Ryan Mallett named the Texans starting quarterback

There wouldn't be a reason not to drastically overpay him if there wasn't a hard cap....but there is.

 

We all know you're on the "QB or bust" side of things... even though that exact strategy has proven to set several franchises back for several years (Jacksonville, Buffalo, Tennessee, St. Louis, Miami, Tampa, Oakland...)

Between Mallett, Hoyer, Savage, the draft/field... the Texans will not be in a "this guy or bust" situation, nor should they over-reach and commit stupid guaranteed money at this time.

 

Because it would cost nearly $20 million dollars... and you lose your chances of either retaining valuable players along with being forced to get rid of valuable players, all to further evaluate this one QB that could still be worthless.

Then, not only are you back to square one... but you have even more needs that need filling.

 

If only we had drafted _____

 

Aaron Rodgers instead of Travis Johnson

 

They may be able to sign Kareem to a reasonable contract without placing the tag on him if they want to keep him. I think J-Jo is a guy they can definitely let go (I wouldn't be surprised if they let Kareem walk and cut J-Jo), and AJ can't stick around under his current deal... And maybe they can approach Foster and Cushing about restructuring their deals (especially Cushing because he's been stealing money). I'm not a capologist but it seems they could create the space if they wanted to go the franchise tag route for Mallet.

But you may be right about the Texans being able to retain him at a reasonable price.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner.

Of course there is doubt as to if Aaron Rodgers would have become Aaron Rodgers if he didn't get a chance to sit for a while coming out of college. He had quite a bit of work to do on his game before he was NFL ready.

 

I maintain that teams and situations often fail the QB just as much as the QB fails the team.

 

Every NFL team has passed over a few HOF'ers to draft a bum or 2. This is not something unique to the Texans.

 

Context is important, however...

The Texans passed on Rodgers (and all other QB's) because they were locked into Carr.

The Rams have passed on other QB options the past several years because they've been locked into Bradford.

The only thing guaranteed with high round QB's is that when you miss... you set your franchise back for at least 3-5 years, and the coaching/GM regime will be changed.

 

It's a possibility Savage may be good. At least for what O'Brien wants a quarterback to do.

 

22 other teams also had their own reasons for not drafting him. In hindsight, they all look just as stupid as ours, some of them even more so (49ers drafted Alex Smith at #1). But hindsight is always 20/20.

Everyone is a draft expert when the draft was 9 years ago. You saw how this bbs reacted when we drafted Watt. That should tell you all you need to know.

Sorry, don't mean to go off on a tangent. It just gets annoying when people point out missed draft picks. Every team misses draft picks every year.

 

I agree... Rodgers is a great quarterback, but that would still be a productive offense if they had an average quarterback. The Green Bay receiving core is better than what people give it credit for and they have a great coach...

 

You seem to forget Ryan Mallett has a say in what happens; the Texans don't own a club option on him. Sure, if all parties are agreeable to a low-risk, team-friendly deal, great. But if Mallett is this year's Nick Foles - only he's a free agent - the idea that he'd take a lesser deal to help the Texans is monumentally silly. He is going to want to get PAID. And the *only* way you can guanratee he stays with you (again, assuming your team-friendly contract is rejected) is to franchise him (which is a long-term advanatge because if he proves to be fool's gold, you're done, with no further cap implications, after a single year).

The other aspect of this you're too easily dismissing is that even in your scenario, he's getting guaranteed money - and likely beyond next year. What do you think Ryan Mallett will settle for? Not what YOU think he's worth; not what the Texans will want to pay him: what HE wants. If his options are: 1) being franchised 2) signing a below market, team-friendly deal 3) free agency where a GIANT payday likely waits.... your scenario (#2) is almost certainly his least favorable and therefore something you're going to have to make more viable (ie overpay).

He'd be absolutely moronic to settle for a deal that pays him less than, at the very least, the franchise offer. His earning potential will never be higher; to expect him not to cash-out is pretty silly.

 

If Mallet plays at .. .say 80% of what he did on Sunday for the rest of the season . . . .
does Fitzie get cut before next year?

Rocket River

 

Are there *that* many needs? I'm not suggesting the team is complete; but it's 5-5 with a puncher's chance of being 8-5. I think you're overstating the team's holes, in terms of them needing to throw a bunch of cash at them.

Also, they should be in decent cap space next year. The NFL salary cap likely rises another $10-ishMM; no more dead Schaub money ($10.5MM this year; Reed ($2.8MM) will be gone off the books, too); and minimal UFAs (KJax and Newton, neither of which will likely break your bank)...

You're falsely equating two radically different ideas. Sure, if you have to jettison salaries to afford the one-year franchise offer, there are longer-term ramifications. But assuming your cap is in decent shape and can absorb the hit, paying Mallett $18.5MM for one-year is not the same as handing Matt Cassel $62MM. (Or even $48MM to Matt Schaub back in '07.)

What do you realistically think Ryan Mallett, a 26-year old FA QB who will presumably have an impressive 7-game resume fresh in everybody's mind, will settle for?

 

If Mallett plays at 150% of what he did on Sunday, I'm not entirely sure if Fitz gets cut. It would depend on if the Texans could retain Mallett and if the staff thinks Savage is ready to be a decent backup.

 

Fitz was always a temporary place holder, he was always going to get cut eventually. It has almost nothing to do with Fitz.

 

None of those teams had the unique option to do a 1-yr tryout with no long-term repercussions. There's no setting anyone back "several years" here. And none of those teams were set back anyway. They would have been terrible even had they drafted other players because they still would have crappy QBs.

The problem with "guaranteed money" is in the long-term - not on one year deals. On a one year deal, it's just regular money. Hoyer's QB rating is just below Fitz and Kirk Cousins. The idea that he's a long term solution anywhere is laughable - he's not a good QB at all. The draft is highly unlikely to get you a solution for *next year* if you're drafting in the middle of the first round. Savage is a wild-card, certainly, and none of know what to expect there. If he doesn't work, that leaves Mallett as far as viable options if the goal is to be competitive next year.

Schaub's money plus cutting Andre Johnson more than pays for the QB. Keeping Johnson is pointless next year without a QB anyway, so there's no point in retaining him with a rookie or scrub regardless. And the cap is going up next year, which addresses upcoming raises. There's no need to cut a bunch of valuable players. People use the cap as an excuse a lot without really actually looking at any of the numbers.

 

Savage is the X factor, in relation to Fitzpatrick, not Mallett. If he takes giant steps towards becoming a vaibale NFL QB, then RF becomes expendable. But as of right now, they have RF signed for next year at relatively decent money, he's a good back-up who'll have a year in the system - it'd be silly to cut him - unless doing so frees up much-meeded money.