You could see the twinkle in his eye when he was asked about playing with J.J. "Man we got a squad." He's definitely excited to be here, and so am I!
Probably true, but the Texans can still make cuts and/or restructure if there is someone out there they really want.
Not a 35 year old safety. Honestly, I'm fine with bringing in Reed..and the $5 million in guaranteed money is really good. That's a good deal. I'm fine with it. I don't have any illusions about it...but it absolutely fills a need. We just have lots of other needs too...
I agree with you.... I just dont think that we have the money/resources to fill all our needs short of major contract restructuring (bad idea) or flat out releasing a key player. I am glad we got Reed, he is a key part of our defense now..... but I still cannot believe we do not have a #2 or #3 receiver on the team, unreal.
very exciting day. houston maintains flexibility with the structure of the deal. Fills our biggest need this year, and in year two, it's nice to have the option of keeping him at $4.5, or letting him go without any cap consequences. Nice job by Rick Smith and the Texans to keep McCain at a bargain deal and upgrade the safety position with the greatest to ever play ...even if he's a little long in the tooth.
IMO, the mindset is winning a ring for Andre Johnson. The Texans' window is Andre's window. You can see the end is near for Reed's career, but that doesn't mean anything for this season. Ed Reed is still a dangerous player anyway. Even at his age. On top of that, he brings that leadership role that we have missed since Demeco got traded. Demeco was a shell of his former self in his last year here, yet our defense seemed to play better with him out on the field. This will be similar with Reed. Reed brings that champion's mentality. He's got the experience to get our talented team over the hump mentally. This could translate to showing up during big games. On top of all that, I'm sure that Ed Reed will be playing to get his boy Andre a ring. That's what will keep his fire burning. Great fit. Great signing for our current situation. Win now. Win for Andre.
I got pumped hearing him talk about Watt, Smith, Cushing, Manning, and Joseph. That's a heck of a lot of talent on the defense, and it's going to be awesome watching ER20 flying around in the field. CAN'T WAIT!
I am excited for the team, and in hindsight, lol John McClain has no idea what the hell he is doing. He should stick with acting since he acts like he is on top of Texans news with the grasp at straws twitter postings...
Is Ed Reed too old? Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips certainly doesn’t think so. “I’m one that doesn’t worry about age too much,” Phillips, 65, said with a chuckle. “As a player, he’s still got the juice. You can see the great acceleration to the ball, his movement skills. When you look at him on tape, you see really the same player he’s been. Some people say 75 percent or whatever. I don’t see that; I see the same acceleration to the ball. He can still really run and anticipate things.” Reed, a nine-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer, will be 35 in September. Phillips, who has been an NFL defensive coordinator or head coach for the last 31 years, is excited about the playmaking and leadership Reed adds to the Texans’ defense. “He’s a great player, but he’s also a great communicator,” Phillips said. “Part of his great playing skill is he’s able to help other guys by letting them know where he’s gonna help ‘em, how he’s gonna help ‘em. His experience in that area is beyond most players. It is like a coach on the field, except it’s a player on the field that has great anticipation for what’s gonna happen. He studies the game. He knows what’s happening from each formation, those kind of things, and then he’s able to communicate those things to where he’s gonna help people. “That’s over and beyond what players can do, but he is over and beyond what most players are.” ... When Phillips met with Reed last week at Reliant Stadium, one of the things he was most impressed with was Reed’s knowledge of the details of football – “things a lot of guys at his position don’t know even though they’ve played a while.” “He’s got a great anticipation,” Phillips said. “I think he’s really smart, he studies what the other team is gonna do and what their strengths are, and he takes those things away from ‘em. But he’s got a knack that a lot of players don’t have, is he’s able to anticipate what the quarterback’s gonna do with it and get there before they get it done. And he’s done it against great quarterbacks. They won the Super Bowl, and he was a big part of that.” The Texans used a ‘twin safety’ approach with Glover Quin and Danieal Manning, often interchanging the two between free and strong safety and moving Quin into the slot in nickel. That will change with Quin now in Detroit and Reed in Houston. Reed one of the best deep-ball defenders, middle-of-the-field patrollers and centerfield-players in NFL history, and that’s exactly what he’ll do with the Texans. “He can do it either way,” Phillips said. “I just think he’s better as a free safety all the time. He’s so good that it’s just hard for people to throw it over the middle, throw seam routes, throw post routes, anything in the middle. He’s going to get it, and they know it, so they don’t throw it, or he gets ‘em. That adds a great dimension to your defense when you have a guy back there like that.” ...
His age is an obvious concern but I don't see how the texans didn't make the best of the current situation. GC's contract strapped the texans too much long term so the were able to replace him with a hall of famer on a reasonable, short term contract. Obviously there are other needs but you have to address them one at a time and this was the most opportune time to fill the starting safety need. WR, LB, OL and DL needs are going to be filled out with fringe FAs and the draft...and those will obviously be done later.
You're aware the season doesn't start this weekend, right? We still have the draft and more free agency. Why should the roster be totally set in March?
lestar jean says hello. i have no reason to believe he can't be a legit #2 if they would only throw him the damn ball.
I was high on Lestar as well but the #2 spot was he for the taking and he not only didn't take it, but got surpassed by the 2 rookies. I'm not saying he can't be that guy but last year sure didn't bode well for him. I don't know if they just weren't throwing to him, he wasn't getting open or what...but he certainly didn't take that big step that we were all expecting.
Looking at what it does for the team, it's interesting in that we didn't replace Quin....but we also added something we were missing even if Quin stayed. I didn't like losing Quin because of his ability to play virtually anywhere in the secondary. On the other hand, we never had a DB that excelled as a single high. In the second half of 2012, there were far too many miscommunications and blown assignments deep. Ed Reed changes that both as an individual player and as a field general. He should help our collection of individuals start to gel more as a working unit, something that struggled with last year. Manning takes over Quin's role, which he's better suited for than FS. Reed gives us the best over the top help we've had.....ever? Even if he is in the twilight of his career. You're weren't going to find a game changing FA WR with $6M. This contract is incredibly cap friendly to boot. I hate that we lost Quin, just like how I hated losing Ryan...but they didn't have a lot of freedom to make it work. What will be interesting to see is if they really do draft a safety in April. If they're as high as they say they are on Pleasant, we've already got 4 in the rotation. I doubt Kubiak wants 5 dedicated safeties, so it may need to be a DB that can play multiple positions to also help with CB depth and ST.
