Offseason Tidbits

[popanot]

Rich Cimini
‏@RichCimini For GM job: Confirmed that Jets have requested to interview Texans dir of college scouting Mike Maccagnan, as @BrianCoz said. #nyjAs I said before, I think you have to consider the whole Texans scouting department when looking the horrid draft history under Smith, so I would have to think Maccagnan is part of the problem and losing him might not be such a bad thing. In addition, if the Jets do hire him as GM, would it make Kubiak the frontrunner for HC? Good luck with that NYJ!!

[Keith]

That's what the Jets deserve for asking Charley Casserly to whisper in their ears.

[Nconroe]

So Casserly and Mccagnan dont exactly give us a sense of confidence in future. Just a consideration on draft picks , perhaps salary cap, injuries, and coaches have impacted Texans draft results. A lot of ex Texas players doing ok around the league.

[HPF Bob]

Can they find the guy who scouts the Virginia/Virgina Tech/NC State/South Carolina region we draft so many players from? We seem to take a lot of them and the results are a mixed bag.

[Keith]

^^^ Dale Strahm, a Bronco guy before he came to Houston. He has since retired, I think sometime between 2012-13.

In other news, the team granted permission for Brian Gaine (director of pro personnel) to interview for the GM position with the Bears. Gaine has only been here a year, but it sure seems to me that the Texans improved their pro scouting efforts this year with some of these diamonds in the rough they kept discovering during the 2014 season.

Gaine was hired from the Dolphins where he had been an assistant GM under Jeff Ireland. He's part of the Parcells tree. If the Texans were ever going to "promote" Rick Smith out of the GM position, Gaine seems like a good candidate to replace him.

[Keith]

Texans on short list of candidates for HBO's Hard Knocks this summer. From SI:

2. For fans of HBO’s Hard Knocks, here’s the list of NFL teams eligible to be drafted by the league should no team volunteer to take part in the series: Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Bucs, Rams, Browns, Texans, Jaguars and Titans. The exemptions include teams with first-year head coaches, teams that have made the playoffs the last two seasons, and teams that have been featured on the series in the past 10 years. http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/01/04/stuart-scott-espn-sportscenter-media-circus?page=2&devicetype=default

[HPF Bob]

Redskins and Browns would provide the most drama. Texans really aren't all that newsworthy after Watt.

If the Vikings still have that party boat, though, that would put them right to the top. HBO can provide the strippers.

[popanot]

Gaine has only been here a year, but it sure seems to me that the Texans improved their pro scouting efforts this year with some of these diamonds in the rough they kept discovering during the 2014 season.They definitely found some decent talent off the trash heap this year. I remember some of the NFL insiders/analysts on Twitter saying he was a good hire for the Texans when it happened. I'd take a chance on him as GM over Smith at this point.

[WMH]

They definitely found some decent talent off the trash heap this year. I remember some of the NFL insiders/analysts on Twitter saying he was a good hire for the Texans when it happened. I'd take a chance on him as GM over Smith at this point.

The way the talking heads are making it sound, OB wants a puppet to replace Smith, and more or less total control over personnel. Not sure if McNair will give that to a 2nd year HC or not, but its something to watch.

Chip just got it in Philly....Just seems like too much on 1 guy, IMO. I'd bet HC's already working 80-100+ hours/week. What else can get squeezed in without something taking a side step? Belicheat is a great coach, but not a great personnel guy. If he didn't fall in to Brady, he probably wouldn't be held in the same regard, as they'd probably be the Browns..... Don't know of too many instances where there has been success with that framework.

[Keith]

Chip just got it in Philly....

Heard the Eagles wanted to talk to Gaine next. Gaine reportedly had his interview with the Bears today.

I have a feeling Imma be real sad soon to learn he's somewhere else and Rick Smith is still here.

[WMH]

Heard the Eagles wanted to talk to Gaine next. Gaine reportedly had his interview with the Bears today.

I have a feeling Imma be real sad soon to learn he's somewhere else and Rick Smith is still here.

Rumor mill has Pioli coming in to GM spot......

[Arky]

Texans let go offensive line coach Paul Dunn (http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans/2015/01/texans-fire-offensive-line-coach-dunn/#29472101=0). Going in a different direction..... bet they already have someone in mind...

[Keith]

Good news for the Texans - the Bears hired Ryan Pace to be their new GM, choosing not to hire Brian Gaine. Seems Gaine is still in the running in Philadelphia.

The Texans keep affirming that Rick Smith isn't going anywhere as their GM, so hopefully they are able to retain Gaine and keep him scouting for the team.

[WMH]

Texans let go offensive line coach Paul Dunn (http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans/2015/01/texans-fire-offensive-line-coach-dunn/#29472101=0). Going in a different direction..... bet they already have someone in mind...

Yep. Quick hire.
@LanceZierlein: Can’t tell you how excited I am that Mike Devlin is the new offensive line coach for Texans. Huge upgrade w/ very sharp man taking over.

[Nconroe]

Interesting we changed Oline coach as I thought Oline improved and did ok last year. But thanks to outgoing and welcome to incoming. Maybe Dunn has something lined up as well.

[Nconroe]

Heard there will be a Veteran FA combine this year to help the older FA find a new team and compare their skills all at one place for all teams to watch. March 22 in St. Louis.

[Warren]

Texans reportedly promoting Gaine to director of player personnel: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/18/texans-promote-brian-gaine/

[Warren]

Not sure what his new job description is, but the position has been open since they fired Brian Gardner a year ago. This should make him the #2 guy in the football side of the front office behind Smith and he'll apparently now have responsibilities in both both the draft and free agency.

[HPF Bob]

Sounds like a promotion to keep him and perhaps have him as GM-in-waiting if Smith is ousted.

[Arky]

D-line coach Bill Kollar (http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans/2015/01/texans-losing-d-line-coach-bill-kollar-to-gary-kubiaks-staff-in-denver/#18322101=0) takes a job with Kubiak in Denver. He's got family in Denver so.....

[Warren]

Former Bears DL coach and Syracuse and UConn HC Paul Pasqualoni to replace Kollar: http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans/2015/01/texans-hire-paul-pasqualoni-to-coach-defensive-line/#29865101=0

[HPF Bob]

Pasqualoni is a veteran coach with a deep resume. He's the sort you could picture O'Brien/Crennel bringing in. As a head coach, I wasn't that impressed but we all know great assistants who didn't pan out as head coaches so that's no knock on the guy. He might even be overqualified to be a position coach.

[Nconroe]

here is a writeup on Texans site about our new DL coach, new OL coach, and new assistants http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-hire-Pasqualoni-Devlin-announce-coaching-staff-changes/730a5aaa-63f3-4270-a501-5898faf6a24b

Pasqualoni, new DL coach, was at Chicago last year where they had 39 sacks. He has coached for 40 years.

Devlin is new OL coach has spent last 9 years with NY Jets, first as TE coach and last few as OL coach. He played 7 years in NFL, mostly with Buffalo.

Pleasant transistioned from Texans strength assistant. Looks like he has been with Romeo Crenell fourteen years at Jets, Patriots, and Chiefs.

And I saw a note where Bill O'Brien came in second in Coach of the year voting. Sounds about right. Just need that super elite QB to emerge.

[HPF Bob]

Nestled in this article is a table showing the current cap space of all NFL teams:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/hotread150212/early-look-top-free-agents-2015

For those who want to cut to the chase, the Texans have $8.4 million in cap space at present. That ranks them 22nd in cap room. Teams in the negative (thus a better chance of poaching their players) are Pittsburgh, Miami, New England, Kansas City, San Francisco, Arizona and New Orleans.

[barrett]

Nestled in this article is a table showing the current cap space of all NFL teams:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/hotread150212/early-look-top-free-agents-2015

For those who want to cut to the chase, the Texans have $8.4 million in cap space at present. That ranks them 22nd in cap room. Teams in the negative (thus a better chance of poaching their players) are Pittsburgh, Miami, New England, Kansas City, San Francisco, Arizona and New Orleans.

It's tough to believe we have that little cap space when we had so much dead money this year that is coming off the books. It goes to show the cap issues we had. Hopefully the remainder of our dead weight contracts are cut this offseason or allowed to expire, rather than being extended with consequences pushed to the future.

[HPF Bob]

Another story I read says that we can add another $8.8 million in cap space if we trade Andre Johnson.

[popanot]

The cap is far easier to manage when your team is consistent in drafting productive players, signing good low-cost FAs, and purging veteran and/or non-productive excess. And so far, it's painfully obvious the Texans haven't been good at any of the above (although, last year they did do a great job at signing good, low-cost FAs -- so there's hope). Personally, I want my team at near the max cap figure every year, but doing it wisely using the method above. I'm sure it's tougher than it sounds, but I hope somehow we can get there.

[Nconroe]

I heard cap might go up from 133 to 141 mil so maybe ok. I agree, seems lots of dead money last year I thought would help this year.

[Warren]

I met Bill O'Brien last week. He spoke at a Brown University alumni event; my dad went to Brown and they somehow let me in despite my Aggie credentials. Nice guy, very approachable, with the same self-deprecating sense of humor you hear in interviews. He didn't reveal anything earth-shattering, but it was interesting. Here's some of my impressions, but understand these are in my words, not his, so don't read too much into anything:

His traits of a good leader: communication, people skills (different than communication -- more about recognizing that you need to take different approaches to connect with different people), competence (when you stand up in front of these guys you better know what you're talking about), good heart (understanding that his players and staff have real-life issues that are sometimes more important than football), courage.
Talked (and joked) about his college days, and his mother's reaction when he graduated and said he wanted to get into coaching.
People say he had to have courage to take the Penn State job after the scandal, but he said the players who stayed when they could have transferred were the real courageous ones. He still considered it a great opportunity. It was a lot different sitting at the head of the table than being an assistant.
They draft for best player available, hopefully filling needs. The draft is such a fluid situation that you can't go in with a rigid plan. Also have to anticipate needs two or three years in the future.
They need to get younger and faster.
He really wants guys who are passionate about and love the football. Even with the money involved (and most players don't see the huge money) it's very demanding and their hearts need to be in it.
They didn't feel that any of the top QBs in the 2014 draft were the right guy. Said great ones are hard to get so they're trying to find one they can develop. He likes Mallett and wants him back.
Somebody asked about the importance of patience. He gave the example of Su'a-Filo, who he thinks is going to be a good player but had to miss a lot of the offseason program and was behind.
Somebody asked about the sideline "incident" with Brady when he was in New England. Brady threw a pick in the end zone and was chewing out the WR, who had just signed with the team that week. The WR hadn't run the best route but Brady also made a bad throw and O'Brien was tired of listening to him.
They're trying to emulate the Patriot approach of identifying players who can fill certain roles, which also applies to cap management. What he meant by that has become more clear in the last week...
He was asked (by my brother) whether last season's turnaround from the year before could be attributed to his ban on Segways at the facility. He laughed and said it was crazy. There were guys who would drive them across the locker room from their lockers to the showers. He said no more.

[Arky]

I met Bill O'Brien last week.............

Good stuff, thanks for sharing....

[HPF Bob]

Good stuff, Warren. Thanks.

[Nconroe]

Andre Johnson might go to Colts is a rumor. yikes.

And Brooks Reed to Atlanta is another rumor.

And Myers perhaps to Denver.

Anyways doubthful any of those guys will be back now that other teams can make offers to them.

[Nconroe]

The chronic had an article about Rick smith based on

Texans general manager Rick Smith often takes lots of heat from his team’s fans for his roster building over tohe years.

However, the numbers may indicate that Smith may be better than he appears to a lot of fans.

NFL Media’s Mike Huguenin recently rankedthe active NFL general managers with the best record of drafting Pro Bowl players and Smith checked in at No. 4. Here’s what Huguenin had to say about Smith’s work:

Some of this due to Texans have had many players selected to pro bowl.

[HPF Bob]

The same article listed Jerry Jones as the "best" GM based on number of Pro Bowl draftees. Are you sure you want that as your benchmark?

[barrett]

The depth of a roster is where a GM truly shows his stuff. The Patriots are near the top of he league every year because they have 53 contributing roster spots. They have guys who have huge game plan specific performances that are not even active the following week because of a different game plan.

So Pro Bowl numbers are nice but not the determining factor in wins and losses. But I do think Smith gets overly trashed by fans. This team has been pretty good the last 5 years.

[HPF Bob]

You have to look at the 2013 season as a hiccup (or a fainting spell to be more exact) where almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. They've had the talent in place to be average to above average the past few years. What they've lacked, IMO, is a killer instinct to put games away. Hopefully, O'Brien is building that because they were above .500 without a real QB and put away several teams that they were not much better than.

[Arky]

I guess the next tidbit here in the offseason is the announcement of the official schedule. I think it might be coming out next week - if not, should be the week after that.

3.5 weeks till the draft......

[nunusguy]

On local 610 radio John McClain said he thinks there's some chance that Randy Gregory (after getting busted at the combine for using pot), is still on the Texans board. I doubt that ?