Texans FA's

[popanot]

Decided to make a thread for the FA's. It looks all of ours are hitting the market. Not good for the OL. Here's recent tweet RE: Mario...

Adam Schefter ‏ - @AdamSchefter::::
Free agent defensive end Mario Williams plans to visit the Buffalo Bills tonight
(3/13/12)

[Nconroe]

Yep, looks like all our FA have decided to test the market. and why not.

[WMH]

I was wondering what kind of money that a #2 WR would get, you know, someone like Garcon. Well, that market has been set by Garcon, to the tune of 5 yrs, $42.5MM with $21 gtd as he signs with the Skins.

Maybe Jacoby wasn't so bad afterall
Don't see us playing in that game.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by WMH

I was wondering what kind of money that a #2 WR would get, you know, someone like Garcon. Well, that market has been set by Garcon, to the tune of 5 yrs, $42.5MM with $21 gtd as he signs with the Skins.

Maybe Jacoby wasn't so bad afterall
Don't see us playing in that game.

All FAs are overpaid. That's why I didn't get the idea that we should dump Mario to overpay someone else on the FA market.

[WMH]

Ruh roh » RT @ShawnZobel_DHQ: Green Bay is talking to Houston center Chris Myers to replace Wells -- BigRon (@BigRon281)

[chuck]

Originally Posted by WMH

Ruh roh » RT @ShawnZobel_DHQ: Green Bay is talking to Houston center Chris Myers to replace Wells -- BigRon (@BigRon281)

Why not? They were talking with him a week ago, why not keep talking now?

[Blitzwood]

Originally Posted by popanot

Decided to make a thread for the FA's. It looks all of ours are hitting the market. Not good for the OL. Here's recent tweet RE: Mario...

Adam Schefter ‏ - @AdamSchefter::::
Free agent defensive end Mario Williams plans to visit the Buffalo Bills tonight
(3/13/12)

From SI:

How badly do the Buffalo Bills want to sign free-agent defensive end Mario Williams? Here’s how badly — according to Mark Gaughan of Buffalo News, the team is committed to making Williams the top-paid defensive player in the NFL.

That’s a lofty goal. The Chicago Bears signed Julius Peppers for six years and $91.5 million in 2010, with over half that money guaranteed. But the Bills are dying to sign Williams, the two-time Pro Bowler with 53 career sacks to his name.


http://tracking.si.com/2012/03/14/re...ms/?xid=si_nfl

[nunusguy]

OK so this guy goes out and blows all of his cash plus going deeply into debt to purchase a brand new Maserati leaving himself without even enough money to make his mortgage payment so that his house is now repossessed and he's no longer got a house (with a garage) to park his brand new prize vehicle. Is this what Rick Smith has done, put himself in a crappy neighborhood in a rental and his new car parked out in front on the curb, and if so how could he make such a
miscalculation ?

[Nconroe]

I think with new cba it is more like your at an auction and several buyers are willing to overpay. Good for good players. Probably not good for the average of 500 plus FA this year.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

OK so this guy goes out and blows all of his cash plus going deeply into debt to purchase a brand new Maserati leaving himself without even enough money to make his mortgage payment so that his house is now repossessed and he's no longer got a house (with a garage) to park his brand new prize vehicle. Is this what Rick Smith has done, put himself in a crappy neighborhood in a rental and his new car parked out in front on the curb, and if so how could he make such a
miscalculation ?

I think it was LZ who tweeted that the Texans are in cap hell right now. What I don't understand is how. OK, that's not entirely accurate, I do somewhat understand how but it shouldn't be the case. If you were to make a list of the most important/best guys on this team, I suspect that, in random order, it would look something like this:

Arian Foster
Andre Johnson
Duane Brown
Brian Cushing
Johnathan Joseph
J.J. Watt
Mario Williams
Chris Myers
Matt Schaub
Connor Barwin
Owen Daniels
Brooks Reed

Of that list, 5 are still on their rookie contracts and are considerably underpaid (especially the late 1st rounders and 2nd rounders). And Foster was in that camp as of last week as well. 2 are free agents right now (Myers and Mario) with several more to become free agents next year (Brown, Schaub, Barwin).

To date, the core of our team has been very cheap and virtually none of them are locked up long term. The Texans should be in a great cap situation. With the exception of Joseph, AJ, and now Foster, they were getting all of their good players on the cheap. Unfortunately, the warm fuzzies produced by this season are starting to wear off and I may be returning to my pessimistic ways.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

I think with new cba it is more like your at an auction and several buyers are willing to overpay.

But that's nothing new, it's always been the case where there's a team or two which would over pay for a certain free agent. It seems to me that it's part of the GMs job to anticipate that and lock up his key players before they have a chance to hit free agency ?
Unless you think that Rick Smith believes he can plug just anybody into the Texans' zone-blocking OLine and make it work, it's a disaster if he's misjudged this free agency so badly that the Texans lose 60 % of their OLine in this offseason.

[popanot]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Of that list, 5 are still on their rookie contracts and are considerably underpaid (especially the late 1st rounders and 2nd rounders). And Foster was in that camp as of last week as well. 2 are free agents right now (Myers and Mario) with several more to become free agents next year (Brown, Schaub, Barwin).

To date, the core of our team has been very cheap and virtually none of them are locked up long term. The Texans should be in a great cap situation. With the exception of Joseph, AJ, and now Foster, they were getting all of their good players on the cheap. Unfortunately, the warm fuzzies produced by this season are starting to wear off and I may be returning to my pessimistic ways.

And you can add into the equation that AJ has renegotiated twice to help out the cap situation. I don't get it either. Where is this $$ being spent? OD re-signed recently and I guess they had to pay well for A. Smith, but come on, it's not like this roster is studded with high-priced vets and FAs.

Now, I'm not down on Smith or the Texans for not being players in FA this year. I'm glad they're not, actually. However, I'm HUGELY down on him for getting us into this situation and possibly losing some of our key guys (OL). These are guys that are on the 'lower-end' payscale by NFL standards. Even worse is the fact next year is going to be downright scary if they can't figure it out. We have some big names coming up for new contracts. D. Brown alone is going to get a king's ransom.

[WMH]

Ben Tate on the move? http://t.co/5IK60yQn -- Dave Richard (@daverichard)

[popanot]

Originally Posted by WMH

Ben Tate on the move? http://t.co/5IK60yQn -- Dave Richard (@daverichard)

Other than a draft pick, what the does CLE have to offer? The only way I'd give up Tate for a draft pick is if it's for a #1 and I doubt CLE would do that. Guess I'd consider Little, but it's not like he's proven and I'm not sure CLE would even give him up.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by popanot

Other than a draft pick, what the does CLE have to offer? The only way I'd give up Tate for a draft pick is if it's for a #1 and I doubt CLE would do that. Guess I'd consider Little, but it's not like he's proven and I'm not sure CLE would even give him up.

Dunno, was surprised to see that. IF they have to retool the O-line, draft may be the only thing we can afford. CLE does have 2 1s.....

[WMH]

Originally Posted by popanot

Other than a draft pick, what the does CLE have to offer? The only way I'd give up Tate for a draft pick is if it's for a #1 and I doubt CLE would do that. Guess I'd consider Little, but it's not like he's proven and I'm not sure CLE would even give him up.

Ben Tate's agent has told me he can't confirm/deny there have been trade negotiations w/ his client, but it "wouldn't surprise me" he says -- Keith Britton (@KeithBritton86)

[popanot]

Tate and our #26 for #4? Blackmon/Claiborne/or Kalil @ #4 and use our #2 on LaMicheal James - or OL and Peed w/#3? It would make sense trying to get something big for Tate. Value is high and he's probably none too happy with the Foster deal.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Joshua

I think it was LZ who tweeted that the Texans are in cap hell right now. What I don't understand is how.

Complicating the cap situation for 2012 is that the Texans probably expected the cap to increase far more than it did over 2011. Prior to the new CBA, I remember thinking a few years ago that I thought the 2012 cap would be closer to $140 million by this point.

The Texans never thought it would be that high this year, but it only jumped less than a half million. That's got to be less than they thought.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by Keith

Complicating the cap situation for 2012 is that the Texans probably expected the cap to increase far more than it did over 2011. Prior to the new CBA, I remember thinking a few years ago that I thought the 2012 cap would be closer to $140 million by this point.

The Texans never thought it would be that high this year, but it only jumped less than a half million. That's got to be less than they thought.

Admittedly, my cap knowledge is limited to say the least. However, I seem to recall it being known once the new CBA was completed that the cap would be fairly stagnant the first 2 years into the deal; i.e., 2011 and 2012. I may not be remembering this correctly though.

In any event, my biggest complaint is that of our top 12 players (or at least, my rough estimation of them), about half are underpaid, 2 are free agents this year and 3 are free agents next year. How can you be in cap hell when virtually all of your top players are on their rookie contracts, free agents or soon-to-be free agents?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Joshua

How can you be in cap hell when virtually all of your top players are on their rookie contracts, free agents or soon-to-be free agents?

Because the #s add up fast.

Schaub - $10.95M
Joseph - $9.75M
Andre (pre-restructure) - $8.84M
Ninja - $8.8M
Foster - $7.9M
Manning - $5M
Walter - $3.5M
Cushing - $3.28M
Jacoby - Don't remember.
Duane - Don't remember.
Daniels - Don't remember.

This is probably ~$70 million or so. Leaves $50 million for the other 40 in the top 51. It goes fast.

ETA - The real problem at this point is Schaub's #. He is in the final year now, a perfect time to extend if the Texans are REALLY committed to the guy, i.e. not just Bob McNair giving us all lip service like he did this week when addressing Peyton rumors. If Bob really loved Schaub as much as he said, they would have extended his contract by now.