBA, where role players get MLE money. Safeties don't get paid much, and at 5.25 mil per year, Quin would be right around the top 5 paid safeties in the league (base salary). http://www.spotrac.com/top-salaries/nfl/safety/ Our own Danieal Manning only gets 4 mil per year (good for #9 among NFL safeties).
Hopefully the Texans do better replacing Quin than they did replacing Winston/Briesel last year. Looks like we've gone from Funny Money Casserly spending to Rick Smith taking his first stab at moneyball. If he gets it down, super, but otherwise our talent and depth is sliding. Pollard is a box safety that can only hit, he's a bad joke in coverage. He was a complete bust in Jacksonville.
Amendola? Good signing. He will fit perfectly with what they want to do as long as he can stay healthy. The thing about Welker that was underrated was a guy his size in the slot, catching as many passes as he did and staying healthy.
When you've been good for as long as teams like the Texans and Ravens have been, the salary cap issues can start piling up.
Ugh.... I lost a lot of confidence in Rick Smith once I heard he doesn't use a moneyball approach to the game and doesn't use advanced statistical analysis... now the Texans are loosing players left and right, the cap situation is bad, and their losing players left and right. I also don't like his "Only build through draft, not free agency" approach to the game. Too many talented players out their that could make serious immediate impacts to solely rely on potential. Just drafting a new WR isn't going to be enough IMO, and Keshawn Martin definitely isn't a viable WR-2.
John McClain @McClain_on_NFL Carl Poston, who reps Charles Woodson, says Texans have contacted him bout Woodson, who's in San Fran. Ed Reed visiting Texans first.