I don't necessarily agree that we need an OLB. If Clowney plays, he replaces Reed. He'll be able to produce at the level of Reed. Our needs are WR, Nose, ILB, and FS. If we can get Wilfork, that'd be huge. Get Wilfork for a year and see if Nix amounts to anything. Fill the rest through the draft. Get a WR in the first, ILB in the second and a safety in the third, but don't reach. Shuffle accordingly in order not to reach.
If being the question. I don't think there is any knowledge he will play at this point. As important as pass rushing OLB' s are I think you have to plan on Clowney not playing and if he does you just have more depth and rotation there.
We cant have Merci and Clowney on the field at the same time, they both play the same position and/or have the same strengths/weaknesses. We need an OLB that does what Reed did, but better. I do think acquiring Wilfork will put an end to any need to draft a NT, which would be huge. Nix and Wilfork will hopefully be more than adequate. Im also hoping we can sign Rahim Moore, which will at least minimize the need for a safety from the draft. I think the first 3 rounds have to consist of WR, CB, and OLB...in whichever order gives us the biggest bang for the buck. After that, fill out the rest of the team with BPA.
Reed's main job was to rush the QB... which he didn't do very well. Would have been nice if he could have made the transition to ILB, but apparently the team didn't feel he could. Merciless and Clowney can and will play at the same time.
That actually wasn't his job. Reed's job was to play over the tight end and be a guy who could go between rushing, run stopping and coverage with ease. Merciless can't do that. The coaches have said in the past that they don't see Merciless and Clowney being able to play at the same time as neither guy can really be the guy to go into space and be a cover linebacker. There is a reason that when Clowney "came back" last year he was going to rotate with Merciless, not Reed. Neither guy can play Reed's position, though they may get forced to.
That is not totally right. The Mercilus/Clowney position rushes or covers. Brooks Reed protects the edges from RBs and of course rushes the QB when the ball is in his hands or when blitzing. Mercilus was supposed to do nothing but rush the QB. John Simon seems to be slotted to replace Reed.
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So you're saying that we had 2 OLBs playing together that had the main job of rushing the QB? One of them needs to be able to cover and Reed did that way more often than Merci.
They need an OLB. You can't count on a full season of health from Clowney and Merciless just isn't a very good player.
According to overthecap.com, the Texans have about 16M in cap space, but it doesn't include Hoyer's deal and probably subtract around 4-5.5 mil for draft picks.
Y'all are talking about that OLB and Clowney slot a lot. Clowney isn't starting the season. Cant see him contributing in a big way next year. The historical data just doesn't back it. He doesn't just have to recover... he has to rebuild the leg completely after months of atrophy then compete at the highest level imaginable.
Also, considering the fact that Merci's contract ends after the 2015 season, we are running very thin on future OLBs. Basically, we might even need to take 2 of them in this draft.
Like I said, can't count on a full season from Clowney. They need to draft an OLB that can at least be a rotational guy with Merciless and the street FAs they have on the team.
Didn't John Simon take over a lot of Reed's time at the end of the year? Haven't seen him discussed in this OLB discussion
Reed wasn't all that great in coverage... a lot of times they kept Swearinger up as a box safety for that. I don't think they're going to miss Reed one bit... Clowney and Mericless won't be together all the time, but I'd be surprised if they can't figure out a package that utilizes both.
so your saying out of 16M Hoyer deal was 2/10.5, and rookies 5M and we are left with like 5-6M to spend?
Should be just north of 6 mil, if we give Wilfork 5 of it, we're done spending. I'd like him here, but it seems that the Colts are hell bent on collecting over the hill players so it wouldn't shock me for him to join the retirement village in Indy.
