Roster Predictions
 

I know this early, but its the off season and I wanted to see if anyone here had something to add to this. I posted this on another board, but wanted you guys to comment on it.

My roster predictions:

2 QB Schaub, Orlovsky
3 RB Foster Slaton Tate
1 FB Leach
7 WR Johnson, Walters, Jones, Anderson, Davis, Holiday, Dickerson
3 TE Daniel, Casey, Graham, PUP Hill
3 OT Winston, Brown, Butler
6 OG/OC Meyers, Caldwell, W Smith, Briesel, S Smith, Studdard
25

1 K Brown
1 P Turk
1 LS Weeks
3

4 DE Mario, Barwin, Smith, Jamison,
5 DT Okoye, Cody, Mitchell, Sheppard, Okam ? (My only bubble guy, this could be Robinson)
6 LB Ryans, Diles, Adibi, Bentley, Clark, Sharpton, Roster exemption Cushing
6 CB Jackson, Quin, McCain, Molden, Reeves, McManus
4 S Pollard, Wilson, Nolan, Barber
25

Key cuts Bennett, White, Dreessen, Bulman, DelJuan Robinson and Glenn Martinez

About the TE: Joel was signed to a reported 3 year deal for 3.6 million, that is not a reason to keep him.

We have 4 guys currently that are the same player for the most part, Daniels, Casey, Graham and Dreessen. One of those guys does not have room on the roster, which one do you think?

If ST is that high on the list, Casey is the "QB" of the punting team, being the up man, and he can also snap the ball, plus he is the emergency FB.

Graham was not drafted in the 4th only to be cut. IMO unless they trade Owen, Dreessen is the odd man out IMO.

Hill will start the year on the PUP, IMO, and we are going to have to make room for him at some point, or maybe he goes to the PS.

Maybe we shop Owen during the preseason when he has shown to be healthy, could we get a 3rd rounder fro him?

OD is one of the best TE's in the league. Dreesen has come into his own. Graham is still only an unproven rookie. He either goes to the PS or he gets cut.

Looks like a well thought out guess. Obviously some things will develop in unexpected ways between now and the final cut down, but this makes sense for what we have.

WR may actually be more of a log jam then TE when you look at it. I doubt Jacoby, Andre Davis, Holliday, and Dickerson are all on the roster.

I would say that if Holliday can't win the primary return spot he won't stick. If he can, then I would bet either JJ or AD are gone depending on who they like more as a WR. And I don't think Dickerson makes the team unless he looks great on ST coverage. Because if his size/speed can't translate to ST then it never will to anything.

Davis will be gone. You can bet it as if it has already been played.

Yep, I'd say that is pretty darn close - nice job.

A pre-season injury here or there could shuffle things up a bit... Players like Dickerson, Holliday, Graham, S Smith, possibly Sheppard might go on the PS or acquire a mysterious ailment that puts them on the PUP list.

I think they like Dreesen.... he might even be the #1 to start the season.....

Jeremiah Johnson? Might be PS again....

When Cushing comes back, I think one of Clark, Bentley, Adibi has to go...

Does anyone have the final cutdown list from last august? Specifically how many of each position we kept to get to 53.

I think that unless they blow the doors off in camp, Holliday and Dickerson will be practiced-squaded. If they *do* make the roster, look for Jacoby Jones to become trade bait, possibly for a DB or an OLB. I could also see a TE as trade bait too.

I like the roster. I think Davis is gone and Dickerson will be PS. This will allow two other people to be on roster. My guess is Hill will be on roster if healthy.

I think they like JJ, who is finally starting to come into his own. Davis would be the goner, with Dickerson to the PS.

On defense I think LB Adibi needs to show he belongs.

He definitely belongs weeks 1-4.......

Stupid doctors :(

My breakdown by position is close to how the Texans broke camp last year. It's not exactly the same but it's close. I do not see guys being cut until better options exist to replace them on the roster.

Davis is a great gunner on punt coverage team, until we have a person to replace him at gunner I have him making the roster. Dickerson, a huge unknown right now, is a guy I do not see clearing waivers, so I think he is kept. Glenn Martinez is the odd man out IMO.

As for TE, I do not see us cutting a 4th round pick in order to try to sneak him to the practice squad. That said, Dreessen is the guy with the least upside. He was OK in Daniels absence but he is what he is. He has a hard time getting separation and he is coming off injury. Casey has impressed in OTAs. (Casey is coming off a knee scope after OTAs). I think barring anymore injuries Dreessen is gone.

As for Holliday, that man is on the team unless he blows it big time. Marciano loves that kid, and he is a bullet.

I think last year Texans broke camp with 5 WR and 4 TE, and then injuries occurred to TE's and numbers changed.

I guess your starting roster for 2010 is as good as any speculation for now.

If some position has injuries or troubles during camp, maybe there will be a trade with one of these extra good assets we have at a few positions(WR and TE for now).

I speculate if someone was on team last few years, the consistency will be valued over a maybe future , all else being equal.

One of the big problems the team had when Capers was here was they did not keep draft picks over journey men. Sometimes you have to keep a player due to his upside over the guy who has maxed out at a back up.

All I care to say on that is Capers isn't here any more, I'm glad about that for Texans sake. I think new regime is doing much better evaluating players.

C&C didn't draft all that well to begin with.

My feelings about Davis are based on his salary cap numbers, but if this year is uncapped, maybe that's not relevant.

If Davis or Dreesen doesn't make the final cut I hope we can get something for them without just cutting them.

Of course we'll just cut them. That's the Texan way. :(

I wanted to add the number by position that the Texans carried into the season, last year 53 man roster the number is in red on the left hand side
My roster predictions:

3 2 QB Schaub, Orlovsky
4 3 RB Foster Slaton Tate
1 1 FB Leach
6 7 WR Johnson, Walters, Jones, Anderson, Davis, Holiday, Dickerson
4 3 TE Daniel, Casey, Graham, PUP Hill
3 3 OT Winston, Brown, Butler
6 6 OG/OC Meyers, Caldwell, W Smith, Briesel, S Smith, Studdard
25

1 1 K Brown
1 1 P Turk
0 1 LS Weeks
2 3

9 9 DE Mario, Barwin, Smith, Jamison, DT Okoye, Cody, Mitchell, Sheppard, Okam ? (My only bubble guy, this could be Robinson)
6 6 LB Ryans, Diles, Adibi, Bentley, Clark, Sharpton, Roster exemption Cushing
9 10 DBs CB Jackson, Quin, McCain, Molden, Reeves, McManus, S Pollard, Wilson, Nolan, Barber
25

IMO we keep the LS that takes away a TE, if all the TE on my list are healthy, (Hill excluded). This season I think we pass on the 3 string QB and that gives us an extra DB. If all 3 RB are healthy on cut down day then I see us keeping only 3, which allows us an extra WR.

OK, I guess that seems reasonable, however injuries, possible FA acquisitions, cuts, and other unforseen events (a possible lock-out?), I shudder to think of, could get in the way.

Minor , your red nos. add up to 55 not 53. Every team has about the same spread of players by position don't they, with minor variations?

The only way Okam stays is if he's better than last year. If he doesn't get serious, the Okam experiment is over.

I agree 100%. We need a big body for short yardage, but he has to be able to carry his weight. We have 2 rookies that have a very good shot at making the team at DT and someone is going to loose a job. IMO Okam is the guy gone, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt until I see more from him in preseason.

I don't see how you can justify keeping Davis at his salary. He's proven worthless as a wide receiver as long as Angry Dre is healthy, and based on last season, he's lost a step in the return game. Holliday should beat him out there pretty easily. Lilliputians with 10-flat 100 times are pretty tough to tackle. If Holliday makes any strides whatsoever as a receiver, Davis is gone for sure. I don't see a whole lot else that I disagree with, though I'd like to see Dreesen stick around. He's serviceable, and I just like him. I think I may have been the first person ever to recognize him in public, and he was super cool, so I'm sure that plays a role. It also wouldn't surprise me if we carry four RB's.

Davis is still the best gunner on the punt coverage team we have, that is an important skill to Coach Joe. And this is an uncapped year, salary does not matter IMO if we want to win.

Now you maybe right and Davis is gone, but I still think he is one of the top 53.

As for RB, who do you see being the #4 guy? I don't see anyone that will be on the team if someone else is not hurt.

Wow.... I hope Schaub plays all season long again. Why wont they sign a veteran back up QB and have a young QB learn as a 3rd stringer?

If Johnson shows anything and is healthy, I think he goes to the practice squad and we only keep 3 backs. Kubiak always likes to keep a back on the practice squad.

You're right about Davis' gunnerdom, and it may be enough to keep him around, just something in my gut tells me he's gone. That said, I won't be mad if he does make the squad. As for the 4th RB, I can't think of anyone that would be worth having on the 53, unless Johnson shows us something in preseason. even so, I think he's probably a taxi squad guy, so failing someone good getting cut from another team, I now agree that we carry 3 rb's, barring injuries.

Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Bill Kollar
(on wanting DT Frank Okam to put on a meaner face) "Well, there's no doubt about it, (DT) Frank's (Okam) a really nice guy and he's been doing a really good job. We're really impressed with what he's able to do so far. If he did have that mean streak in him, it would give him that little edge that you always want in a player. You love when they're not on the field but you want them to have that mean streak when they're on the field."

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/St...?story_id=6272

...really good job, ...We're really impressed. These are surprising comments to me. I think pretty much everyone who has posted on the message boards has been very negative about Okam. I seem to remember another comment, maybe by Kubiak, a week or so ago that said Okam was doing some good things. How nice would it be if he realized his potential, less the mean streak?

OK then, well I'm now totally confused about what I'm hearing about Okam ?
I've been hearing he's a gonner in part because of strong showings by rookies DTs Mitchell & Sheppard and his own lackluster efforts, but now he's gettin' high-5s all over the place by the the HC and his line-coach ?

Week one, he looked pretty bad at the start of the week.

Last Monday, he looked like a light bulb was on, he looked like he wanted to have job come September. Will that bulb stay on? Not sure...

But he did look improved last Monday, IMO.

And remember I had Okam making it on to my original 53 prediction.

I'm pretty confident that only one of: Okam and Deljuan make the team. I am rooting for Deljuan because I think he is far more reliable and don't really believe Okam will ever be a contributing player on a good defense.


http://www.texansbullblog.com

PK said this: "As for RB, who do you see being the #4 guy? I don't see anyone that will be on the team if someone else is not hurt."
__________________

Now that rookie Tate is hurt, it looks like Foster, Slaton, Chris Henry, and Jeremiah (Was a Bullfrog) Johnson.

I knew I jinxed us when I typed that.

We posted a new article identifying players on the roster bubble and discussing the impact of their performance in Arizona. And, we are hopeful that we can figure out how to get supporting video on our site tonight...

here it is : Texans Bull Blog

I thought I would re-visit this now that we are just about to the deadline. Obviously, some things have taken care of themselves by injuries. If I did it right and added right, I came up with 53 players and underlined the changes except for deleting Reeves, as well as Holliday and Tate, of course. I think Okam gets the last DT spot. Reeves has the most experience of the CB's, which is a consideration, but he also has the largest salary and won't get much playing time, barring injury. Barring an injury, I think Clark goes when Cushing returns. Nading has gotten a lot of snaps, but Jamison looks stronger and way quicker off the ball. Henry may not make the roster, but Kubiak has said they will probably carry 4 RB's.

Practice squad guys I would like, but not necessarily predicting:

Steve Maneri
Torri Williams
Bobby Williams
Cole Pemberton
Mark Parsons
Isiah Greenhouse
Will Patterson
Mitch Unrein

I was hoping for Pannel Egboh to get signed to the PS, but he got picked up by another team.

Mitch Unrein has received limited snaps. What little I did see, I liked his movement and quickness for a big guy. Either the Texans think he is strictly camp fodder, or may feel he has development potential down the road and will PS him.

I thought Maneri has done pretty well for a guy that is being converted from TE and hasn't had time to add the weight he needs for the position.

Greenhouse has done well on special teams.

So, the deadline on the 53 is Saturday, Sept 4. I believe the PS candidates have to clear waivers for 24 hours then they can be re-signed. Seems like last year the PS player list started trickling in on Sunday night....

Kris Brown . . .cut

Yeah, I guess we all wish Kris Brown well in future. He's had some good games for Texans, but last year was bad. Lotta tough decisions coming next few days.

Hey I want to say thank you to Kris Brown, he has been a wonderful ambassador, and role model.

That said, I did not think they could sell Brown to the fans one more time, so it was time for him to move to a new location.

That all said, IMO Rackers is not the answer. I hope I am wrong on that one like I am usually wrong.