June 29, 2008
Just How Safe is Ahman Green?
by Keith Weiland
Keith@IntheBullseye.com

As the Texans were preparing to kick off their offseason earlier this year, I was often asked about my expectations of any notable cuts. After looking at the 2008 salary cap estimates, my answer was always the same: "Probably not".

It was a conclusion made upon a quick study of the players highest on the cap food chain, comparing the 2008 cash outlay and the amount of dead money left if released. The simple analysis produced clear results at the time.

So far, so good. June 1st has come and gone, and maybe outside of the release of Steve McKinney, I suppose I'm looking pretty smart. But my point is not to waste precious blogosphere space to gloat since if you were to ask me the same question today, I'm not so sure I would have the same answer.

No, I'm plucking away at the keyboard here to say that the money game is still afoot, and I think that might be especially true for one top paid player in particular, Ahman Green.

Now, I am of the opinion that, if healthy, Green is the best running back on the roster. I have a sense that the Texans think so as well given that Green is expected to make more than double of what the team gave his closest backup, Chris Brown, and that includes all the income anticipated on Brown's 2008 W-2, i.e. his base salary and his entire signing bonus.

So given the talent disparity displayed by their compensation, not to mention that it's almost July and the guy is still rostered, Green ought to be safe, right?

Hardly.

Green, 31, is coming off a season that did little to help him alleviate fears of the effects of his advancing age. He managed just three games with more than a dozen carries in 2007 and never once amassed more than 73 yards. And yeah, I did say this was the team's best option to carry the football. Not a pretty picture, is it?

Says here that if Green doesn't find a way to stay healthy through training camp, he'll be gone before the season opener in Pittsburgh. And, if he is sent packing, then as a June 1 cut Green only carries $1.25 million in dead money on the 2008 salary cap, actually saving a couple million in cap space should the team be looking for an alternative.

Speaking of an alternative... In spite of signing Brown and using a draft pick on Steve Slaton, not to mention the anticipated returns of Chris Taylor and Darius Walker, it should come as no surprise to hear rumors of the Texans talking with free agent running backs, namely former Bears bust Cedric Benson.

A former Longhorn teammate of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (aka "Baby Shan" around these parts), Benson has had his problems both on and off the field. If you aren't familiar with them, I'll wait here while you Google them for yourself. Just know though that if you see him driving around town, it's because he used a breathalyzer to start the vehicle, so yeah, I'd pull over and stay out of his way to be safe.

With an unstable Green (and an almost as unstable collection of backfiled reserves), the Texans ought to be as paranoid about their running back situation as Benson is after a few tokes on Lake Travis.

And while Benson has been a flop to date as a pro, he is a former first round pick capable of running inside and falling forward for four yards a carry. If Ron Dayne can have even a modicrum of success in this offense, then there is certainly some hope that Benson, freed from a historically inept offense in Chicago, might be able to finally pay dividends on his draft day expectations.

Green is not out of harm's way yet, and with his medical charts reading like a Latin translation of Atlas Shrugged, I'm not using ink when writing his name on the depth chart just yet.

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