King mentioned Fat Al's agent had dinner with Synder. Clayton also mentioned the possibility of a team, maybe the skins, offering him 100+ Mill a few days ago.

There's only one reason that the Texans could be putting off deals for guys like Demeco and Daniels in my mind. They want extra room to go after a free agent...or two? With the uncapped year looming and the almost certainty that salaries go up (assuming our financial system isn't more F'ed up then than it is now) it would make sense to get two guys who are almost certain to be a part of your long term plan locked up now. I would really like it if they got deals done for these two before the season starts though.

Does Rick Smith's position in the competition committee give him an inside track on the liklihood of an uncapped '10?

Making a big signing, or many healthy signings, is a gamble given the uncertainty of the cap situation next season. But, if a GM has some insight that leads him to believe the cap is ending (like having a seat on the competition committee) and has an owner who is of the wealthier persuasion (like Bob McNair) it might make him more likely to make a big splash.

I keep dismissing the whole Peppers notion as nonsense, but the things that have been happening lately keep reviving it.

The competition committee is the one who makes recommendations on rule changes...force out rule, overtime, etc. Game day stuff, and even then my understanding is that it is only a recommendation that the league (owners) vote on. I don't see where that would offer any kind of insight into the labor negotiations. Revenue sharing and salary cap stuff is solely the domain of the owners and the NFLPA. McNair might feel he's got an idea of where the negotiations are headed and given that as guidance to the front office guys. Even then he only has a part of the equation. The lower revenue teams probably have completely different objectives than McNair. Not to mention that the NFLPA is leaderless right now, so there's no way to really gauge what they will want and how hard they will fight to get it.

I don't really think Peppers is coming here either, but he would be one guy that sure could keep Mario at RDE.

As for hints... in the DeMeco interview on 790 this morning, it sure seemed like DeMeco thought there was potential for something big in free agency. (click here to read a few quotes I transcribed).

Of course, DeMeco could be speculating like the rest of us. Or it could be that Rick Smith might have mentioned something to he and Dunta during negotiations too about why they aren't signing their own to mega deals just yet... I'm reading tea leaves here, but maybe Smith might need to keep the available cash ready for a big free agent signing bonus..?? hmmmm....

I don't want Haynesworth and it's because I look a player in terms of whether he outperforms his contract. That's the key to winning in the NFL. Get abunch of guys like Owens, Ryans, Slaton, etc. any you have a recipe for a very solid team. We just got rid of Carr, Green, Greenwood, and maybe now Weaver. They were taking cap money that we could have been paying guys who were difference makers on the field.

I'm very leery of giving huge cap money to guys that are in their last contract. The minute their talent declines or their effort declines, you are stuck, stuck, stuck. No thanks.

Yep.
1. McClain's insistence that the Texans won't be adding a smallish RDE, but a legitimate LDE.
2. Kubiak's recent comments
3. The impending release of Weaver
4. The cap clearing (Greenwood, Green)
5. The stockpiling of picks (Sage, Jacoby)

And now even DeMeco's comments.

That's not to say that something huge is bound to happen. But, this is one of those instances where if something huge did happen, you'd look back and say, "How did I not see this coming, all the tell-tale signs were there."

Here's my observation about this thread: we got some guys on this Board with some real active imaginations.

:D

Haha, true that. Welcome the offseason.

I will say though that I had an active imagination before the story broke years ago that the Texans were making a run at signing Orlando Pace. Funny things happen, makes it hard not to be excited for Friday morning.

But why not lock these guys in long term now paying less money than they will get in an uncapped league, "year" is decieving because I dont see it changing for 10+ years if they go uncapped at all.

If the league goes uncapped, Demeco and Daniels will be UFA and still get paid less. That is no way to treat your star players though. They have both out performed their rookkie contracts and should be rewarded. I would never pay my best employee minimum wage while bringing in lesser talent that gets paid alot more.

The UFA rules change in an uncapped year though, as DeMeco and Daniels would be RFAs next year.

Well... how's about this?? A Panthers message board is starting to think Houston might be a destination for Peppers based on pretty much the same factors we've already discussed in our forums.

http://www.carolinagrowl.com/Message...g=posts&t=5780

Peppers supposedly likes the Houston area and his agent Carl Carey lives here somewhere. Carey even informed the Panthers of Peppers' decision to leave Carolina from Houston. Peppers works out with Danny Arnold at Plex near Sugarland.

Peppers called Houston his second home in a 2004 interview:
Worth noting... when the Vikings acquired Jared Allen, who had been tagged by the Chiefs, it took a first rounder and two third rounders, plus a contract reported to have $31 million in guarantees over six years.

I have zero interest in Peppers coming here. Not only would he cost too much in draftpick compensation but his contract would also cost us in terms of not being able to sign or re-sign players of interest. For a guy approaching 30 with inconsistent results and effort, I say, "no thank you!".

What he said.

This just in from the guy who thought the 4th round was the 1st round of Day 2 (this would be me)...


I'd love to see Peppers in a Texans uniform. Now that I no longer care one hill of beans about the salary cap and compare the players on the Redskins and Cowgirls year after year verses ours....sign everybody you want! That's what those two teams do and yet we have had players that can't make it in Canada while being maxed out on cap room.

Sign Peppers! And Haynesworth too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I organized all this Peppers info into a single article with supporting linkage. Enjoy the mental holiday... :p

http://www.inthebullseye.com/archive/2009/20090225.html

I hardly thing we want to model our organization after those two. How about comparing our playoff wins in the last decade to the Cowboys and Redskins. Oh, that's right, they would combine for one more than us.

But yet, they can make the playoffs or be in the running for division titles and we can't. Your analogy is like saying it's a bad thing to be dating the 3rd best looking Victoria Secret model.

That's what I'm talking about ! If you're gonna dream, really dream big, be all-in with it.
With a DLine featuring Mario, Peppers, & Haynesworth any warm body could play the 3-technique. Keith maybe ? I say lets give real meaning to fantasy football.

You're kidding! Redskin fans are miserable and hopeless because Dan Snyder is young and will never learn. Cowboy fans are too dumb to realize how bad it is for them. The current Texan organization is vastly superior than the current Redskin or Cowboy organization.

And Texans fans (like myself) are just happy-campers satisfied with mediocrity and never sniffing the playoffs. I say that in jest, by the way. Regardless of whether you like or dislike a organization/owner/fans, they're (certainly the Cowpies are) doing something that this franchise has yet to figure out. That's how to build a team capable of consistently competing. I'll take McNair over JJ or Snyder any day of the week, and I certainly don't condone employing a-holes like Pac-Man and the like, but McNair has yet to prove he's capable of finding that competetive edge to where this team is in the hunt for even a wildcard spot. Not sure why, but it's sure is taking a loooong time for this organization to find an identity and compete on a consistent basis. I feel that starts at the top. If they can get Peppers at a reasonable price and at a salary structure that won't kill them in the future, I say do it.

I don't see us making a play for Peppers since we will eventually have to re-up Mario and then we would have way to much $ tied up at DE.

I wonder if there might be a move for Bertrand Berry. He played for Frank Bush, played for some team in Colorado some time ago and he lives in Houston. Just a thought.

I would love to be a fly on Rick Smith's Blackberry at 12:01 Friday AM.