CBS: Texans To Release Cushing

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

Forget about Sharper that's a red herring - it's a two man contest.

OK maybe Cushing in a stretch, of 2 - 3 years was better, but if we are gonna talk career vs career then DeMeco is the man.
Oh and as long as you are qualifying the results here's my question ?
How much would we want to discount Cushings stats and performance in general without the PEDs ?

Sharper's not a red herring.

Player A
125 Tackles 3.5 Sacks 1 INT 1 FF, 99/2/1/1, 86/1/0/2, 93/1/0/1

Player B
95/5.5/0/0, 105/4/0/3, 96/2/0/3

Player C
86/4/4/2, 53/1.5/0/1, 81/4/2/2

Tell me the player that doesn't belong on that list. All 3 are comparable and you aren't remembering how good Sharper was on some very solid defenses that get dismissed because the expansion offenses were so inept.

As for longevity or career vs career, Demeco played 6 years and 86 games for the Texans. Years 5 and 6 were shells of years 1-4. Cushing played 9 years and 104 games with the Texans. Years 4-9 were injury plagued and not nearly as good as years 1-3, but they were still better than the Demeco 34 years (2010-2011).

Overall career numbers are
Demeco
479 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 2 INTs, 6 FF
Cushing
428 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 8 INT, 9 FF

Whether you are talking peak or career, Cushing is the best Texans MLB and probably the best Texans LB until Clowney plays another season or two.

If you want to disqualify Cushing for the PED test I have no problem with that. I won't guess who is clean in the NFL with no offseason testing, so I assume they all are. But I'm truly ok if you want to assume they are clean without evidence to the contrary.