Of course sign Foster long term and re-work Phillips' contract but after... 1) Franchise Mario and look to deal him for high picks. 2) Sign Reggie Wayne 3) Draft a good young WR and more corners 4) Add quality depth Depending what you could get for Mario, Texans might be able to fill option #3 in the 1st rd alone. The rest of the draft you stock for depth...amazing we can finally say that.
yeah, i'm also concerned about schaubie. Will he lose speed with the surgery he had? **heard he should be back by otas
signing foster is obvious. Figure out if you can keep Mario. look for a rackers replacement (phil Dawson from cleveland) Punter - maybe Hartman can return sign some depth on defense via FA. Draft. WR or DL in the first 2 rounds. Whichever talent is best on the board. 3-5 rounds look for some O-line and LB backups....maybe a TE. 6 and 7...special teams type players.
posted in the other thread. WR - Johnson, Walter, Jones (should never suit up again) - A weakness on the team. That group collectively is not good enough especially with a rookie qb. The only player worth keeping is Johnson and maybe Walter as a 3rd or 4th option. QB - Schaub, Leinart, Yates - Good group but no single great QB. Schaub has a few years left. Yates had a horrible day but maybe he can grow. RB - Foster, Tate, Ward - A strength of the team. Maybe help the back end since Ward is an older player. TE - Daniels, Dreesen, Casey. - Good but not great, not big play TEs that you see in the game today. Draft a FB so Casey can switch to TE full time. He has the potential. CB - Joseph, Jackson, Allen, McCain - I put this here because in today's passing game CB is definitely a skill position. You saw what a "skilled" secondary can do with Baltimore today. Joseph is a keeper what a great player. Jackson should be a safety so the play is in front of him. Allen was Miami's trash. Joseph needs help. So it's simple imho, 1. Cut Jacoby "brain dead" Jones 2. Draft a top WR (will Floyd fall to us?) to compliment AJ. 3. Draft a FB to replace Casey 4. Switch Casey to TE full-time. 5. Let Mario Williams walk, us that money to sign a CB. No more rookies starting. You saw what JJo did. There are some very good FAs, Carlos Rogers, Tracy Porter, Brandon Carr, Finnegan (OMG), and others. Lardarius Webb is a RFA. There you go my 5-step plan to get to NOLA!!!
Casey would barely see the field if he was a full time TE. Daniels is probably a top 5-7 TE, and even Dreessen is significantly better than Casey.
We need to do 3 things: 1. MOST IMPORTANT- Get Healthy, Stay Healthy 2. Cut Jacoby and get a wr 3. Get a better cb
I agree trading him is the best move if a team is willing to bite. Considering the next best option is to simply cut him and clear out his cap space, any pick is better than no pick.
As part of the new CBA, you cannot franchise a guy with the intention of trading him. I have no idea how it's enforced - but that's the possible rub. And FYI to all the "Let Mario Walk" posters - one of the reasons you think he's expendable is because they had a quality back-up. This team can't start gutting its depth. That's not to say they should keep him - but the defense is undeniably downgraded if he leaves and there's not a Reed-like replacement on the team.
Adrian Peterson - $10MM Chris Johnson - $6.5MM MJD - $4MM AP is the outlier because of his marketability. But you have to think he will be making somewhere around Chris Johnson money.
I like our group of safeties, especially Manning, but after addressing the WR need, I'd like to pick up a good safety that can cover the bigger tight ends in the league ala hernandez, gronkowski, and graham. Those guys are mismatches against our LB corp and our safeties.
All the talk of "cut Jacoby" and "cut KJ" seems incomplete, if not ignorant. Are those of you who advocate these moves not willing to wait until next camp? You are supposed to bring in competition, not start with nothing and hope for the long ball in personnel moves. This is a team which could be solid contenders for years to come; you can't maintain that with a 'rebuilding' mentality. That being said... perception/reputation is reality, it seems especially with NFL players. Yesterday whenever KJ was on the field, he was treated like a baby wildebeest separated from the herd- regular opposing skill players suddenly become hungry lions, seemingly by instinct. Interestingly enough, they seemed to respect Jason Allen in coverage. I don't know that KJ has what it takes to change that perception in Year 3; developing a fondness for dirty play on the corner will only diminish his effectiveness. A corner prospect with long arms-quick hands and feet would be a nice test in camp. Jacoby has done the unpardonable- he's become a member of the Dubi0us Lore ring in Houston Sports history. He will likely get a 'fair shake' as a camp contrivance; but there's no advantage to his seeing the field ever again wearing Deep Steel Blue. Don't be surprised if his replacement is not a known quantity at the time of camp- it could be someone coming from another org in need of a scenery change as well. Barring off-season death/injury/Wade leaving for a head job, everything else seems to be a safe play; the Texans should be pre-season favorites to win the South again.
We don't matchup well with athletic tight ends, I agree. Next year we'll be seeing a lot of them. To some degree you have address roster issues with solely the upcoming season in mind. So yeah, signing someone who can at least keep up with those guys would be nice.
It's pretty straightforward. After re-signing Foster and Myers, make a decision on Mario. This is the first big challenge. You love the talent and drool over the thought of having him mix in at OLB and DE along with Reed, Barwin, Watt and Smith. The pressure they could bring would be unmatched. The price tag is the problem and we have seen how good the defense is without Mario, not because he is out but because the rest of the talent is very good. If they move on then it would be great if they could find the space to f-tag him and get picks in return. If not then they at least get cap relief but a lot of that will be taken up by re-signing other players and free agency. I just hate the thought of having him walk for nada. Upgrade the receiving corps and special teams. That means looking at wide receivers and yes tight ends like New England uses them. I know people want to dump Jacoby but since he is signed and unless they cut him for cap reasons, I would at least like to see how he responds and looks in camp. He has had 5 years but he still has talent and perhaps if we got someone else to return punts he could concentrate on playing wide out and improve. They also have Jean returning from injury and I would like to add a vet as well. The guy from the Colts I would look at is not Wayne, but Anthony Gonzales. He will be a free agent and he has been injured but could be a low risk high reward guy. Kubiak seems to prefer receivers with size who run good routes and can block, I think he fits and he is younger and could be better than Walter. Look for guys that can run after the catch, this should also translate to kick and punt returns. Upgrading the special teams means looking at punters if you are not sure Harttman will be healthy and even a kicker if you think he is much better than Rackers. After that I would look to upgrade the depth on both interior lines and at safety. The Texans would also have to add another pass rusher if Mario leaves, while you expect Reed to lock down that position you can still draft another guy to make sure you are not left thin in case of injury or poor play. Foster Myers Mario decision Receivers Kick Returners Depth at key positions
It seems like I remember him making some big plays this year as both a TE and FB. Yes, against New Orleans he had 5 receptions for 126 yds, and against Tennessee he had 7 receptions for 91 yds.
