Yes, I'm sure NOBODY wanted him yet he still reeled in a $3 million dollar deal. Nobody gets that much if nobody else wants them. He had at least one other deal out there, even if nobody reported it. Who do you propose that we go with as a backup instead? Don't say Rex Grossman (there's a reason he stayed unemployed this long, and couldn't beat out Kyle Orton to start in Chicago), or Jeff Garcia (he wouldn't have signed here). We got a 4th round pick for Sage and signed a guy who I'm willing to bet performs just as well as Sage did. Anyone remember when we signed Sage? He was a young unproven guy who nobody really talked about and got little interest. Look what that turned into. I'm not claiming Orlovsky to be the future here, I'm just saying he's more than capable of keeping our heads above water should we need him. That's worth $3 million a year compared to the alternatives.
Travis Johnson was here before Kubiak got here. Try again... Actually, I'll tell you. Jacoby Jones in the 3rd round two years ago is their most questionable draft pick to date. And that's a stretch, considering it was the 3rd round. Okoye still has a lot to prove but isn't a bust and everyone at the time thought that was a good pick. I can't believe people are b****ing about paying a vital backup QB $3 million and they want to guarantee a Tight End 8 million dollars a year. I can't wait until the Texans have a good season so people will realize that we really do have good management, and stop living in the past. Comparing the team now to four years ago is like comparing the mid-90's Oilers to Luv Ya Blue.
You know that in the NFL, that the overall contract amount is relatively insignificant. What matters is how much guaranteed money there is in the contract. I want to say that Orlovsky is only guaranteed $2.5M. I don't think $3M/year is too bad for a backup. I mean, Sage signed a 2 year, $9 mil contract with the Vikings. And if Orlovsky isn't the backup, you know he's not going to be around to see the end of his deal and the Texans won't owe him that money.
I will take your reply to be to my response eventhough you didn't address it directly and not as if you were supposed to. My question was simply put, did we upgrade as I think not? When DM traded the Rockets starter Alston, he upgraded with someone riding the pine in Lowry. I would never want either Dan/Rex to be the starter but it's clear that one of these two will see some major time due to how history is for Matt. I don't think either of these signings is/are beneficial but if a 4th round pick validates the trade so be it. FYI, I'm not that high on Sage either but since Kubiak is as you put it known for working with QBs, what went wrong with Sage then? All I'm saying is the team could have done better especially for committing 9M to a backup.
Baqui says we didn't draft properly in the last few years. Let's take a look. In 2006 we drafted: Mario Williams (Pro Bowl) DeMeco Ryans (Pro Bowl) Charles Spencer (starting LT before injury) Eric Winston (starting RT) Owen Daniels (Pro Bowl) in 2007 we only had 1 pick in the first 2 rounds but still ended up with 4 starters: Amobi Okoye Fred Bennett Matt Schaub (via traded draft picks) Zak Diles Then in 2008: Duane Brown (starting LT) Steve Slaton (starting RB) 11 starters and 3 Pro Bowlers in a 3 year span. But think of how much better it would've been if we had only drafted "properly".
Nothing went wrong with Sage. He came here as an afterthought to most of the league and left here much improved and a potential starter in the NFL (damn that Brett Favre). I mean you can't turn everyone into pro-bowlers, but he took an unproven player and made him a legit starter on a lot of teams. I'm willing to bet Schaub will make a pro-bowl or two in his career as well. You say we could have done better- give examples. There was no clear cut guy out there that was better other than maybe Jeff Garcia, and he wasn't coming here...JP Losman, Byron Leftwich, Chris Simms, and JT O'Sullivan were the other top quarterbacks on the market. And we didn't commit $9 million, we committed $2.5 million for this year if he makes the team. If he sucks, you cut bait and just pay him his signing bonus.
Drafting starters only means something when you are going to Super Bowls. When you've yet to have a winning record, it means very little. 2006 was a good draft for the Texans. I think the others are too be determined.
You are aware that Travis Johnson was picked in 2005, pre-Kubiak and Smith, right? Charlie Casserly sucked, we all get this. But Kubiak and Smith's track record of selecting and developing players has been very strong. Not sure what an erroneous pick from the prior regime has to do with anything.
What a load of crap. So if a team isn't going to a Super Bowl every year, the quality of their drafting is irrelevant? Yeah, drafting starters doesn't mean much if the team sucks. But if a team is 2-14 and a new GM comes in and the team drafts 11 starters and they improve by 6 wins in 2 seasons, that's a fairly good indicator they're doing something positive.
