http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2798149&type=story Veteran DT Zgonina signs with Texans Durable defensive tackle Jeff Zgonina, a blue-collar performer whose work ethic has allowed him to outlast more talented players in the NFL, has signed a two-year contract with the Houston Texans, the seventh different franchise for which he will have played. Zgonina The contract totals slightly more than $2 million and includes a signing bonus of $250,000. A 14-year veteran, Zgonina played the past four seasons for the Miami Dolphins. Despite his age and tenure, Zgonina, 36, drew solid interest in free agency, even in a market that has been very slow for defensive tackles. Surprisingly, it has been middle-tier tackles such as Zgonina, and not the higher profile players available at the position, who have proven attractive to teams seeking help at the position. The Texans' coaches focused in on Zgonina a few days ago and completed the deal on Wednesday morning. Zgonina should be a good fit with the Texans, whose depth chart is thin and features a mix of younger players who have yet to fulfill their potential and older veterans. In 171 games, including 62 starts, Zgonina has 540 tackles, 23½ sacks, three forced fumbles, eight recoveries, one interception and 10 passes defensed. He has recorded 30 or more tackles in each of the past eight seasons, despite playing primarily as a No. 3 tackle. In 2004, Zgonina did start 14 games for the Dolphins and he registered career highs in tackles (101) and sacks (five). Originally a seventh-round choice of the Steelers in the 1993 draft, the former Purdue standout has played with Pittsburgh (1993-94), Carolina (1995). Atlanta (1996), St. Louis (1997, 1999-2002) Indianapolis (1998) and Miami (2003-2006). Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
vet RB, vet LB, and now a vet DT...good players to hold the position over until next year's draft. This year, its OT, S, CB, WR...maybe QB
To me it seems like Smith is doing a great job filling the holes with vets who don't cost much until we can draft young guys to fill those voids. IMO, a better plan than overpaying for the Greenwoods, Wade's and Weigerts of the world.
Johnson looked alot better last season playing in the 4-3 before he got injured. He was never a good fit for the 3-4, I was shocked when the old regime drafted him.
I'm not familiar with this guy. Is he a block-eater? If so, he might not make much noise himself, but might allow Mario to wreak havoc.
I don't know much about him either. But by looking at his numbers, that's what it seems like he does. Good signing...He replaces Payne as the vet and will hopefully eat up blockers to keep DM free and allow Mario to get loose. 7th round pick going into his 15th season. That's impressive on it's own.
First and foremost I would like to say that i would consider myself as one of the most optimistic texans fans youll find out there. Each year I get pretty excited and have that "feel good" feeling heading into season to see how the texans will do with their additions they make each offseason. With that being said I would like to make some comments about the moves, such as this one the texans have made: I love the Ahman Green signing. I know hes getting up there in age and people worry about how hell hold up since that injury a few years back that costed him almost a whole season but this guy has been Mr Consistent who gives us an immediate backfield threat not to mention hes 20 times better than ron dayne and wali lundy. The O-lineman we got seems like a pretty good pick up since it was a cheap signing for a quality player who adds depth to one of our weakest positions. After those two pick-ups I think the Texans still need to do more work! This signing (Zgonina) and the signing of that LB we grabbed don't really do much for me. Both of these players are not impact players by any means nor are they quality role players who can consistenly be depended up and have a positive contribution to the outcome of games. Now i know many of you are saying that these signings were just cheap ways to add depth to our roster but if the texans fail to add anymore quality/ game changing players then they will be forced to have these guys moved up in the depth chart and instead of them being insurance policies for injuries theyll be the ones out there eating up downs. Such a case with our safety positions. Since the texans have failed to add quality safties they are forced to start CC brown and Glen Earl, 2 pretty mediocore to below average players. Now the free agency period isnt over yet and the draft (most exciting time of the year!) is coming up so im still optimistic about things but until the texans bring in game changers and not just guys who play a position but can't actually PLAY that position then we wont be able to transition to the next level.
I don't think you've done enough research on Danny Clark. Clark is superb against the run, very aggressive and known as a playmaker on his former teams. He's consistently been a fan favorite who's around the ball and made positive contributions. He's not flawless; he's mediocre at best against the pass, and that's why he didn't come at a huge price. But Clark certainly is a quality role player who brings a positive contribution to the table. In many ways, he's complements Greenwood very well, seeing how Greenwood is very fast and strong against the pass but somewhat of a liability making solid tackles. If the Texans put him in the right positions, Clark is a very useful player. The DT is a depth signing, but Clark is not... he's going to be a solid player for us, likely a lot better than Jordan Black (I know it's a different position, but I'm comparing the impact of the acquisitions).
Why are we signing this old man? Is this the best that we could find. This 37 year old guy stands to make 2 million dollars.
Last year I heard Kubiak say a couple of times that his plan was to rotate 8 defensive linemen more or less evenly. Because of injuries I don't think he quite did that, but I do remember the 3rd and 4th linemen getting significant playing time. I remember Maddox, Dalton, and even Kalu getting lots of time, even on the rare occasion when both Payne and Travis Johnson were healthy. I believe that the plan is that Zgonina will get significant time as well. I really don't think he's here just to play goal line situations. Just looking back at his stats, over the past 9 years he has played all 16 games 6 times, 15 once, 14 once (last year) and 13 once. Off the top of my head, without doing any checking, that seems like an exceptional record of durability to me.
Just keep signing older players at a cheap price to help us get to .500 and beyond. Then all our young linemen won't have to keep switching positions and we can at least buy them a year or two max to groom. Also, we won't have to overpay for free agents the more our overall record improves. Eventually, (hopefully within 3 years), free agents will actually want to come here and we might actually have players to trade to other teams to fill our holes. All we can really do right now is draft and develop. Exactly why we might as well keep signing these older players even if they're just average. Average is something as a team we have yet to achieve.
