http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1824979 The Texans were busy Tuesday when they re-signed three players, hosted a free-agent linebacker and continued negotiations with free-agent running back Stacey Mack and free safety Keion Carpenter. The Texans completed deals with quarterback Mike Quinn, cornerback Jason Bell and safety Pat Dennis, all of whom played reserve roles during the team's inaugural 4-12 season. The Texans welcomed free-agent linebacker Twan Russell, a six-year veteran who missed most of last season after undergoing knee surgery. Drafted in the fifth round by Washington in 1997, Russell played the last four seasons at Miami as a reserve linebacker and special-teams standout. Dan Ferens, the team's director of negotiations, continued discussions with agents representing Mack and Carpenter, but no deal is imminent. Meanwhile, general manager Charley Casserly and coach Dom Capers are preparing for the NFL spring meetings that begin Sunday in Phoenix. A week from today, Casserly and Capers will be at Arizona State's pro day to see defensive end Terrell Suggs, the premier pass-rushing prospect in next month's draft. As a member of the NFL competition committee, Casserly will be involved in a lot of meetings in Phoenix. Among the competition committee proposals on which owner Bob McNair will vote are adding two teams to the playoffs and changing the overtime format. New England and Kansas City made a joint proposal to add two teams to the playoffs next season. Last year, commissioner Paul Tagliabue told the owners he wanted the league to keep the current format of 12 playoff teams for two seasons. Although the owners could vote next week to add one playoff team in each conference, more than likely it won't happen until 2004. "There are some pluses and minuses to adding teams to the playoffs," Casserly said. "Obviously, it would increase fan interest because more teams would be involved in the playoff race. "One of the original concerns was that a team with a .500 record or a losing record would make the playoffs, but that wouldn't have been a problem last season." New Orleans in the NFC and New England, Denver and Miami in the AFC were 9-7 teams that didn't make the playoffs because of tiebreakers. "If we go to 14 playoff teams, only one team in each conference would get a first-round bye," Casserly said. "That would make the bye more important than ever, but a team could lose it on an obscure tiebreaker." Last season, there were three 12-4 teams in the NFC, including Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay. If the new format had been in place, the Buccaneers would have been forced to play in the first round without quarterback Brad Johnson, who used the bye week to get healthy before leading them to a divisional victory over San Francisco. As for the overtime proposal that allows for each team to have the ball at least once in the extra period, there seems to be diminishing interest in adopting a new format. As time has passed since the end of the season, fewer coaches and owners are demanding a change in a system that has been in place since 1974. "But we won't know for sure until next week," Casserly said. "There'll be healthy discussions on both issues, and who knows how they're going to turn out?"
is there any reason we wouldn't want Carpenter??? do we have any other reasonable alternatives at that position?
Other than the fact that he had a big time neck injury last year? But, I do agree that we should sign him up. He should come relatively cheap because of the injury.
I'm glad we resigned Jason Bell. He's a high energy scrapper that every team needs. Him and Troy Evans are excellent special teams players.
