ESPN's Pasquarelli: Texans face decision on QB Carr

From ESPN Insider:

Franchise has a pair of 'options' to consider
By Len Pasquarelli

Decision time is looming for teams with young, high-priced quarterbacks who have underachieved during their careers. For the Houston Texans, in fact, decision time on David Carr, the top overall player chosen in 2002 but a quarterback who seems to have regressed over the last two seasons, is only about two months away.


That's because the Texans only have until the final game of the regular season to execute a buy-back clause in Carr's contract that enables the franchise to retain him. Under the terms of the seven-year contract Carr signed as a rookie, the final three seasons of the deal were voidable. Carr has already reached sufficient performance levels to cancel those three years, and technically, his contract expires at season's end, making him eligible for unrestricted free agency.


But the Texans have the right to buy back the voidable years and have two options for doing so. The first involves paying Carr a bonus of $5.5 million to buy back two seasons, at base salaries of $5 million for 2006 and $5.25 million for 2007. The second is a bonus of $8 million, which would buy back three seasons, with base salaries of $5.25 million each in 2006 and 2007 and of $6 million in 2008.


So do the Texans, whose underachieving performance is essentially a reflection of Carr, keep him around by sinking even more money into a guy who has fashioned just a 14-33 record as a starter? Almost certainly, they will, given the time and money invested already. To this point, through five weeks of the season, the Texans have paid Carr about $17.86 million, and they owe him the balance of his $5.5 million base salary for 2005. To dump Carr now would be an admission of failure, and pragmatically, it's not as if the club has anyone better to replace him.


But in recent days, Texans officials have begun to debate the wisdom of doling out the $8 million bonus to buy back three more years on Carr's contract. Suddenly to the winless Texans, who figure to watch disappointed owner Bob McNair enact a relatively dramatic housecleaning at season's end, the two-year option is looking like the way to go. It saves a few bucks and puts Carr on notice that there are some limits to the team's patience. And if Carr produces in the two seasons, well, the Texans can either extend the contract or use the franchise designation to keep him around.


It is a decision that, while still two months down the road, is getting considerable debate these days among Texans officials. Suffice it to say that some team officials no longer view Carr through the rose-colored glasses they once did. His apologists can point out, and sometimes rather convincingly, that Carr has suffered from a lack of support. The poor quality of the offensive line has turned Carr into a human piñata, the receivers, beyond standout Andre Johnson, aren't especially accomplished and Domanick Davis, for all his productivity, is still seen as a middle-level tailback.


All decent arguments. But Carr hasn't exactly picked up the offense by the boot straps, either, and carried it along. Watch him on tape and it's obvious, after being hit so much in four seasons, that he is getting a bit gun-shy. And he's missing open receivers, not even seeing them at times, then often unloading too late. He's in a hurry to get outside the pocket, doesn't always get through his progressions, and frequently looks unsettled. It is not, on tape, a very pretty sight.


New offensive coordinator Joe Pendry, who replaced the deposed Chris Palmer after coach Dom Capers and Carr helped throw him under the bus, has been a lot tougher on his quarterback. And players told ESPN.com that Pendry has the offense watching more tape together now, as opposed to in units, so they can see the collective errors that are being made and where the breakdowns are occurring. In two games with Pendry as the coordinator, though, the results haven't been much better than they were when Palmer was calling the shots. At some point, some heat has to fall on Carr, some players agree.


The Texans are hardly the only team facing the kind of decision at quarterback that they do with Carr. Detroit (with Joey Harrington), Baltimore (Kyle Boller), the New York Jets (Chad Pennington) and New Orleans (Aaron Brooks), teams have quarterbacks who have made a lot of money, and for various reasons, failed to deliver a commensurate dividend. One has to wonder how much more shelf life those guys have. There is no such uncertainty in Houston, where the clock is ticking. The Texans have a little more than two months to decide if they want Carr for two more years, three more seasons, or perhaps not at all.

 

I thought it was RM95 posting that he lost his Astros buzzkill....