Who's the best/worst free agent we've ever signed?

[cloudwasher]

I was thinking about it on the drive home from work the other day, and the players with whom the Texans have had the most success have been through the draft. I dont know if anyone has thrown this question out there recently, but since we're entering the long boring stretch of the offseason I figured I would.

I was hard pressed while thinking about it to decide who is the best and the worst free agent acquisition that the Texans have ever signed? For the sake of making it interesting lets say that players obtained through a trade or in the most recent offseason (since we obviously dont have any games of them in a Texans uniform to judge them) off the table as far as consideration goes.

Im honestly not sure who I would pick for the best (part of the reason I decided to post this).... As for the worst, I would say Ahman Green. Fairly large contract with nothing but a few unproductive, injure prone seasons to show for it.

[HPF Bob]

Best free agent signing? I'd give the nod to Kris Brown who has been above average for most of the team's tenure. I mulled over the thought of Sage Rosenfels, though, since he gave us two decent years as a back up (with an epic fail or two scattered in) and we got a fourth-round choice for him on his way out. If that 4th-rounder becomes gold, he might be the best FA signing.

As for worst, Ahman Green is a good choice although I think about how much we squandered on guys like Robaire Smith and Anthony Weaver.

[Nconroe]

For worst I was thinking , and its not his fault, Tony Boselli, since he had a big contract and didn't play one down for us in three years at LT. And kept us from building the OL as we should have from the early going.

For best FA, Aaron Glen was pretty good for a few years at CB, I was disappointed when they let him go.

Sure there are plenty more good and bad to think of.

[HPF Bob]

Except neither Boselli nor Glenn were free agents. Both were drafted in the expansion draft.

[Keith]

To assist this thread, here are some notable free agents signed by the Texans. I'll only include initial RFA and UFA signings from other teams and not the trades (Phillip Buchanan $0 bonus in 2005, Eric Moulds $5.25M bonus and Samkon Gado $0 bonus in 2006, Matt Schaub $4.5M bonus in 2007, Chris Myers $3M in 2008), re-signings and extensions, but there were definitely some good (Aaron Glenn in 2002, Chester Pitts in 2005) and really, really bad (Gary Walker in 2004 for $11M bonus, Domanick Davis in 2005 for $5M bonus, Kailee Wong in 2005 for $5.825M bonus, etc.) to consider. Oh, and I'll ignore one stupid option bonus (David Carr in 2006).

Just amazing how delusionary the Texans were between March 2004 and August 2005 with their signings and re-signings. Ick.

The Good

2/6/02 - Chad Stanley, originally signed for a $5k bonus. Re-signed the following year for a $600k bonus and a 4-yr contract.

2/8/02 - Billy Miller, originally signed for a $12k bonus. Re-signed the following year for a $1M bonus and a 4-yr extension.

3/6/02 - Steve McKinney, originally signed for a $3.5M bonus. Re-signed later, but the initial signing is worthy of consideration.

3/7/02 - Kailee Wong, originally signed for a $4.2M bonus. Later re-signed.

3/25/02 - Kris Brown, originally signed as a RFA (7th rnd) for a $1M bonus across four years. Obviously re-signed now a couple times.

4/18/02 - Jeff Posey, $1k bonus. Only one year in Houston, but his sack record stood for awhile, sadly.

8/21/02 - Tony Banks, originally signed for a $25k bonus. Re-signed a couple times later.

3/1/03 - Zach Wiegert, originally signed for a $3.5M bonus across five years. Later re-signed.

9/17/03 - Marlon McCree, claimed off waivers.

3/22/04 - Mark Bruener, originally signed for a $400k bonus. Later re-signed.

3/12/06 - Sage Rosenfels, $2M bonus on a four-year contract. Traded for a 4th rounder after three years.

3/18/06 - Kevin Walter, $2M bonus as a RFA on a four-year contract.

9/5/06 - Ron Dayne, $0 bonus. Re-signed a year later.

10/9/06 - Vonta Leach, $0 bonus. Later matched offer sheet the following year.

11/14/06 - Von Hutchins, $0 bonus. Later re-signed,

1/2/07 - Joel Dreesen, $0 bonus to a futures contract. Later released and re-signed.

4/12/07 - Andre Davis, $0 bonus. Later re-signed.

9/11/07 - Will Demps, $0 bonus. Later re-signed.

3/1/08 - Jacques Reeves, $6M in bonuses on a five-year contract.

The Bad

3/10/02 - Corey Bradford, originally signed for a $1.8M bonus. Probably too harsh putting him on the bad list.

3/15/02 - James Allen, signed for estimated $500k bonus.

4/9/03 - Stacey Mack, signed for a $200k bonus on a one-year contract.

3/4/04 - Todd Wade, signed for a $10M bonus on a six-year contract. Spent two seasons as a Texan.

3/4/04 - Robaire Smith, signed for a $8.35M bonus on a six-year contract. Spent two seasons as a Texan.

3/3/05 - Morlon Greenwood, signed for a $7M bonus on a five-year contract.

3/11/06 - Jameel Cook, signed for $1.1M bonus on a five-year contract. Spent two years as a Texan.

3/12/06 - Anthony Weaver, signed for $12M in bonuses on a five-year contract. Spent three years as a Texan.

3/21/06 - Jeb Putzier, signed for a $1.85 bonus on a four-year contract. Spent two years as a Texan.

3/24/06 - Sam Cowart, signed for a $750k bonus. Never made it past camp.

3/5/07 - Ahman Green, signed for over $7M in bonuses on a four-year contract. Spent two years as a Texan.

4/5/07 - Jamar Fletcher, signed $400k bonus on a two-year contract. Gone after one season.

6/16/08 - Rosevelt Colvin, estimated $1.34M in bonuses. Never made it past camp.

[Nconroe]

Oh, from the FA acquisitions which Keith gave a nice list-

my first vote for worst would be Todd Wade
and
my vote for best would be (several good ones) Kris Brown

go ahead and comment , Haiku is 5-7 - 5 syllables , right?

I am so happy no one talking abour BF

[painekiller]

I would say Todd Wade was the worst. IMO he was signed to be a OLT by Casserly. He was paid OLT money, and he never had the skills to be a OLT. Not before we signed him and certainly not after. In fact his skill set was so bad, they made him a ORT when they already had Zach Wiegert to play the slow footed ORT.

As for the good, either Kris Brown or Kevin Walter have to be near the top.

[Bigtinylittle]

I hate to say it because I favored the pickup at the time, but the clear answer for worst is Green.

It would be interesting to calculate the amount of money Green cost us for every run he had over 3 yards. I'll bet the number is substantial.

[cadams]

for best i would go with Walter, just barely over brown, just because he is a kicker, though i don't suppose that really should factor into my evaluation

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by painekiller

I would say Todd Wade was the worst. IMO he was signed to be a OLT by Casserly. He was paid OLT money, and he never had the skills to be a OLT. Not before we signed him and certainly not after. In fact his skill set was so bad, they made him a ORT when they already had Zach Wiegert to play the slow footed ORT.

As for the good, either Kris Brown or Kevin Walter have to be near the top.

This was pretty much going to be my answer. To me, Wade is worse than Green because it was such a scouting failure. They paid him top tier money and there was nothing to justify it. With Green, at least we all knew we were getting an over-30 RB with an injury history and it was a risky signing. In short, they rolled the dice that he could stay healthy and he didn't. Now, the price tag for this dice roll was clearly too high, but I think even the Texans knew this was the risk they were taking and decided to take it nevertheless. You win some, you lose some. However, with Wade, it was simply a colossal failure of evaluating talent. He wasn't injured; he just wasn't any good and they paid him like he was.

I also agree that Brown or Walter are the top signings.

[Keith]

I thought this would be easier to pick out, but it's kinda hard because you're not sure how to place value on certain aspects of each signing. For instance, Kailee Wong was actually a great signing for the expansion team. He started all 16 games for the first three years of the franchise, but then he re-upped and only started five more times in two seasons before he became dead weight on the salary cap.

So I tend to sorta gloss over the re-signings a bit and just weigh the initial ones, but then that does an injustice to someone like Kris Brown, who has made several clutch kicks as Texan dating all the way back to 2002, but really he has only been truly stellar stats-wise the past two seasons (yes, with the help of a more competent offense to put him in scoring range).

Hmmm. Tough to rank then.

Of the best...
1. Kevin Walter. Maybe the best bang for the buck at a non-special teams position.
2. Kris Brown. He doesn't keep re-signing unless he signs here the first time. A true Texan.
3. Andre Davis. An expensive re-signing, but how critical was he in 2007 both as a kick returner and as a fill-in for Andre Johnson?
4. Zach Wiegert. Underrated signing, maybe because he couldn't stay healthy. But he was plucked from a division rival and became arguably the best OL during his stay (Chester might say no) when he wasn't sidelined, and should maybe be even higher on this list.
5. Sage/Kailee/Leach/McKinney - Too close to call imo. Good cases could be made for all to be even higher than #5 on this list.

Of the worst...
1. Anthony Weaver. Big swing and a miss here. Out of position, hurt, and completely, utterly, entirely ineffective (1 sack in 44 "starts"? Yeesh.)
2. Ahman Green. Six starts in two years. Never rushed more than 73 yards in a game (the total in his first game as a Texan, btw). Bad gamble.
3. Todd Wade. 22 starts in two years. Could easily be tops on this list, but blocking for David Carr makes me grade a bit on a curve.
4. Robaire Smith. Actually, Weaver makes this guy look good. Smith was rumored to be a poor lockerroom influence, too.
5. Rosevelt Colvin. I understand what the Texans were trying to do here and give them some credit for trying, but to not even make the team out of camp makes this list-worthy.

Just hoping and praying that Antonio Smith stays the hell away from this second list.

[ramp1028]

which list does Eric Moulds fit on?

[papabear]

I've got to go with Todd Wade for worse. Green was a calculated risk that didn't work out. I was actually a fan of the Wade signing, and was appropriately humbled by it. Every time I get too excited one way or the other about a FA/draft pick I remind myself how happy I was when we got Wade.

First, I think Wong's up there, but I've got to go with Kevin Walter as the best. He was an absolute steal as an RFA. Brown is a good one but he's a kicker. McKinney stands out as well. Demps upgraded the position, even though he didn't "fix" that postion. Low cost+upgrade= good signing.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by ramp1028

which list does Eric Moulds fit on?

In terms of good vs. bad, the bad list. But he was technically traded for, though it was a sign-n-trade, which ought to mean he was more like a FA in that regard.

I'd maybe put him #5 on my bad list, but you have to consider that he had David Carr throwing to him. Ask Steve Smith's stats what it's like to have Carr throwing to him. That said, Moulds signed a contract that was scheduled to pay him through 2009, and he's already been out of football for two years... so yeah, bad trade and signing for sure.

[dadmg]

Wade's a no-contest for the worst, IMO. Big money contract, yet was the weak link on a couple weak-mediocre offensive lines. Oh how I laugh when Casserly gets trotted out as an "expert analyst" - guess it pays to be friendly with the media.

[NBT]

Chris Brown is going to work his way on to the worst FA list before it is all said and done.

[barrett]

No way can you put Green #1. Todd Wade got $10 million to play RT a number of years ago when the cap was far lower than when Green got $7 million to play RB. The Wade signing was worse than even the Babin or Buchanon trades. A collossal failure in the pro scouting department.

Walter is far and away the #1. Low money and the minimal cost. And the total opposite of Wade in that our pro scouting guys deliberately plucked a gem from another team who was wasting him.

[TheMatrix31]

I really love that we signed Matt Turk...