Aside from coaching and front office (save that discussion for another thread), how many upgrades do the Texans need in order to be a legit contender next season? Take into account that Cushing might never be the same player he once was, that Andre isn't getting any younger, that Tate will almost certainly be gone, and that Foster might have trouble staying healthy. Lastly, no matter how well Keenum finishes the season, he's going to need a backup, and if his game declines, over the next half season, the Texans are going to need another starting QB. So where do you begin overhauling the roster? Let me get this out of the way, the Texans will need a new kicker. OK, the Texans replace their kicker? What next? Let's try to keep this discussion rant free, please.
Few things to address / to-do between now and the off season. 1. Convince Lechler to stay (and not retire). I know he signed a 3 year $5.5 contract but he came here to "win and be close to home". Hopefully the staying close to home part keeps him from retiring. 2. There is really no need to cut Bullock since we are going into tank mode. But it doesnt hurt to bring in some kickers into tryouts to see if we can find anyone who can help us in the future that is still a FA out there. If we dont find anyone, cut Randy in the off season and use a draft pick on a K. 3. Time for Marciano to go. We need to see if the assistant ST coach is able to step up, or we need to hire a new ST coach. 4. Cut Schaub. See if we can trade TJ for a possible late draft pick (which we can use on a K). If not time to cut TJ. Draft a QB in the second/third round to start developing. Not saying Case is not the answer but none of our backup QBs are the answer if Case ever got hurt, better to draft a QB prospect. 5. Draft priorities in the first 3 rounds need to be ILB, Safety, OLB, QB. This is considering B. Williams + Quessenberry will be coming back to battle for that RT spot. 6. Need to get a RB in the later rounds 4+. Tate is gone. Foster cant stay healthy. DJ had fumble-itis. None of the other RBs on the team are the answer at the backup spot. 7. (Cut or Trade) Ed Reed needs to go. Owen Daniels may be cut due to salary reasons, and since Schaub won't be here...his security blanket won't be 100% necessary. Antonio Smith will be a question mark, but he is probably gone due to JJ's contract and also Antonio may command too much money. Sharpton needs to go. Newton needs to go, we can keep Ryan Harris as the Starting/Swing T and have DQ and Williams as backups/future starters. Wade Smith may be gone due to salary, and he really hasn't had a spectacular year. Keshawn gone. 8. K.Jax needs to be extended and offered a contract if it is reasonable. Yes he has a lot of PI calls, and some are definitely his fault but id rather have him and JJo at this point. We need to reconsider JJo's contract and is he really worth keeping, as well as Brice Mccain's contract. Manning really has not been impressive this year, his contract is a load as well. Im not saying we should cut/get rid of all these guys, but we need to evaluate whether they are worth their current contracts. 9. Extend JJ Watt. Highest paid player at his position. 10. I would be all over the Fire Gary Kubiak bandwaggon, but as of right now I am actually impressed by his playcalls now that he has Keenum and not Schaub. I feel like Schaub really limited what Kubiak could do with the offense at times, and with Keenum Gary has really opened it up. I would only considering getting rid of Kubiak if we could get a big name coach. If we are going to hire someone from college, id rather not at this point. If we do tank, its for a draft pick. We are not tanking to do a complete rebuild. Simply too talented to rebuild.
this team is inconsistent on both sides of the ball. new qb.... same problems.... same results. undisciplined overrated defense that only plays 1 half, doesn't commit turnovers, sucks in the redzone inconsistent secondary soft offensive line NO HEART can't maintain intensity for 4 quarters "play to not lose" mentally when up big which allows teams to stay in the game (how many times have the texans dominated on the stat sheet but still lose games?_ probably the worst special teams in the league. they're not elite anywhere. just decent on 2 phases of the game and terrible in one aspect of the game. this team is systematically flawed from the ground up.
Assuming Keenum claims the starting job for next season... Cut Schaub, sign veteran QB and draft a developmental one in the mid-rounds. Target veteran MLBs in free agency and draft one or two of them as well. Focus on offensive line early on in the draft... the right tackle spot must be fixed. Definitely try to pick a safety early, as Reed's status with the Texans will be up in the air and Manning is getting old/injured. Maybe look for a WR, but it might be better to roll with our current receiving core for another season and see how Posey develops. An interesting decision would be to draft a very good TE.
They'll never, ever do this, but I really wish the Texans would just cut everyone in the offseason, eat all the bonus money for one year, and rebuild for 2014-15. The list of cuts would be Joseph, Schaub, Myers, Andre, Foster. I believe OD and Manning's contracts will just expire anyway. Then re-sign Andre for a much more cap-friendly deal. And pray that the team can draft well for 2 straight years near the top of the draft. By then the team will still have a cornerstone LT(Brown) and DL(Watt). Along with Hopkins and Cushing if he gets healthy. And with a ridiculous amount of capspace, sign some impact players to fill out the rest of the team.
Not sure if you are serious. Why would Andre get cut and then want to resign here for a rebuild effort? He would just go to Indy with his BFF Wayne. Myers had done nothing to warrant a cut. You gonna start Ben Jones? Why not focus on cutting Wade Smith? Foster is not getting cut. Not gonna happen. And Tate is gone, so Foster is staying.
Yeah, just basically become an expansion team again. That should make it easier to be competitive again really soon because it worked so well the first time. Oh, wait . . . .
Are you implying that this team is contending right now? Because Wade Smith's contract ends at the end of the season, while Ben Jones makes no money. The idea of cutting someone is to save money. Not because they suck. I never said it was going to happen. In fact that was the first thing I said in that post. I only said what I feel is the best way to build towards contending status IMO.
I'm curious. What was our successful blueprint for being competitive? Because I thought it was when we drafted high(Watt) and had capspace to sign marquee FAs(Joseph, Manning). I'm advocating a strategy that would allow us to get high pick(s) and sign marquee FAs. How did it fail the last time we tried it?
That last time we had cap-space and a high draft pick, we weren't forced to cut all of our talented players that are crucial to the team's success.
If mariota or johnny are on the board you gotta take them. Too good to pass up. Need a hell raising olb Kicker Backup rb A slot who is a legit threat on returns Cb Safety Athletic TE
Interesting. Let's hope McNair reels in a Morey clone. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-rankings-for-best-available-at-each-position
at this point, i think it's easier to list the holes that we DON'T have: LT RG C - although I can be sold on a new C WR1 WR2 DE (Watt) wow, that's it. not including cushing because he is hurt for the 2nd season in a row. did not include keenum because we need a larger sample size, but i love what i see so far. obviously these people have to go: schaub reed daniels wade smith newton manning jjo foster martin tate - i would like to keep him, but we aren't ever paying a rb again fat randy gary kubiak wade phillips rick smith
Foster will be back. Would have been interesting to see what the texans record would be if Keenum started week 1.
