Official 2013 NFL Draft - Rounds 4-7 Thread

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by barrett

That's exactly my point. You are assuming a 6th round pick switches positions to guard and beats out last year's 4th rounder (Ben Jones), and that both of them make Wade Smith expendable (and there is no reason for that to happen). With Brooks, Newton, Jones, and Harris already in the fold (and all cheap), along with Brown and Meyers having two spots locked up, two tackles were not needed.

Again, my guess is they really liked the value in round 6 and could not pass him up, and ended up with an extra OL. That is not a big problem and volume drafting with mid to low picks and letting the best two win the right side spots is not a bad idea. I was just agreeing with Roy that when grading the draft as a whole, we duplicated some things we didn't need to and left out a few that might have been addressed. Hopefully we flesh out the ILB spot with some UDFAs.

IMO this is Wade Smith's last season with the Texans, and for that matter Antonio Smith is in his last years here also. That is a lot of cap room to resign Cushing next year.

I think the team is reacting to how hard the injury to Newton is to come back from. It's not the same old ACL or MCL tear here. And they are being proactive and not allowing any of the young linemen rest on their resumes.

I like the idea of 2014 having nunusguy projection. It should be interesting to watch.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by painekiller

IMO this is Wade Smith's last season with the Texans, and for that matter Antonio Smith is in his last years here also. That is a lot of cap room to resign Cushing next year.

I think the team is reacting to how hard the injury to Newton is to come back from. It's not the same old ACL or MCL tear here. And they are being proactive and not allowing any of the young linemen rest on their resumes.

I like the idea of 2014 having nunusguy projection. It should be interesting to watch.

I would say that last year taught us you shouldn't mess with a good OL if possible. Our OL plays on the philosophy of the whole being greater than the parts, and continuity is a big part of that. I don't think Smith has begun to decline in performance at all, and I don't think he has a prohibitive salary that would have me rushing to replace him. I think keeping him should be a priority (relatively speaking). The change on the right side of our line was the only difference between 2011's very effective offense (pre-Schaub injury), and 2012's very inconsistent offense. Arian and Tate carved up everybody behind that 2011 OL, and even though neither of the players replaced were stars individually, the loss of cohesion and continuity killed our offense.

If Smith is not in serious decline I hope he is the starter and that the 2014 OL is identical to the 2013 OL.

[Nconroe]

The other lesson is this new CBA with resulting flat salary cap means non elite players need to accept fair pay or they will be playing somewhere else for veteran minimum or just out of the league before they are ready.

Teams are being forced to get younger to stay under the salary cap which is not good for consistency or keeping your own players.

Wonder if owners and competition committee will change this likely unexpected consequence of new CBA.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Wonder if owners and competition committee will change this likely unexpected consequence of new CBA.

Really? The owners are in the business of making money. Period. Sure, they want to win, as winning brings more money in, but at the end of the day its all about the cash. If they can get similar production from someone 5x cheaper, they'll do it in a heartbeat.

The CBA will equalize some when the new TV deals get in place, and the floor has to be followed. But right now, all the owners are winning.

[Nconroe]

Yeah, I just don't like loosing four favorite players every year and perhaps getting weaker at what had been finally been built to be a strength.

Hard to build consistency or depth, seems to force us to get FA when we had a drafted player we watched develop.

Ok, so owner needs his profit you say.