[Rotoworld] Aaron Schobel wants to finish career with Texans

The Texans would be complete idiots to not bring in Schobel. He is'nt a pro bowler anymore, but would definetly help the pass rush.

 

2 Reasons:

1. Schobel was due $8M next season; and
2. The Bills are switching to a 3-4.

 

*Crosses fingers*

Though, as an aside, I do wish Barwin would see more time as well. I guess the negatives the coaching staff percieves must be pretty sizeable in their eyes?

 

But also the guy didn't want to show up for camp. So since we are stacked at that position, I can see the Texans going after him, but only for cheap. Now he just left a boat load of money on the table, so I dunno if he's going to take it.

 

I want to see Barwin progress as much as the next guy, but the Texans need to start winning now, and we need a proven pass rusher.

They should pay him well if necessary, it's not as if were gonna spend money on anyone else. A good pass rush make the secondary play so much better, and could be the piece to put our defense over the hump.

 

The Texans couldn't ask for better luck. This opportunity has virtually fallen into their laps, and they better not screw it up.

 

Yes please.

 

Get er done Morey!

Oh, wait.

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-778-Houst...ow-would-Schobel-fit-into-the-Texans-rotation

Aaron Schobel is officially a free agent and fans and media alike seem to be in overwhelming agreement that the Texans should sign the soon-to-be 33 year old defensive end from Columbus.

The trending topic on sports talk radio has been 'whooeee' think about him opposite Mario .. watch out Peyton Manning!'

Yeah, sack numbers are good and the Texans desperately need to pressure the quarterback this year to take pressure off a highly suspect secondary, but for me it's not just the simple question of going out and signing the guy.

When questioned today about Schobel, Gary Kubiak acknowledged that the former Horned Frog is a 'heck of a player' but he also said something that gets to the crux of what's been lodged in my brain since 'Schobel Watch' started a few days ago.

"You look at your team and see where you're at and what's going on with your team," said Kubiak.

To me, that's another way of saying 'how exactly would he fit in to the Texans defensive line rotation?'

Let's get beyond the knee jerk 'sign him now' and see what it would mean if Schobel really became a Texan.

Rewind to last season.

The Texans took 9 defensive linemen into Week One of the 2009 season: Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye, Antonio Smith, Shaun Cody, Connor Barwin, Tim Bulman, DelJuan Robinson, Frank Okam and Jeff Zgonina.

Tim Jamison was added to the roster in October and the Texans carried 10 DLs on the 53 for the second half of the season.

I went back and looked at gamebooks for every game in 2009 and you can see patterns on how the Texans set up their DL rotation.

First of all the 'starting four' for almost every game was Antonio Smith, Amobi Okoye, Shaun Cody, and Mario Williams.

DT Jeff Zgonina, DE Tim Bulman (6-4, 271) and DE Connor Barwin were the primary rotation guys. DT DelJuan Robinson (6-3, 307) was active and in the rotation for most of the games. DT Frank Okam (6-5, 346) was not active for most of the games. DE Tim Jamison (6-3, 275) was active for only a few games, mostly against the pass oriented teams like Indy and Arizona.

The Texans currently have 14 DLs on the roster.

Based on what I've seen at practice there's no reason to believe the Texans starting DL won't be Smith, Okoye, Cody and Williams. And based on last year's precedent and this year's draft there's good reason to believe that Connor Barwin and Earl Mitchell are the first two DLs in the rotation.

Zgonina is gone so DelJuan Robinson seems to be the logical choice to move up to the backup nose behind Cody. (talking the base 4-3 now - not nickel because 94 has been playiing inside some at camp)

Frank Okam was inactive for most games in 2009 and he appears to be an underdog to make the roster in 2010.

So let's count: Smith, Okoye, Cody, Williams, Barwin, Mitchell, Robinson, Bulman are my top eight.

After that, the Texans have a bunch of defensive ends on the roster - and remember what we're going to do here. We're going to sign another DE.

Bulman is 6-4, 271 he's a bit light to play inside except for passing situations. Adding Schobel (6-4, 243) to the Smith, Williams, Barwin, Bulman rotation would obviously take reps away from Bulman or maybe even Barwin.

Smith has been working inside some in camp but at 6-4, 282 you can't expect him to play inside on more than just 3rd downs.

Jamison, Mitch Unrein, Malcolm Sheppard, Jesse Nading and Pannel Egboh are the bottom five of the 14 DLs currently on the depth chart.

There are no answers in this rambling mess, just a few tidbits that Kubiak and Kollar are probably tossing around as we speak. This is more to make you think than anything.

If Mario's hip becomes a real issue, then I can see the Schobel signing making perfect sense. Otherwise, I think I'd rather have a badass nose tackle than yet another defensive end - especially if he would cost a lot of money and only be able to play for one or two years (especially if retroactive cap accounting becomes a reality with the new CBA).

 

Nice read ... I can understand the fact that we need a NT more than another DE, but I don't think we can pass up a player like Schobel. Especially when the guy wants to play for us ... :grin:

 

Being somewhat able to stop the run is pretty important too - and would be a nice change of pace for us.

 

This is a silly article. It's basically saying he might not fit because the roster is stacked with a bunch of players who range from fringe players to maybe a little above average.

Schobel is better than every member of the defensive line other than Mario. To not sign him because you already have players at his position that are worse than him is stupid. If the Texans are really hesitant to sign him because they don't want to displace one of their mediocre linemen that have failed to produce a pass rush for years...well...that's a further indictment of this team.

 

why haven't we signed him yet? I know we're all not GM's but c'mon...

 

See the prior page... Schobel expects to take about a week to "decide" whether he's going to play or retire. And by decide, that means he definitely wants to play, but doesn't want to go through the heat/grind of training camp, so he's going to stall a bit.

 

Because he isn't in a hurry to sign with anyone. Would you want to hurry and sign to spend a month in this heat? Also, his agent is using other teams' "interest" as leverage to get more money from Houston.

 

So.

Mario Williams > Schobel
Antonio Smith = Schobel
Amobi Okoye < Schobel
Tim Bulman < Schobel
Connor Barwin < Schobel
Earl Mitchell <<< Schobel
DelJuan Robinson < Schobel
Shaun Cody <<<< Schobel

 

Antonio Smith < Schobel

 

2 years ago yes but Smith will be playing almost every down and Schobell will be rotating. I'd say they're equal.

 

Schobel put in 10 sacks, 34 tackles, 4 passes defenced, 1 interception and 3 forced fumbles LAST YEAR.

Smith put in 4.5 sacks, 26 tackles, 1 pass defenced, 0 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles.

 

Reeko got what I was saying. Obviously Kubiak is not going to break up his starting 4 just for Schobel to sign. He likes his rotation and will more than likely bring him in on passing downs and long yardage situations. Possibly alternating them to keep them fresh.

Of course Schobel is better but if he's added to the roster he is on the same level as Smith in regards to play time, therefore lowered production.

Plus they want to see more out of Smith so why would they drop his PT dramatically just for Schobel.