Dreesen signed with the Bengles...


http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...gent-visitors/.


I'm happy because now we might focus on Fleener @ 26. :D

Hasn't signed, just making visits.

I'm with ya. Fleener and OD would give Gronk & Hernandez a run for their money. But Dreesen hasn't signed yet. Still hoping we can find the cap money for him.

TE Joel Dreessen says he will choose between the Texans and Broncos by Friday morning. He's also visited Saints, Bengals and Titans. -- John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL)

Hope he signs with us. I think his importance to our team is severely understated. An unsung hero. But if he goes to Denver, obviously I can't blame him.

Free agent TE Joel Dreessen says he will sign with the Denver Broncos -- Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26)

I guess Denver could offer more money. Plus hard to pass up receiving from Peyton.

Probably has more to do with going home than with who the QB is though. Dreessen went to HS in Colorado and of course played for Colorado State.

I would have liked to have kept Dreesen. Briesel really cashed in. Now Rick Smith has to earn his salary and hit on some lower level inexpensive free agents to fill in the holes, and we need to hit on our draft. This offseason has been a bummer. I am dissapointed that Mario all of a sudden becomes a twitter freak, even though I figured he was gone with the amount of $ he cashed in with. I liked Winston, be he was alot of sizzle and no steak, the defense I think has leaders in Cush, Manning, Antonio and JJ.

Darn, I need some Texans sunshine. Good teams find good inexpensive players. We picked up Dreeses and Briesel for nothing. Time to do it again.

The Texans will miss Dreessen's blocking the most since there's not another TE on the roster who looks like he can fill that hole. Graham has a chance to step up but I don't think blocking is considered his strong suit. Like Mike alluded to, though, finding a blocking TE doesn't necessarily require investing a high draft pick or big free agent money.

FWIW, the Broncos also signed TE Jacob Tamme today.

I heard Dreesen was a good blocker, but I guess Casey and Graham should be able to block as well. I think those two are ready to play and play well.

I see the Texans as losing depth but not really in areas where it will be that tough to replace. We were going into the draft with a WR2 as our greatest priority and now we have several others but they aren't major holes, consider:

We lost Mario but we still have Barwin and Reed.
We traded Ryans but we have Sharpton behind him.
We lost Winston but we have Butler behind him.
We lost Briesel but we have Caldwell behind him.
We lost Leinart but we have Yates behind him.
We lost Vickers and Dreesen but we wanted a bigger role for Casey and now he'll get it.

I don't know if we kept or lost Rackers but that's another position we can easily replace. (PK thinks we should draft the A&M kicker late which suits me just fine).

So I think we can draft BPA now and rebuild our depth. We re-signed the two guys we absolutely had to sign (Foster and Meyers), cleared up cap space next year for extensions and we haven't lost anybody that's not replaceable. And if we had to go to war today with only the players we still have, we are still hands-down the best team in our division. And it only gets better once we start filling in the depth with FAs and the draft.

I don't think Sharpton is the answer at ILB. He is 5' 11" and 230 lbs and not nearly as good as Meco was. Plus he is coming back from a quad tear. ILB should be a high priority in the upcoming draft.

Caldwell isn't the answer at guard either. He isn't very good and has been a disappointment for the Texans.

So I believe the Texans will be drafting WR, ILB and OL in the first 4 rounds. Probaly throw OLB and DT in there if bpa for the other priority positions isn't as good.

WR is going to be an absolute need (at least one, if not two). So it doesn't seem we can afford to go BPA this year. Problem: the big 4 of WRs will be gone, so what now? Do we reach for a WR anyway?

Saw somewhere that Dressen got a 3 yr, $8.5MM deal. Didn't see the particulars.

After losing Vickers & Dreesen, I would like to see the Texans sign FB Owen Schmitt. It would be nice to have somebody on the team who could block in the running game. Maybe take a look at UCLA TE Harkey as an undrafted Free Agent. Just sayin' ;)

Hey, they are alive over there on Kirby!

P Donnie Jones signs 1-year deal with Houston -- Jason Cole (@JasonColeYahoo)

Bleacher Report (for what it's worth) claims Arian Foster said Caldwell was playing all during 2010, when Arian had his best year.

The skinny on Donnie Jones:

Hmmm, part-time till Hartmann comes back or bye bye Hartmann?

I'm seriously getting concerned now. A mediocre punter?

Is our depth that competitive in the positions we've lost so as NOT to replace them with free agents? Or, is our scouting team that confident that we can replace most of them in the draft?

I have to admit, the scouting team has been pretty dang good especially last year.

(Side note for grins: I think I'd allow Wade to have a say in the fullback position based on his input for meat eaters on D...big, fast and crazy - that sounds like a good fullback to me)

When have we ever had a non-mediocre punter?

And he lost his job in 2011 to Breisel because of an ankle issue from what I've read ? Maybe if he remains healthy this year we won't lose anything aferall at RG with Breisel's departure ?

#Texans WR Kevin Walter took a $1.5 million pay cut to stay with the team. -- Dov Kleiman (@NFL_RealUpdates)

Now for the other weak spot on our WRs, Jacobe Jones. On second thought he just needs to go.

I might be the only one, but I'd be ok with Jacoby staying as 3,4,5 WR and punt returns, as long as they can teach him when to leave a punt alone during preseason. And, maybe if he reworks his contract like Walters did.

stats for Kevin Walters receiving past 5 years is much better than many no. 2 receivers
YR Team GP REC Yds
2007-08 Houston 16 65 800
2008-09 Houston 16 60 899
2009-10 Houston 14 53 611
2010-11 Houston 16 51 621
2011-12 Houston 15 39 474

stats for Jacoby not bad for third, four WR, not that many plays available for all, he really hasn't fumbled that much, we just remember when
2007-08 Houston 14 15 149
2008-09 Houston 16 3 81
2009-10 Houston 14 27 437
2010-11 Houston 15 51 562
2011-12 Houston 16 31 512

I think he's a bad punt returner. And it's not about the one poorly timed muff. He shuffle steps every punt like he is devin Hester. Only he is not quick. He is big and fast for a PR, but not quick. He needs to catch it and go instead of giving away 10 yards every time in the hope he might make 11 guys miss by standing in place.

And as a wr he is an average deep threat (without ball skills), who can't run a route.

Up until his gaffe against the Ravens, I thought Jones stepped up rather well in Andre Johnson's absence until Schaub got hurt, then the deep ball was taken out of our game plan and that is Jones' chief weapon as a receiver.

He's a good return man when he doesn't dance or run backwards, and he occasionally cracks the long one so I'm fine with him back there as long as he learns from his mistakes - and that's the real question. I felt he had made good progress last year until Schaub went down and then he had the gaffe in the Ravens game.

It should be noted Jones made some big plays last year and would have set us in Ravens territory with one punt return that got called back for a block in the back. He's not as bad as some folks around here make him out to be but he is starting to exceed his value salary-wise and just doesn't play smart at times.

He has one skill as a WR, catching deep balls where he has run by the defense. He is ineffective on any route with timing or a cut involved, and he is ineffective on deep balls if there is a defender in the play. I think a deep threat has to have some ball skills, otherwise there are about 50 guys who can run fast on a deep route, and none of them get paid like Jacoby.

As a punt returner he is average at best. Way too many zero and negative returns when he has 10+ yards if he would get upfield. But he does occasionally break one. I did not have a huge issue with the muff other than the timing, since he has actually been reliable fielding punts in comparison to his early years. I think the playoff muff was just a guy trying to force a play when there wasn't one. But I can't get over the fact that he tries to dance like a waterbug instead of getting upfield like a 6'2" guy. But that could be a coaching issue (or lack of coaching issue) for all I know.

As of 3/30/2012:
Source: http://blogs.nfl.com/2012/03/30/sala...for-each-team/

I don't like the trend I see here. KW hasn't been a productive #2 since '09. KW was smart to take a pay cut because he was probably at risk of working as store manager at his local Krogers. Factor in those recent numbers, JJ's inconsistency and AJ's increasing injury status, and you have a pretty huge area of need. I see the Texans spending at least 2 picks at WR, signing a scrap-heap veteran (hello Braylon or Ocho) and hoping like hell Lestar Jean can become something.

And here is where looking at stats can get you in trouble. Our receivers have fewer catches in the past few seasons because a) we are running the ball more effectively and b) we are playing from behind less. That means fewer balls in the air which means smaller stats for our receivers. When Foster can chew up big chunks on the ground, why throw as much as we did when the ground game sucked?

I do think a legit #2 receiver is a definite need (in part because Walter has never been Ed McCaffrey) but I'm not sure we need to draft two and sign another one. The WR corps isn't a huge need, just one of a few. I could go for several other positions at #26 besides WR.

BTW, on Keith's chart regarding cap space, remember we still have to sign our draft choices so there is less cap space than you might believe. We might even have a June 1st cut just to open up more space after the draft (so those hoping for Jacoby to get cut, watch to see whether we draft a WR at #26 and then cut Jones on June 1st to free up cap space).

I fully expect there will be more cuts come June 1st, and I hope Jacobe is one of them. Kubiak needs to give up on his little pet receiver project.

I started a thread for kick and punt returners under the Draft section.

But for knocking or being frustrated with our own team, Jacoby actually did pretty good compared to results for other teams. If he did better, which appears possible, he could be a no. 1 type returner, just saying. that is looking at results.

You've been drinking too much of Jacobe's KoolAid.

Maybe so, its ice tea, not kool-aid. but I also watch how other teams do.

Other teams have no. 1 receivers who drop way more passes than Jacoby or any Texans WR.

Other teams have guys who are much worse team players and way more disruptive in the locker room.

Just saying there is a lot to having a good team, and it isn't just the last bad play we tend to remember. different guys mature at different times.

Texans already have a lot of guys who have gone on to do good at other teams who we thought weren't so good here.

Just trying to be fair. I am also looking for drafting of good WR/PR for future.

I guess there could be some June cuts, but we need to get up to 80 players for training camp and only have in low 50's right now. So likely most cuts will be after training camp.

Or for some significant FA acquisition which seems unlikely right now.

most likely saying too much already, over.

I heartily dissagree. I think we will need to be more versatile this season. The league is going to load up against Foster to try to keep us down. With AJ aging, and more susceptable to injury, it is imperative that we have WRs & TEs able to keep the defense from hogging the holes. I wish we knew more about LeStar Jean and Jeff Maehl. They could help out a lot if they are ready to play.

Two very good defenses loaded up to stop Foster in the playoffs with Yates at QB and he shredded them. There is nothing the NFL can do to "load up" and stop Foster. He has run better against 8 man fronts than anyone in the NFL the last two years.

Our offense is great if Schaub and AJ are healthy. If they are not we are screwed. I don't think that means you plan for either one to be out. We don't have the money to back up expensive starters in case of injury. You either judge that those guys can be healthy or you replace them. You can't pay them and replace them.

I am sure we will do something at WR, but we are the most versatile offense in the NFL as is.

I don't see Maehl being anything more than David Anderson. He was a UDFA for a reason. Jean, OTOH, could be special but we didn't get to see enough to know for sure.

OK, Maehl was a UFA and so was Jean. Maehl is bad because of that, but Jean is good. I fail to see your logic.

What could it be about Maelh that convinces Bob he could never be a real player?

For that matter, what is it that convinces Bob he is another David Anderson?

And what is different about Jean than those two that he can be special? Is it Jean's 2nd team All-Sun Belt honors that set him apart?