No way Texans let Kareem walk AND cut JJo. I think chances are that one of them wont be back...and there is a small chance that both are back...but my guess is 0% chance that both are gone. 75/25/0...one back/both back/neither back. This team has so many needs, it hurts my face.
Everybody's draft board is different. You have no proof that the Texans thought Watkins was the best player available. The only problem with your "smash mouth" assumption is that he didn't draft a smash mouth RB. XSF doesn't scream smash mouth. CJ and Prosch do but they barely saw the field. They addressed the biggest needs way too late in the draft. There was a very small chance that those players made a significant impact.
As far as cuts are concerned for this team, cutting Joseph would give us 8.5 million in savings. I think he either needs to restructure to remain or leave. It really kind of depends on what kind of money Kareem is looking to get and what his market value is. If we can sign Kareem to something in the neighborhood of 6-8 million per year, then sign him and let JJo go. Chris Myers will give us a 6 million dollar savings. Before the season Foster had, I thought he'd be a cap casualty, but now we'd be better served to keep him for at least one more season. Andre needs to restructure or get cut. He's a 16 million dollar cap hit. Way too much. Cutting Fitz will give us an extra 3.25 million, so that's a good amount of savings there. If we cut Cushing post June 1st, we save about 1 million dollars, so not really sure if that's even worth it. I'd keep him for one more season even though he's nowhere near what he used to be. However, we need bodies at that position and he's still good enough to contribute some. All in all, I think the best plan would be to resign Kareem, restructure Andre (to a cap hit of ~8million), and cut Myers, Fitz, and JJo. That would give us over 17 million dollars in extra cap space for 2015. Keeping in mind that JJ Watt's cap hit will go from 21+ million to 12.5 million from 2015 to 2016, we should be in a position to have some decent cap flexibility moving forward.
I agree with everything except Myers. I'd keep him. I'd also try as much as possible to restructure Joseph down to about 3 million. If you can do that, you keep him. Of course, I know nothing about the NFL salary cap.
I think they plan on cutting him and moving Ben Jones to center, which is why drafting XSF was so important. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I dont mind keeping Myers if we dont have any options that are better. He had a very up and down year...some games he was very good, other games he was horrible. He's not quite the guy he was in Kubiak's system, so I dont think it would be very difficult to replace him. Joseph would be great at 3 million, just dont think he would be willing to go lower than the 6-7 million dollar range. We'll see how it goes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Houston has granted the Eagles permission to interview dir of pro personnel Brian Gaine for their GM spot. Interview is being scheduled.</p>— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/552960221208137729">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I think we should get a poll at some point asking what position should be targeted with the Texans' first pick. I mean, it's way too early, but it would be interesting to see how that changes over the course of the off-season.
conflicting reports on that. la canfora reports the cushing deal as a year by year deal that holds no significant cap drawbacks we shall see because if decent cap space can be saved by cutting cushing (who was outplayed by several UDFA's), cushing gonna get cut!
i thought Mohamed was undrafted, but turns out he was taken in the 6th round. tuggle outplayed cushing for a while, and he was undrafted. cushing isn't even a 3 down player anymore. the guy is slow as **** & not very instinctive.
Given the attention that Gaines is getting right now, I would hope the Texans would think about shifting job responsibilities in the front office similar to what has happened in Atlanta with Dimitrof and Pioli.
I agree with a lot of what's been said, but just for fun: Cut: Myers (jones to C, XSF to G), Fitz (Mallet starts), JJo (resign Kareem, restructure if he's willing) Restructure: Andre (or else cut and go WR first/second round) Bring Back: Kareem, Brooks Reed, Mallet, any and all DBs/OL/DL depth that worked Draft: best available across the board, but particularly MLB, DB in the first two rounds and Oline and Dline depth in the late rounds. Free Agents to Look at for the team's weaknesses: QB (esp if Mallet doesn't sign): Hoyer (knows the system), Shaun Hill, Matt Moore WR (if Andre is cute): Kenny Britt, Andre Holmes, Wes Welker, Hakeem Nicks, Cole Beasley TE: prefer to draft one, otherwise Charles Clay or Niles Paul could be solid options. OG/C: Just sign guys for depth and draft, and hope XSF figure it out. Dan Connelly would be a nice addition if he was willing to leave the Patriots. NT: Bring back Pickett, although there are a lot of options in the FA market. I wouldn't spent a ton in Free Agency on a NT though unless the coaches have completely written off Nix. I'd also think about drafting another one for depth - Danny Shelton from Washington would be tempting if he's there. MLB: I would draft one in the first or second round. Shaq Thompason should be there. DB: Here's where I'd spend any and all remaining money - gotta have a good secondary to beat the Colts. The rookies did a nice job last year, but a veteran to replace JJo would be great. Chris Harris would make this defense amazing.
That's the only place I've heard that...all I do all day is listen to sports radio and I haven't heard cutting Cushing as an option yet. All the salary cap websites state otherwise as well, in regards to dead money/savings. Until some other information comes out, I'll assume that cutting Cushing this year makes no sense. Wouldn't mind being wrong.
I have all the proof in the world that the Texans didn't think Watkins was the best player available (or thought they didn't need him) because they didn't draft him. But they did need a pass rusher and Clowney was the consensus #1 pick by the fans and most importantly McNair... And now we still need a pass rusher. Well, they did draft Blue and he looks the part... I think Xavier will be fine (remember how Brown looked his rookie year). I think CJ will be ok too (rookie TE's are usually horrible their 1st year). Ben Jones is a center playing guard and O'Brien likes to use big blocking TE's who can catch so it looks to me like they drafted for need if they're trying to build a smash mouth offense. considering the talent that was on the board. But drafting for need doesn't always necessarily mean that the rookies will step in and fill those needs immediately. Especially if they're not 1st rounders. Can't always expect rookies to burn it up out the gate. There's a reason why out of all of the rookies that are drafted the rookie(s) of the year list is usually a short list...
I hope I'm wrong, but I feel the need to keep Myers, as I don't see Jones being a quality starting center.
cutting cushing will always makes sense. he is not close to being good anymore. i'm sure he's a good dude & what not, but this is a business. he's a top 5 paid ILB and he can't even stay on the field for 3 downs. when he is on the field in running situations, he's often consumed by blockers or biting on the play action fake. get him off the team, now!
Keo going to Cincy has the makings of another bad move by the Texans. Cushing may be another year older but also another year of rehab and possibly a rebound season. Hoping things come together as far as everyone getting healthy and producing at a high level.
