Trade Dunta?

[barrett]

Originally Posted by edo783

According to reports and not denied by Dunta or his agent, we offered him a contract similar to Gamble's, long term with 23 million guaranteed. Even in his BEST form that would probably be more than he is worth, or at the very least at the very top of his market/playing worth. We did that after paying him during the time he was off and after a less than stellar return and yet he didn't want the deal. To think that we some how didn't give a stupendously good offer is ludicrous. IMO, we are lucky he didn't take it as he isn't worth it nor IMO is he worth the 9.9 mill of the franchise. Lots of fans are in love with the hits he does in the run game, but seem to forget that other than his rookie year, he was rather consistently beat in the passing game. Does he seem to bring some fire to the defense, yes at times, but is that worth burying the cap room to pay for what is a mediocre CB at best and perhaps not even mediocre these days.

A few things. (1) Dunta was far better than mediocre in 2007 and before. (2) We had no choice but to pay Dunta while he was hurt. It wasn't like we did it out of the goodness of our heart. (3) He is our best option at CB if healthy and would be one of our 2 best this year even if he doesn't make it all the back.

Make him play for the franchise tag and buy yourself a year in the negotiations to see if he can still play like he did pre-injury. If he doesn't like it he will sit out and not get paid and hurt his own value for other teams.

So I have no problem with Dunta trying to get paid (especially since he is looking at what might be his one big payday in a league heavily slanted to the owners), and I have no problem with the Texans not paying a guy coming off of a serious injury. Lets just let it play out. We haven't even hit training camp yet.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by barrett

A few things. (1) Dunta was far better than mediocre in 2007 and before. (2) We had no choice but to pay Dunta while he was hurt. It wasn't like we did it out of the goodness of our heart. (3) He is our best option at CB if healthy and would be one of our 2 best this year even if he doesn't make it all the back.

Make him play for the franchise tag and buy yourself a year in the negotiations to see if he can still play like he did pre-injury. If he doesn't like it he will sit out and not get paid and hurt his own value for other teams.

So I have no problem with Dunta trying to get paid (especially since he is looking at what might be his one big payday in a league heavily slanted to the owners), and I have no problem with the Texans not paying a guy coming off of a serious injury. Lets just let it play out. We haven't even hit training camp yet.

Dunta was better than mediocre in 2007, but his best year by far was his rookie year when he exceeded expectations for a rookie corner. He hasn't played at that same level since then. I blame a lot of it on scheme...but that doesn't change the fact that he hasn't performed as well as I had hoped he had.

I have zero problem with him for trying to maximize his money right now. I think he's taking the negotiations a little too personnel, but I guess it's hard not too sometimes. I'm not a fan of some of the comments he made publicly either. I think it should be handled a different way, but it's his contract not mine. If he were to ask me for my advice I would tell him that he should have taken the 23 Mill deal...if that's what he really got offered. It's entirely possible that the the Texans slipped a big roster bonus on the back end of the contract that they included in the gauranteed money when it "accidentally" got leaked to the media. Pure speculation, but if they did something like that then Dunta is smart enough to know that he would be released before ever seeing that big bonus. He would probably also feel like the Texans were just trying to make him look. You never know.

He's very aware of how fragile an NFL career is. This is probably his one shot at a really big deal. Very few players get a shot at more than 1 big free agent deal. Holdouts happen all the time, we've just had very few players of a high enough caliber for it to be an issue. Every year guys get included on the "potential" free agents list and everyone starts drooling over who they might be able to sign next year. Most of the marquee names end up staying with their team. We don't know what's being said behind closed doors, and that's why I'm just can't get too worked up over this. He's here this year for sure unless something wild happens. Beyond that there's nothing to do but wait and see.

[edo783]

IMO, Dunta WAS a close to elite run stopper, but just slightly above average in pass coverage. The ONLY time he showed well was his rookie year. Last year he was less than average in both realms and was beaten badly in pass coverage. Will he be better this year....most likely, but certainly not at top 5 level as he was NEVER there to start with.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by edo783

The ONLY time he showed well was his rookie year.

I think this is completely wrong.

The stats won't show it (they sometimes don't for good corners that are not challenged as much as their teammate on the other side), but imo Robinson was probably having the best year of his career in 2007 before the injury. Everyone remembers how much of an impact he made as a rookie because expectations were low and he was challenged more often (especially initially as a still-useful Aaron Glenn played the other corner), but Robinson was having a Pro Bowl-caliber season in 2007 before he went down. But don't take my word for it - - per this chron article, "Robinson was playing at what Kubiak considered a Pro Bowl level before the injury".

We were lucky to have Fred Bennett step in as a rookie after the injury, but Bennett's rookie status and the lowered fan expectations that come with it might be also contributing to this selective memory loss about Robinson's quality of play two years ago.

All that said, however, it doesn't really make the current situation any clearer. At this point, I'm sorta feeling like what barrett says, that we may be witnessing Robinson's final year as a Texan in 2009 before he moves elsewhere next year. I still have hope though that a compromise is achieved on a new contract within the first week of so of training camp. I think it's entirely possible.

Regardless of whether a new agreement is reached, the window to trade Robinson has most likely passed until next Feb/Mar imo. If the Texans were going to move him in 2009, they probably would have done it before the draft.