I don't know what the new CBA calls for but it would be just our luck if they made it harder to get comp picks just like the Astros got screwed by the new CBA on their draft picks now that they're drafting first overall.

Under the old system, Mario probably would get us a pick at the end of the third round and Meyers might get us a 6th rounder provided we didn't sign valuable FAs from other teams to offset our losses. But I have no idea if any of that is still relevant to the new CBA.

We've probably taken this about as far as it needs to go, but I'll just add that I agree with almost everything you say here, but that it misses the point I was trying to make. The Texans do have a fair amount of talent now and do have a bunch of guys that will expect to get paid in the near future. I also agree that good teams with lots of talent will ultimately get poached by other teams and eventually tough cap decisions will have to be made. I dispute none of this. The question is when this happens. I see no reason why we should be in this situation now, although I acknowledge that if we continue to be successful, it will be a situation that will arise in the coming years.

As you mentioned the Colts and the Patriots, these are teams that maintained ridiculously high levels of success for the better part of a decade. We've had one good year. If this offseason followed our 3rd 12+ win season, then, yeah, hanging onto guys after that type of sustained success is difficult. However, I think that being cap-strapped and unable to retain virtually any of your free agents in the very first offseason after your very first decent season in team history is a little early for that ship to be sailing. Maybe the Colts and the Patriots started hemorrhaging their best offensive linemen and their best pass rushers to free agency because they lacked cap space after their very first winning season, but I doubt it. That's the only point I was trying to make.

isn't ryans' number pretty high this year?

Well, I had his salary at $5.9 million for 2012, but I never completed his new contract in my notes, so I can't verify what his cap figure is for this year offhand. But yes, he slipped my mind when I put together that list, good catch.

Bills press conference at 1:30 EST to announce Mario signing. Not shocking since we knew someone would pay stupid money for him. Guess it's better he goes to the Bills than an AFC-S team. While it's sad to see him go, no way is he worth being the top paid DL or D player in the league and I think the Bills will be disappointed in the long run.

EDIT:
Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora
Don't have official numbers on Mario Williams in BUF yet, but been hearing $16M a year with $50M guaranteed

No way the Texasn pay that based on production.

Everybody knows I've always liked Mario and I hope he does well in Buffalo when he's not playing against the Texans. But I find it very, very difficult to digest why anyone much less the most sought-after free agent on the market would deliberately go to Buffalo. Buffalo is without a doubt the worst city with a major league professional sports franchise in the United States. That means Buffalo is worse than Columbus, OH, and Oklahoma City. Detroit is a freaking paradise compared with Buffalo.

I would take $45MM guaranteed and go to Atlanta, thank you.

Have you ever been there ? I know what people say about it, the jokes and all, but really personally I don't know about Buffalo because I've not ever been
there.

Well, Mario needs to get used to Buffalo since he accepted their offer.

Wish him well.

Of course I have, otherwise how would I know? You can get Canadian radio up there, they have that going for them. Not sure how much of an impact that would have on Mario. Hey, sweet! Leonard Cohen! He NEVER gets played on the radio in Houston!

And really, there is nothing to joke about when it comes to Buffalo. It is bleak, it is ugly, it is brutal, it has no future. Literally, there is no future for that place.

Well, look at it this way: the cap problem just became not so much of a problem.... I think we sign Myers or Brisiel or both, now..

Very briefly visited Cleveland once which of course is also on the Great Lakes and in the same general area, but know nothing first hand about Buffalo.

Cleveland is not nearly as bad as Buffalo. There are some interesting pockets and there is still a functioning economy to some degree. Ohio's really disappointing city is Columbus which is a total shithole despite having an enormous university. In my experience any city with a university that size, especially when it's not purely a commuter school, that city is interesting. Not Columbus.

If I were being literal I would have to place Green Bay in with Buffalo as tied for worst because Green Bay... Well, imagine moving Lufkin about a thousand miles north. But I arbitrarily credit Green Bay with an association with Milwaukee which is a reasonably pleasant place all things considered.

Now that Mario's fate is decided, I will be really disappointed/surprised if we don't start seeing some activity out of the FO.

Restructures/cuts "should" be coming in order to get Myers and Briesel back in the mix.

Fingers crossed.

We all debated about the cost savings if we let Mario walk but it seems like we're letting everybody walk but Foster and then some.

We've lost Mario, Winston, Vickers, Leinart and are probably losing Dreesen and Meyers.

We might lose Briesel and Rackers.

We kept Foster.

We've added....?

Am I missing something or was all that alleged cap room if we didn't re-sign Mario just a myth?

It was a myth, as I think we assumed we were up against it due to Mario, when in fact, we were screwed without Mario.

Might be able to scratch Myers off the Titans list. They just signed Hutchinson. Just don't see two "large" FA deals on interior OL if they want to stay in Peyton chase.

I read that Hutchinson is a close friend of Manning's even though they have only been teammates at the Pro Bowl so the signing is actually Bud's way of going "all out" to get Peyton. I hope it works.

I'm not a CapO, but I think the cap last year was $121M, and we were $20M over that trying to add enough to get into a playoff spot. So even getting out from under Mario's salary cap figure ($18M) for last year, we are still up against it.

Looks like you don't like cold weather at all and automatically assign a very low-ranking to any city in such a climate ? I've got a nephew in Green Bay who has a really good job at a local nuclear power facility and he and family like the GB area very much.

I like cold weather fine. I lived in the north for many years. I like snow and I like to ski. Buffalo is a barren city with no future and Green Bay is a desolate pit that would be a sad place to live if it were in Florida or any other warm weather state. Imagine Ocala, FL, just not as glamorous.