Darren Sharper just doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a big ticket FA. He's 34 and entering the twilight of his career. Safety is not our weakest position. We'd do better to break the bank on CB or DT. Wilson, Pollard, and Barber did a good job last year. It might be nice for some depth, but not at the price he'll be asking. We can afford to wait a year and draft a kid or sign somebody younger who isn't coming off of a Superbowl run (i.e. won't demand more money than they're worth) to take over at safety for us in 2011 or 2012, if Wilson or Pollard decide to leave, respectively.
Since this is a uncapped year I wouldn't see the harm in giving him a one year contract worth a lot of money.
I forgot how often Wilson sees the injured list. It might not be a bad idea for a one year band-aid, but as others have already said, one has to think he's just gaming the market to get paid by the Saints.
Yeah I agree. I'm just not sure how durable Eugene Wilson will be this year. Hopefully we can just find a nice free agent pick up for this uncapped year and wait like you said until next year to permanently find possible replacements for RFAs like Pollard.
Agreed. Even though he would fit as a one-year stopgap for us, I just don't see how signing him really makes a whole lot of sense. At 34, you know he's gonna be looking for a multi-year deal, since it'll probably be his last, and he's gonna want to go to an established winner. The Texans don't really fit either of those categories. Besides, safety is not a position where we really need to break the bank. Re-signing Pollard, and having Wilson come back healthy is good enough for me. Now whether or not Wilson can remain healthy is a different issue.
I couldn't care less about his age, safeties often play till an old age and he very well could have won defensive player of the year last season. I think he could make a huge impact, especially because he tends to score a good amount of points on defense. That being said, I agree that CB and DT are much more important needs right now. Wilson was a starter on a superbowl team, he is not too bad, but Sharper would certainly be an upgrade.
What does everyone think about this Earl Mitchell guy? Do you think he can win a starting job? I'm not sure if the ageless one Jeff Zgonina resigned or retired, but I just hope that this Earl Mitchell kid and Connor Barwin can make some sort of impact this year.
Earl Mitchell is Amobi's replacement if he failboats this year, basically. Dear Mr. Okoye, time to start playing like 1st round pick, k?
Earl will be Okoye's Competition. He's a 3rd down pass rusher. I think the Texans are praying he wakes up some kind of monster the "potential" draft Bust Genius kid.
Sweet dude. Can never have enough pass rushers in a division with the likes of Peyton Manning and other mobile guys like David Garrard and Vince Young. I'll never get why the Jaguars reach so much with their draft picks. Easily could have traded down and picked him. Something tells me the Jaguars were drafting around signability concerns. STUPID! lol
This is a pretty good blog post about the Earl Mitchell pick as it relates to our D. http://www.battleredblog.com/2010/4/26/1445210/how-i-think-kubiak-plans-on
Yeah that would be awesome if we had someone legitimate in the middle of our defensive line to clog the running game. Maybe (well i should say hopefully) Okam, Bulman and Cody can clog up the middle when they see the field.
Barwin was great against the pass last year, given his limited time...he led all rookie DEs in sacks. I think he'll do very well.
I don't know if safeties being productive into old age (especially 35 and older) is the rule as much as it is the exception. Some great safeties and HOFers (Lott, Woodson, Lynch, Harrison, and Dawkins... Though Dawkins' late era contribution has been debatable) have done it, but it's not exactly common.
Houston Texas: B- Many forecasted that the Texans would take a cornerback in the first round to replace free-agent defection Dunta Robinson, but the team surprised by adding Alabama's Kareem Jackson over other highly touted prospects. Jackson is a good fit for Houston's scheme. He possesses similar physicality in coverage and against the run that made Robinson a franchise player. RB Ben Tate (Auburn) gives the club the big back they've been chasing. He possesses enough lateral agility and explosiveness to jump ahead of Steve Slaton as the team's primary ball carrier. Defensive tackle Earl Mitchell (Arizona) was brought in to push former first-round pick Amobi Okoye. The Texans might be worried about Owen Daniels' rehabilitation from a torn ACL, electing to invest in undersized tight ends -- and pass-catching specialists -- Garrett Graham and Dorin Dickerson after picking James Casey last year.
I'm pretty sure Darren Sharper is in the same category as those guys, he nearly won defensive player of the year this season, he has plenty of gas left. And no, most safeties do play into a late age, at least much more so than most positions. They may not always play at as high of a level, but plenty do.
The Texans draft is definitely underwhelming on paper. Looks like we picked up 2 potential starters in Jackson/Tate but the rest of the guys seem like depth guys at best. Mitchell could see some early PT if Amobi doesn't come around but I really can't see guys like Sharpton, Graham, McManis, or Smith getting a whole lot of PT absent some big injuries to the guys already on the roster. Obviously I could be wrong as Smith/Kubiak have found plenty of mid to late round gems in previous drafts. But I can't help but be a little disappointed at the fact that we have yet to pick up a legit FS prospect but have added 2 TEs in the meantime. I know our current crop of TEs is pretty banged up at the moment, but should they all recover, we're potentially looking at 6 TEs on the roster while our depth at both Safeties is one or two deep at the moment. With all this said, I do think Jackson and Tate will be big additions to the team and I'm glad we added speed in Holliday and Dickerson.
Well, look at it this way. Eugene Wilson is a starting caliber FS. His backup, Barber, played adequately in replacement time. Do you really want to bring in Sharper to supplant our more than serviceable starter for one year? What's the point of that? To piss off Wilson? Do we really need a one year rental at FS to "get over the hump"? And what exactly is Sharper's desire/motivation to come here again, as opposed to the Super Bowl champs, or some other team closer to a title than the Texans, or a team where he would be the undisputed starter/is needed more and therefore has a better chance of landing a long term deal? Neither scenario makes a whole lot of sense for either party. I don't expect the Texans to pursue him, but if they do, I don't expect Sharper to sincerely consider the Texans either.
