Restructuring is more or less like using a credit card. You can borrow now, but sooner or later you're going to pay. I think the Texans have been making sure in not piling up bad contracts these past few years. So if they want, they can "go for it" now with massively backloaded contracts with their current high-salaried players to gain a ton of cap room. The downside is that 3-4 years later they'd be screwed. If the Texans feel there's a short window with Schaub still performing well, then they should go for it. Otherwise, it might be best to balance out short term and long term.
I would keep them both, which we have the cap room to do and more, unless Reggie Wayne can be had at a reasonable price or Manning wants to come to the Texans and is 100%.
I'd keep Foster, draft a pass rusher and a WR/KR type. Also I'd try to sign a vet WR like Robert Meachem. Mario would be gone though.
It can be done, Mario's cap hit was what 14-16 million last year? Give him a Demarcus Ware type deal where the first year is like 9M, Arian gets the tag or a deal starting at 7M, Myers 3-4. At those amounts it works. You cut Jacoby, Leinart, and look to restructure Ryans. The concern is that some team with a ton of space like TB offers a plain stupid deal like Haynesworth dollars and or a poison pill upfront cap hit. If that happens and Mario would rather have the extra dollars he is gone.
Mario as he said in the interview(grain of salt taken) wants a good long contract. either way, I see them both here next year. The only piece we were missing once we clinched the division, was Schaub. Comes down to health but...New Orleans 2013, here we come.
Texans won't use Franchise Tag on Foster: link Hope this means that they're comfortable they can get a long-term deal signed with him and won't have to use the Franchise tag and thus tie up cap space.
I sure hope that we come to an agreement with him before March 13th. It makes me nervous to think that some team could swoop in and offer him a front-loaded contract that we wouldn't be able to match.
Where in that article does it say the Texans won't use the tag? Curious where that headline came from.
Smith said the same thing when we tagged Dunta. I'm not counting it out. 7.7 million or so. Especially if he gets wacky high offers as an FA.
Upon further review, the blogger that reported that story "covers the Titans", and no doubt would love to see Foster leave. And if someone on ESPN (he sources it to "NFL Live") had intel that the Texans weren't tagging Foster, there would be a story on ESPN about it. My guess? ESPN listed Foster as a restricted free agent on March 13 on the implicit condition that he isn't tagged or re-signed before then. Titan blogger sees what he wants to see and turns it into something else. This reeks of a complete non-story.
I think I'll wait for more reliable sources before taking that one to the bank. NFL Live also said we were making Mario "an offer he can't refuse" two days ago. When Nick Scurfield or Pancakes tweets it, I'll believe it a bit more.
I suppose we could use official Mario, Myers, and Foster free agency threads, but to avoid creating a 37th one: http://blog.seattlepi.com/football/2012/02/28/report-seahawks-pursuing-defensive-end-mario-williams/ Bills, Bucs, Titans, and Pats (strange to me, given their FA track record) are the other teams I most commonly hear associated with Mario...and it seems like the Bucs may be more Mario's target than vice versa. Starting in 2013, the cap floor goes way up, forcing the low payroll teams to spend 90+% of the cap. That makes the Bills more of a player...but Mario would have to want to go to NFL Siberia. Obviously, teams can't talk too much about a guy that's not available (yet)
This. I say franchise Foster if you cant sign him to a reasonable long term deal. Restructure Demeco. Let Mario walk. Resign Briesel and Myers. Cut Jacoby. From there, I'd actually like to see them use the rest of the money on a veteran receiver that can stretch the field, be a No. 1 if Andre gets injured, and/or be a force in the red zone (Lloyd, Manningham, Laurant Robinson, Garcon, would love Jackson/Bowe/Colston but not realistic or affordable). Then I'd go for broke and try to get Branden Carr to be a shutdown corner. If we can't get him, pick up someone with potential like Richard Marshall or Will Middleton who wil at worst be a solid No 2 CB. Draft a 3-4 OLB in the fist round for depth and possibly to replace Barwin if he walks next year, draft another receiver, draft a 3-4 DE as insurance for if Antonio Smith needs to be cut, then spend the rest of the draft bolstering the OL/special teams. That team would have no weaknesses if everyone stays healthy, and Oline would be the only position possibly lacking quality depth.
