I hate to see this, because Winston is a good guy, but honestly, he was the weak link on a great offensive line. He was good at combo blocks and getting downfield, but he was often bad against the pass. He's still an above average tackle, but he's not great, and he's getting paid like a great one. I get it.
the funny thing is that in the nfl the players are all conditioned to be fine with the concept of being cut for 'cap reasons'. I can see a winston and bob mcnair press conference where they both shed tears and part ways with a hug.
Some folks will always try to justify the Texans decisions . I thought jj or ryans should have been cut first. If I was getting fired I would tell the owner to go...
Because they can just go somewhere else and get another front loaded contract with a possibility of new guaranteed money.
LZ said this morning that Ryans is due $5.9MM this year, and cutting him will only save the Texans $900k this year on their salary cap. In other words, it doesn't make sense to cut him per LZ's analysis. Jacoby on the other hand...
If he doesn't land somewhere else he can probably come back but at a lower price (nothing new with this scenario probably what the Texans told him). The question will be can he get another team to pay 5+ million a year for a RT?
I read somewhere that players that are designated as June 1st cuts will count the future money differently (as in the team would save more THIS year on Demeco but not see as much savings for next year). So maybe some of these cuts are just waiting for that deadline to pass in order for a player to be designated as a June 1st cut.
Certainly not trying to defend Pancakes...but it turns out the salary cap really does matter after all.
He was a great guy, but the days of keeping guys on the team because they're great guys are (hopefully) over. That's what happens when you have a good team. Sad to see him go, but he was our 5th best O-lineman last year. And remember we have Butler who can play either tackle position and probably could have started last year on a lot of teams before he got hurt.
I was pretty surprised when I heard about Winston. Not because I think he was untouchable, just because I did not hear his name being tossed around as cut/restructure material. That being said, the move makes sense. He had a high cap figure and although he his pretty good, he is by no means irreplaceable. Not to mention you have a quality backup in Butler (who I completely forgot about since he was on IR all year). There is a lot of maneuvering to come.
This would seem to signal they were pretty significantly over the cap, huh? You don't make a move like this unless you're fast-approaching desperate. One thing to consider - if they do indeed like Newton, with Butler... Winston was tough but expendable. Ryans is a tougher cut if they don't think they have depth behind him. And I would guess that's why JJ likely survives for now. Cut him and that leaves two competent WRs on your roster and no PR. He likely goes after free agency and/or the draft when they get an opportunity to replace him. This was designed to get under the cap, and likely far enough to make pushes for Williams, Myers and/or Brisel. Nothing more. I'm guessing roster-shaping will come into greater focus after April.
Honestly, I'm going to be shocked if Demeco makes it past 3 PM without taking a paycut or being sent packing. Sharpton seems just as ready to take over at MLB as Butler is at RT, and Demeco is more overpaid than Winston was. As for Jacoby, if the Texans couldn't sign somebody more capable with that 4 million dollars, I'd be shocked.
If they need to, I would agree. But if they don't need to - if Leinart/Winston plus AJ's restructuring bought them enough space to be in compliance and enough room to pursue Myers and/or Williams, then it can likely wait until they see how the roster shapes up after free agency/draft. But I have no clue what their #s look like so last night could have simply been the opening salvo for a long day. Funny, McClain just wrote a piece - like, two days ago, iirc - about the importance of the 2006 draft and by the end of today, three of those guys could be gone. (And let's not sleep on Owen Daniels, btw - would rate more expendable than Ryans, IMO - though I admittedly have no idea what his cap # is.) Anyway - point is: McClain could not be more out to lunch.
Cutting Ryans this year makes little sense...however, next year would be a more financially wise decision to cut him.
According to the guys at 790, Demeco's accelerated bonuses (from his restructure last year) would mean that his cap hit is virtually the same whether he's cut or plays. I doubt seriously they cut him just to cut him. I think they might try to get him to agree to trade salary this season for guaranteeing more future salary or something like that, but I doubt he's a cap casualty this year.
Somebody will want to sign Winston just because he was on the Texans top performing O line. Fans of that team will be happy because he is maybe the only Texans lineman that they have ever heard of. I'll miss him, mainly because he was actually from the state of Texas.
