Which is exactly why we need to keep Mario in a Texans uniform for at least one season. It's all about pass rush.
I agree on this one. Best case, someone teaches Kareem to turn his head and look for the ball in mini-camps. If not, FA replacement or bust (i.e. you run with him next year). I don't see how you bring Mario back (assuming you can't franchise and trade him). Just can't see how you don't have Mario, Barwin and Reed on the field most of the time, and unfortunately, we only have 2 spots. I keep wondering if maybe Smith could be a casualty here and Mario gets his DE spot? Cutting Smith (or letting Mario walk), Leinart and JJ saves some pretty good money. Enough to sign a veteran WR and/or CB? I think Jason Allen might be a casualty also with the hopes 2 out of McManis, Harris, McCain and Carmichael step up to fill the nickel & dime spots. Also wonder if Wade is content with Cody/Mitchell at the NT. Cody surprised this year and held his own. Probably not a huge priority.
cutting smith is just crazy talk. He is the number one "Stunna" , the key to our now feared defensive stunts. I trust that the organization will make the right decision when it comes to mario and the rest of the guys, like myers, who is the leader of that o-line. he needs to be paid too. But a second receiver is desperately needed.
Kareem has shown some improvement. I was cheering him on during the playoff game because he was actually turning his head and looking for the ball. He lacks speed, so he needs to be put on the slower WR. Texans also have Brandon Harris and Roc Carmichael at CB, so I don't think the Texans will CB in the first round. I'm hoping they go WR that can start day one opposite Andre. Then in the later rounds, draft a Jacoby replacement, if he isn't on the roster already (Maehl, Jean).
Offseason Priorities IMO In Order... 1- Resign Foster 2- Resign Myers 3-Pay Wade Phillips Head Coach Money 4-Cut Jacoby Jones and Matt Leinert 5-Re-Structure Demeco Ryans Contract 6-Sign Mario Williams or Franchise Tag him 7-Sign a #2 WR like Brandon Lloyd or Eddie Royal in FA 8-Draft a CB in first two rounds 9-Draft a WR in first three rounds 10-Draft a good kick returner in the later rounds
And we had a great, tremendous pass rush without him. Honestly, if this means Brooks Reed sits, I hate it...I think Brooks is already a better pass rusher than Mario is. Heard Larry Zierlein on the radio this morning saying the same thing. Depth is great...but you don't pay for depth by paying for a guy of Mario's ilk when your DL is already killing it. Huge mistake in a league where there's a salary cap and you have glaring needs elsewhere.
I think they should keep everything intact... Injuries seem to find us... Shouldn't be any different next season...Have Brooks Reed be a situational pass -rushing LB. ....On 3rd downs, shift Mario to DE and move Smith to DT....
That's not what Coach said. Yes, he did profess literal man-love for Reed (and Watt) - but he made no mention of jettisoning Mario; he thinks he's an elite pass rusher, terrific against the run (I believe he said he was one of the better run-sealers in the league; best on the team) and that bringing him back is a nice "problem" to have. They did talk about moving Mario back to the DL. It's going to be an interesting offseason, that's for sure. My guess is they'll franchise him, give him at least one more year in this system.
If the money works, than great. But Mario is a luxury at this point. And you need to tread carefully anytime you give a player a salary slot that will be 10% of the cap. Without Mario, we were a suffocating top 3 defense. Yes, he'd make us better...but how much? If his resigning impairs our ability to retain anyone: not just Foster, but Myers, I don't think you do it. The better scenario is to Tag and trade him to the NFC team of his choice. I'd also say, his injury history HAS to be factored in. The last time he put up a dominating season was 2008. Be it missed games or a nagging issue that effected production, he hasn't been able to put it together the last 3 seasons. And few players in the violent world of the NFL become more durable as time goes on. He's still young, but the NFL can chew up and spit out guys in a flash. Last 3 seasons, combined: 82 tackles, 22.5 sacks. You just can't commit huge money to that production. Bottom line, you have to stay on the field and produce in a hard cap league. Incentive contracts would make sense...but the team cap is calculated on the maximum values. I do hope they can work some accounting magic and make it work....but he's a luxury.
He said specifically he couldn't imagine sitting Brooks Reed down. And I'm nearly positive he said he thought Reed was a tremendous pass rusher. As emjohn said, Mario is a complete luxury...and the pricetag is likely to be too high relative to other needs on the team given a salary cap.
As far as Reed being a situational pass rusher, several of you are selling him well short. 45 tackles this season, despite virtually no game action the first 4 weeks. If you take his last 16 games (drop weeks 1 and 2, include playoffs) he had a 57 tackle year. If you take his final 12 regular season games and extrapolate over 16, it was also 57. Barwin had 47 tackles this season himself, along with his 11.5 sacks. Mario was on pace for 35 tackles, and hasn't had 45 in a season since 2008. Love #90, rock his jersey....but this comes down to cost/benefit. Not simply the cash - his impact on the cap should not be dismissed. In this era, you simply can't reward guys for being popular with lavish deals. You've got to divvy that cap up among 22 starters and another 30 some backups. It's not trivial to hand 1/10th of the cap over to anyone.
Yeah - I think at some point, you stopped referencing Zierlein's comments and started adding your own and I think I may have missed the transition because he never said anything about jettisoning Mario. Yes, he professed man-love for Reed. He's not a luxury if Reed gets hurt; or regresses; or.... Mario is being deemed "expendable" because we had a quality back-up. Jettison him, and your depth suffers greatly. You're also wasting resources to provide that depth that could be spent elsewhere. I'm certainly worried about Mario's money; and it might very well be prohibitive. But I think it would be a mistake to draw the rather specious conclusion that they were #3 without him, and therefore, don't need him. After all, the team was 7-4 in games Dre didn't finish; 2-1 in games Arian Foster didn't finish; 4-4 in games Matt Schaub didn't finish... Let's just shave a ton of cap room and jettison them all.
Move Mario back to the DL? Anybody else get the feeling Mario would be HOFer caliber if we didn't keep jacking with his development? We must have set him back a good ways by now.
You don't pay the kind of money Mario will demand as a solution to the "what if Reed gets hurt" question. That's way too much money for that. If there were no salary cap, fine. But to pay that kind of money merely for depth? That's crazy. It's not as if there's not a cheaper alternative to addressing depth.
People are undervalueing Mario's ability to be double-teamed... I still don't think you have to double Barwin just yet... Mario gives that pass rush that dominating ability up front... IT'll make everyone's job easier just by the attention he will recieve.... I don''t think he'll ever be at Demarcus Ware's status as far as statistics but could be more important for this particular D... Someone mentioned , how could he make our D better...if we were #3 without him.... IMO , we could be a dominating top 3 defense with him here....Yes we were dominant more often than not.... But we would then have a psychological advantage over teams with him... The same way Pittsburgh and Baltimore had over teams when they were young and dominant....
Wasn't Schaub's injury supposed to keep him out possibly into training camp/preseason next year? I don't think it is a foregone conclusion that Leinart is gone. They might want insurance for Schaub's foot. (we just can't get away from feet and insurance with our teams)
Mario is being deemed "expendable" because his price tag far outweighs is production. If he was able to stay healthy I would be much more conflicted on the decision, but you can't tie up that kind of money on a player who is constantly injured. You may not be able to find another Mario Williams in the draft, but you can certainly find suitbale depth at both OLB and DE behind our front seven.
If they bring Mario back, it won't be as "just in case" insurance for Brooks Reed; Mario will be the starter, Reed will head back to the bench. (Assuming the keep Mario at OLB.) So it becomes a question of which line-up is better: Williams/Reed or Reed/?. IOW, I don't think jettisoning Mario is an easy decision, regardless of cap.
