Project the Depth
 

QB - Schaub, Rosenfels, Gray
RB - Green, Brown, Taylor, Slaton
FB - Leach, Cook
TE - Daniels, Bruener, Dreessen
WR - Johnson, Walter, Davis, Jones, Jason Rivers
OL - Brown, Pitts, Myers, Briesel, Winston, Frye, Spencer, Eslinger, Salaam

DT - Okam, Okoye, Johnson, Maddox
DE - Williams, Weaver, Kalu, Cochran, Nading
LB - Ryans, Diles, Greenwood, Adibi, Bentley, Thompson, Moffit
CB - PUP Robinson, Bennett, Reeves, Molden, Fletcher
S - Brown, Demps, Harrison, Mitchell, Earl

Starting OL? By mid season no injuries.

Brown, Frye, Myers, Briesel, Winston

Salaam, Pitts, Eslinger ,Spencer

You are pegging a complete overhaul. I don't see that much change in the line...

Brown, Pitts, Myers, Weary, Winston

PK-What about Abbate (sp?) He was one of the out of nowhere stars at training camp before the Texans hid him on injured reserve. I could see Cook getting the ax...I pretty much agree with you on this. Moffit and Nading might be destined for the practice squad though. I think there's a chance that Spencer ends up the starter at RG at some point.

Opening day - barring injuries starting 5:

Salaam, Pitts, Myers, Weary, Winston.

Back-ups, Brown, Spencer, Briesel, and Frye

I am trying to look at things from a different angle. Most team will not make wholesale changes and the line you offered maybe closer to the actual line.

I for one have questioned Pitts, he has mental errors at the wrong time. From what I understand, Gibbs will all but murder Pitts for the kind of mistakes. So that is why the look at Frye.

Weary is no what I see as the prototypical Gibbs type blocker. I am open to being wrong here because I like Fred. (I also like Chester, he seems to be a very good guy).

I think the only known starter is Winston. Myers most likely starts, but he could be moved to RG, with a super showing from Eslinger, IMO.

Which OL do want to see? I would love to Spencer starting at one of the positions, don't see him as a Gibbs guys, but I want to see the hard work rewarded. The young man has been through alot and has not given up, that is a good story.

Abbate has already been cut once this off season, and then resigned. So I have him as a bubble guy. I thought he looked good in last years camp, he showed real good hands. Would love to see him replace Cook.

Moffit I see making the team, but could see Nading sliding to the practice squad.

I know LB's are usually special team contributors, but on your list you have 7 LB's listed. I thought we carried 6 last year, and with one spot apparently already going to a 3rd QB I just don't know if they will want that many back-ups on a 4-3 team. Moffit seems like a special team candidate unless he plays well enough to make the staff feel like Bentley, Thompson, or Diles is expendable I think he gets caught in a numbers game. I don't see them ready to cut ties with Greenwood yet. If it works out like I think Adibi takes over next year at the WLB, making Greenwood expendable.


With Dunta pup'd I think your still stuck with Faggins or someone else until D-Rob comes back.

I was not trying to figure out a final roster to the man. I think I have to many OL and LBs, but not as many DBs as we carried last year.

Anyone heard anything about Charles Spencer's health? Is he ever going to be able to play again?

They have Kubiak saying on a video from the lunchen that Spencer is doing great and should be back with the team by June 1. He is currently doing running and drills with the training staff, along with Dunta and Chris White.

I'm interested in his weight and his muscle tone/strength. He was light on his feet prior to his injury, but if he's lost a little weight, as was reported a few months back, this will make him quicker and an even better fit for Gibb's system.

QB - Schaub, Gray, Brink (Sage will get traded)
RB - Brown, Taylor, Slaton, Green (if not Cut)
FB - Leach, Cook
TE - Daniels, Bruener, Dreesen
WR - Johnson, Davis, Jones, Walter, Grice-Mullin (the other Hawii WR, right)
OL - Brown, Pitts, Myers, Weary, Winston, Frye, Spencer, Salaam, Eslinger

DT - Okoye, Okam, Johnson, Maddox
DE - Williams, Weaver, Kalu, Cochran (Nading to P.S.)
LB - Ryans, Greenwood, Thompson, Adibi, Moffitt, Bentley
CB - PUP Robinson, Bennett, Reeves, Molden, Fletcher, Wynn
S - Ferguson, Demps, Brown, Earl, Barber

Thanks for the info. That's great news! (to me at least)

Week 1:

QB - Schaub, Rosenfels, Gray
RB - Brown, Green, Slaton, Taylor (The more I look at this, the more I think Roy might be right about Green getting cut. I think that if we keep him and Brown we almost have to go 4 RB just because of their durability concerns. For now, though, I'll keep him on, although I would be shocked if he won the competition for starter.)
FB - Leach, Cook
TE - Daniels, Bruener, Dreesen
WR - Johnson, Davis, Jones, Walter, David Anderson
OL - Brown, Pitts, Myers, Weary, Winston (Backups T: Salaam, Frye; Backups G: Spencer, Frye; Backup C: Eslinger)
(My first instinct is that Brown might be too raw to expect to be an opening day starter, but Spencer was also considered plenty raw and he was an opening day starter. I think Kubiak will throw him to the wolves unless he's completely lost.)
DT - Okoye, Johnson, Maddox, Okam
DE - Williams, Weaver, Kalu, Cochran
LB - Ryans, Greenwood, Diles, Adibi, Thompson, Bentley
CB - (PUP Robinson), Bennett, Reeves, Fletcher, Molden, Faggins, Wynn
S - Ferguson, Demps, Brown, Harrison
LS - Bryan Pittman
K - Kris Brown
P - Matt Turk

PS - RB Walker, FB Abbate, QB Brink, S Barber, S B. Mitchell, G Studdard, LB Moffitt, DT DelJuan Robinson

Are Walker and Studdard still eligible for the PS?

I do not think Darius would be eligible based on the number of snaps that he played last year.

I don't see Studdard as a fit for the ZBS, to me he seems more of a power mauler.

Where in the heck did this perception about Weary come from? I'm starting to see it more and more from the pimp the back up crowd here in our little internet fan base. Fred has great feet and is real athletic for a big man. Weary is barely 300 pounds if trust the listings at the dotcom.

I guess I have always perceived Fred as a mauler type, and Chester has been considered the quick footed able to be pulled guy. Not used to seeing Fred pulling near as much.

And as I said, I hope my perception is wrong. I admit I spend little time watching Fred, more time watching the tackles, and the ball.

I see Fred as a solid starter. In my estimation, he's better than Briesel ever thought about being. I did notice, however, that on short yardage running plays, we were more likely to pull Chester to the right in between Weary and Winston to take out the LB in the hole. If Weary could do that in the opposite direction, it would keep the defenses from guessing.

Generally, Fred would take on the NT along with the C leaving the other 3 OL to work one-on-one with the 3-Tech and the DEs. I'm hopeful that eventually Frye can be as good as Weary in the run game (especially under Gibbs' coaching) and because of his better feet can be better than Weary in pass protection. However, until that happens, having Weary as the starting RG makes the most sense.

I noticed that too. We pulled Chester quite a bit last year as well. I thought he did a good job with it too. I never thought about it too much, but as soon as you said it I realized you were right. Pulling Chester seemed to me like it led to several nice plays.

I'm not sure about Weary. I think he could be athletic enough, but coming back from the injury is going to make it that much harder for him. I would like to see him do well, but I think he's going to have a lot of competition for that spot....which feels great to say when talking about our offensive line.

The thought of Spencer coming back at full strength makes me drool. His quick feet, long arms, and brute strength make him a prototypical RG for Gibb's system. Spencer with Winston would give us a more than above average right side, and with Brown being coached up (he's so athletically gifted--like Spencer but with better speed, less strength) and a healthy Pitts and Myers, our line could quickly become a plus for our team in no time.

One of the NFL rules I have the hardest time keeping straight is practice squad eligibility, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong. While making this list I had a page open with the relevant section from the NFL rule book open in one window and player profiles in another and I think the players I put on the PS are eligible, although I would welcome input from someone who knows for sure. He only played in four regular season games (six would've made it an accrued season) and dressed for at total of six games (eight would've made it an accrued season.) I'm thinking that makes him eligible to return to the PS squad for one more year.

Now that I've looked closer, though, I think Studdard might be ineligible. He played in less games than Walker, but was on the 53 man roster all year (although he was inactive for 13 of 16 games.) Keith, am I interpreting this right?

Next in line would probably be Grice-Mullens or Marcus Richardson, although I'd prefer to keep another OL for injury depth but Frye's the only other OL I think would be eligible and I think he'll make the 53 man.

Oh man, practice squad eligibility questions give me the biggest headache, but I'll document what I know. That link seems to have some factual info.

First, need to define a couple terms, mostly so I can keep them straight.

Accrued vs. Credited season -
Six games (active, inactive, IR'd, PUP) equals an accrued season. Three games equals a credited season. Games on IR count in the accrued season calculation but do not count in the credited season calculation. As an aside to this conversation, accrued seasons determine free agency whereas credited seasons determine minimum salary.

Further definition of an Accrued Season -
A season is accrued during which a player was on full pay status (active, inactive, or IR'd) for a total of six or more games, but does not include games for which the player was on the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, on the PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or on a practice squad.

Practice squad seasons -
A player may be on a practice squad for up to two seasons, but worth noting, three weeks on a practice squad within a league year constitutes one season.

Now, the practice squad eligibility rule -
* players who do not have an Accrued Season of NFL experience; and
* free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s). No player may be a practice squad player for more than two seasons.


So... the determination on Studdard is a little confusing since he was on "full pay" status all year, but was active for fewer than nine games during his accured season. Ultimately then, that means Studdard is eligible for the practice squad, but color me about 80% confident in that determination. :p

I was wondering about Darius Walker. I believe he was on the practice squad for most of the season until the last 4 games when he was on the active roster. So, it sounds like he is similar to Studdard in that (I think) he is elegible for another season of practice squad ..... correct?

It would be nice to be able to stash him for another year in case the injury bug hits the starting RB's (I am assuming he is odd man out)...

Well, let's see here...

Walker was on the practice squad for more than three games, so one practice squad season left by that determination. He was signed to the roster on 11/21, six games left in the season (2 inactive, 4 active). That gives him one accrued season.

But he was active for fewer than nine games during his only accrued season, so that means he has one year left eligible for the practice squad.

Of course, in both the cases of Studdard and Walker, the catch is that the Texans would have to release them before the season then hope that neither signs to the active roster of another team.

The team might catch that break with Studdard. He didn't really show much during his cup of coffee on game film. Walker, however, averaged 4.6 ypc in the last four games on 58 carries (incl a 5.1 ypc average in the "nationally" televised game against the Broncos). That might be enough for another team to offer him a spot on their roster if he's healthy coming out of camp.

What I could see them doing is cutting Cook, and slating Taylor in as the backup FB, with Abbate on the practice squad.

That means our lineup would look like this:

RB: Green, Brown, Walker, and Slaton.
FB: Vonta Leach, and Chris Taylor.

Practice squad: ...Abbate...

That would allow us to keep Taylor and Walker out of the market, and we have Abbate if anything ever happens to Leach.