Free Agency About to begin
 

Seems like Mar. 8, Saturday, teams can start to talk with FA and they can sign FA starting March 11, next Tuesday.

And salary cap was increased by 10 mil to 133 mil, so Texans have between 11 -12 million available to resign their own FA, other FA, and draft picks.

Garrett Graham seems to be target of a few other teams.

Antonio Smith wants to stay a Texan as does Wade Smith.

What happens at QB and OL are two big questions.

We shall see. And what does happen will likely impact how draft goes.

Seems to be a rumor that Matt Cassell could be a FA QB pickup by Texans. Cassell and OBrien(WR coach) were player and coach, were both with offense at same time at NE Pats.

This might let Texans take defense first round or trade down and then hope to pick up Garoppolo in second round.

Or be a cleaver smoke screen for what might keep us all guessing.

I'd be okay with Cassel as a short-term starter during the transition who eventually backs up a drafted QB, but not as the answer at the position. He should know the system and is supposed to be an accurate passer with a good but not great arm, but isn't very mobile and takes a lot of sacks. He seems to get hurt a lot and will turn 32 in May.

But isn't "conventional wisdom" that if the Texans go QB in the Draft with their 1.1, then that guy starts from Day 1 or very shortly after Day 1 ? So if they were to sign a Cassel, then that implies that the Texans aren't using their 1.1 on a QB ?

While he could be pressed into service as a starter, it's just as likely that he would be brought in to be the "veteran QB" and "mentor" to whoever they draft. I don't think whether or not they sign him impacts the draft process in any way.

The problem is that a drafted QB that needs development years is out of sync with the talent we've acquired. By the time Bortles/Manziel is ready to lead us to the playoffs, AJ will be on his last legs, Foster will be beat up and Daniels will probably be gone and the surrounding pieces (except possibly Duane Brown) will need to be found all over again.

I'm not fond of the idea of Matt Cassell. I'd almost just keep Schaub if that's who our QB is. But it is a question with no really exciting answers because there's no Luck or Manning available to us. Whoever we get is going to be an imperfect fit.

That's why, without a trade down, the only two acceptable choices to me are Clowney (the best non-QB on the board) or Bridgewater (the most pro-ready of the three top QB prospects). Both come with risks but they would be the only smart choices at 1-1 for the Texans.

How many years are you talking about? I mean, even Andrew Luck (the most pro-ready guy in years and your own example) has had a learning curve and while he has been successful, he still wasn't ready to lead his team to the promise land in his first 2 years. So, unless you think Bortles or Manziel is going to take 5 years, I don't think the pace of their development is much of an issue.

To me, it's virtually impossible for any QB to come in and be good enough to win a Super Bowl in his first couple years (although Wilson was just the exception). It's generally going to be year 3 or 4 when they're ready to do that. What having a more pro-ready QB the first couple of years gets you is maybe a little better success in those first 2 years (i.e., 9 wins instead of 7). In other words, Bridgewater may win a couple more games than Manziel or Bortles the first couple of years because he's more ready, but at the end of the day, none are likely to win it all in their first couple of years and assuming they actually pan out, will all likely reach the point where they can lead a team deep into the playoffs at about the same time. So, if your ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, how good they're going to be in their first 2 years is not terribly relevant in my mind.

Cancel the reunion plans -- Cassel has re-signed with the Vikings.

Any QB's agent is bound to use the Texans as a potential suitor through the media. The Texans have been verrrry quiet in using the media in the past, and I doubt the hiring of BOB changes that.

Sounds like DT Earl Mitchell off to Dolphins. 4 yrs / 16 mil. Good for him.

The well-traveled (but very effective last year) Josh McCown reportedly has a visit with the Texans scheduled if he makes it out of Tampa Bay without signing.

I was hoping they could keep antonio Smith around as one of better entertainers on the team.

Just saw this on news where Texans didn't make qualifying offer to three RFAs, so they are now FAs. OLB Bryan Braman, DE Terrell McClain and WR Lestar Jean.

Per Twitter... Eagles sure like our players.

That is the first one I am truly disappointed to see go.

Because why? Braman played his heart out on special teams, but iirc he was accountable (under Marciano, yes) for a couple big missed tackles and seemed very limited when given time playing on defense.

I left the 2013 season feeling like he was overrated. That is a lot of money to pay for a special teams player that neither kicks nor punts (or even long snaps).

Seems if we let everyone go who missed a tackle or two last year we will need to release everybody.

So was it one or two big plays a game but easy to fix back to 10-6 or are we into major rebuild?

I'm favoring the not that hard to fix for now.

'Responsible' I think is what you mean.

I am disappointed because I liked him. I wouldn't pay him that money and I think he was limited on defense. But he was fun.

When you know his life story, you have to be happy he got a nice payday. But iirc he is a four year vet, or is going to be, and don't they get close to $1M a year anyway?

Antonio Smith has signed with the Raiders.

Seems about all left of Dl is JJ.

Ben Tate sined 2 yrs for 7 mil with cleveland.

We have lost a lot of our good draft picks during last four yars of FA. Lotta guys making pretty good paydays.

Good for the players getting FA deals, just not good for Texans.

After four days of fA the Texans we lost so far are

Bryan Braman. OLB. Eagles. 2 years, $3.15M
Joe Mays. ILB. Chiefs. 2 years, $6M
Terrell McClain. DT. Cowboys 3 years, unknown amount
Earl Mitchell. DT. Dolphins. 4 years, $16M
Darryl Sharpton. ILB. Redskins. 1 year, $2M
Antonio Smith. DE. Raiders. 2 years, $9M
Ben Tate. #RB#. Browns. 2 years, $7M

Well, the team should recoup a decent haul of some middling 2015 compensatory picks.

Who still believes that we are not rebuilding?

I do. The Texans have never been big players in free agency, preferring to draft and sign their own players.

When the Texans have dipped their toes in free agency, they've regretted it (Ahman Green, Ed Reed) as often as they've benefited from it (Jonathan Joseph, Antonio Smith).

This is shaping up like a normal Texans off-season, especially when they crafted their payroll to try to keep most of their players for a playoff run instead of losing key pieces. Unfortunately, Schaub and Foster turned to crap right after signing big long-term deals and we didn't successfully fill a few holes from last year.

The Texans will ink a few players once the feeding frenzy is over and the big names are gone. They'll sign them for at or below market value and we'll be back out there competing again.

This is great way to go when you're actually making good draft picks - especially the cheap middle round ones - developing them, and then having the smarts to retain them without killing your cap. At least until you've been able to make a few playoff runs. Rick Smith and company haven't really be able to do any of that. Somebody better start hitting on some middle round picks or we'll be in a world of hurt. Perhaps last year was the first sign of it.

This is an odd observation. The 2013 draft was a classic Texans effort. They got two guys at the top of the draft who are pretty good and the rest of the draft was a complete wasteland. They do this year after year and it's a primary reason why the franchise is as terrible as it is.

What I meant with the last sentence was that perhaps last year was the first sign of us being in a world of hurt due to Smith not hitting on those mid-round picks over the last few years. Yes, his mid-round drafts have generally sucked and we're paying for it now. Their contracts/cap guy sucks too.

I keep hoping that Kubiak was behind all of that massive stupidity but I fear that Smith was at least equally to blame. We should find out soon enough.

They certainly don't know how to draft OL or CBs. They seem pretty good at finding TEs though.

I think that's more a function of the quarterbacks they've had.

Just checked roster at team web site. Looks like approx. for now 63 players under contract for start of OTAs on Apr. 7.

Not sure I saw any DT on that roster, so likely will see a FA DT coming sometime in next few weeks.

I thought Texans draft was about as successful as any teams, including the mid-rounds. But we lost a lot of those guys to FA where they got paid more than Texans could afford under cap. Cap appears to be going up now and next several years so that should help Texans retain more of their own draft picks.

I think Texans turned over several scouts and personnel guys along with Kubiaks regime. So evaluations should atleast look different this year, maybe.

Didn't want to start new thread on this so I stuffed it here.

Texans should give him a call. Might be a good, cheap compliment to AF.