And over their recent era of moderate success, they also had Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn, Keyshawn Johnson, Joey Galloway, all of which were pro-bowl calibur players. Along with Keith Brooking (pro-bowler), Roy Williams (average player, but one-time pro-bowler), Marc Colombo (starter), Leonard Davis(pro-bowler), and Igor Olshansky (starter.
Thats the ONLY way to stay competitive for seasons at a time. Free agency patches up problems and can help...but you will not win in the NFL if you dont make good selections when it comes to the draft. Its been proven time and time again.
Again, I did not sat exclusively through free agency, I said they are willing to go out and get someone to put them over the edge Asante Samuel was a HUGE free agent at the time. And if you forgot, they also went out and got Terrell Owens along with Javon Kearse for their superbowl run, 2 all-pros at the time.
How many players did they break the bank for? Im not saying not to get good players, Im saying that you dont just run out and overspend on the best FA possible...thats been the whole point of the discussion, thats what started the debate. Just because the Texans havent gone balls to the wall isnt a bad thing.
You said "You dont need to sign big names in FA to win in this league." which I clearly have shown is not true. We are talking about free agent, but I never said you build a team exclusively through free agents. I said aver team that has been a legit contender over the past decade has signed big time free agents to put themselves over the edge (except the Steelers).
Most of the guys you listed were not signed as free agents, rather, they were traded. The only "big" contracts there are Asante and Leonard Davis. Yeah, getting a major FA is a good thing as long as you arent overpaying. For instance, the Peppers deal in Chicago is terrible. The Dunta deal in Atlanta is terrible. There is generally a state of overpaying when it comes to free agents in the NFL. Overpaying if you need 1 fix is okay...but when you have several positions that need to be filled, the last thing you want to do is splurge on one guy. Its not like the Texans havent signed free agents...they have. They just havent gone all out to get one guy, which is a pretty good thing...considering a guy like Nate Clements signed an 80 million dollar contract back when people here were screaming for him. So yeah, teams do go out and get 1 big free agent if they need it...but to win in this league, drafting well is more important than anything else. You build your team through the draft. You complete your team through free agency or trades.
If you trade for someone who was a free agent, you're not only paying their high salary, but you're also giving up picks. I don't see why trading would be better than signing free agents. It's probably worth noting that 3 of the 4 best teams this year signed their Hall-of-Fame QB's as free agents.
Shoulda just franchised Dunta. He ****ed the Texans in 2 ways: 1) Left us without a legit CB 2) His contract set the price on CB's and Bodden will ask for Dunta type cash.
When was the last time a team traded for a player that had a 6 yr 50 million dollar contract? Very few teams trade for players that have that much money remaining on their contracts.
Look at the playoff teams this season: AFC: Patriots Jets Bengals Ravens Colts Chargers Every single one of them had quarterbacks that they drafted. NFC: Packers Vikings Saints Cardinals Cowboys Eagles 3 of the teams had quarterbacks that were drafted by that team. The QBs that signed as FAs are Brees, Favre, and Warner. Brees was a highly paid free agent. Favre was very selective in which team he would go to. Therefore, he wasnt a true free agent. Warner signed on a 3 year, 18 million dollar deal...not exactly a high end free agent at the time.
I agree that you dont have to sign a big FA, to get it there, see last year Albert Haynesworth, he got a 100 million dollar contract, and what the redskins did? If wes welker was a sign or a trade? dont remember, but even if he was a FA and signed with the pats, nobody made a lot of talk about welker being a big Free agent, but now he is an excellent player. TO was signed by the cowboys, but he is gone now, and without him the cowboys win a playoff game. You dont need to make a huge signing to be good, you need to make a smart signing or draft pick to make a team good, and succesful.
Besides Haden, which CB is worth it being drafted in the first round? Wilson? I'd rather take a CB in the 2nd round and maybe trade a little bit down to add an extra pick.
Wilson will be a good corner. He's a good kid, and has great skills. Would be a perfect fit for Houston. I just think we could trade down and get him a few spots later...
I'm not disagreeing with that, but the Texas are at a point where they need to start filling their last remaining holes with veteran FAs. Like you said, "complete" their team. They needed a CB and a DT that is going to continue immediately. This team would be ready for a playoff run if it had thrown money at some combination of Bodden, Hampton/Wilfork, or Stephen Neal. DO you really think they are going to find a high level player at each of those position in this draft? Because I certainly do not.
I'm not angry that they let Dunta go, in fact, I'd be more pissed if they gave him another $10MM to play again this year by franchising him. I do wish they could've got something back for him via a sign and trade, but the fact that he was unrestricted this year took that option out of play. Signing Bodden, I'm "meh" on that right now. I think he'd make for an interesting piece in the secondary to go along with GQ and Jacques Reeves, but I'm more interested in seeing if there's anything there with Antwaun Molden. He's been a great player for us on special teams, but I know he was drafted to play corner for us. IF we can get either a bounce back year from Fred Bennett or a breakout year from Molden, I think we can have a decent set of corners going into the draft. Love the idea of trading back from 20 (especially if Thomas and Haden aren't there) and picking up an early second and third to go after a guy like Kyle Wilson.
