Clowney note
 

My friend with the team says Texans fans should start drinking now.

Sounds like Tunsil will not be included and the trade will be for a couple of players and a pick. That pick may be conditional and improve to a 2nd or 3rd depending on how Clowney performs.

Edit to add - he also said the situation is still fluid and nothing is locked in. A lot of these Miami rumors may be leaked to get another team to get off the pot.

Dolphins have two picks in seemingly every round but the first. Their RB talent is weak with Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage set to split time. Although Kenneth Farrow, the former UH star, is in their camp and has played well in every setting he's been put in from college to AAF to Miami pre-season.

I would probably make a pitch of Clowney for Drake, DE Nate Orchard (size and speed translate to 3-4 OLB), a first, second and third. That fills some holes and sets us up for the draft.

Another option is Joey Mbu, another former UH Cougar who is second on their depth chart at NT.

Stills is the guy I keep hearing.

This is why my friend said to start drinking. The return won't be anywhere close to that. The best he thinks is a player or two (one of which may have been cut anyway) and a 2nd (which will at least probably be a very early 2nd).

That is where you show some Clowney highlight tapes and tell them "you're thisclose to getting this guy if you'll just part with an extra third. Whaddayasay?" ;)

Latest from the Miami Herald:

Ugh. I might do that for Dillard, but not Tunsil...

This is what happens when you have no GM. Your head coach who may not be here in 2 years makes deals that should never be considered.

Or maybe this is just Miami playing the media.

Or this is the Texans playing the media. Okay not how we normally visualize the Texans.

Since Clowney needs to sign first and he currently doesn't have an agent plus the Texans currently have no GM, it is hard to tell who is calling the shots right now or what they might agree to. The Dolphins may think they might as well ask for rape just to see if the Texans agree to it.

I'm afraid we're looking at another LeVeon Bell situation.

I could see the Texans sending Clowney to the Chargers for RB Melvin Gordon and some 2020 draft picks thrown in but it might wait until after Week 3 when the two teams play each other before they pull the trigger.

Clowney balked at the Dolphins because he "wants to play for a contender". Well, the Chargers were in the playoffs last year and the weather there is great year-round. He might regret agreeing to play in high-tax California rather than no-tax Florida but I bet that wouldn't even enter his thinking.

Gordon would be an excellent addition to the Texans roster and their best RB since Arian Foster but the Texans imperative at this time is to find a capable LT who can protect Watson backside and Gordon can't help them meet that need.

Granted, but they weren't interested in Williams for the Redskins who, other than being long in the tooth, is a capable LT. I'm not sure what is all that special about Tunsil. There's a lot of bad answers here. It may be a matter of finding the solution that stinks least.

The Seahawks started making a strong push last night. My friend says if this falls through, he thinks Clowney will not be traded...but doesn’t know if he will report.

Two teams Clowney specifically stated he'd like to play for - Eagles & Seahawks.
Seahawks LT is former Texans Duane Brown so they can't help us there.

Total, complete, utter incompetence.

To wit:

https://twitter.com/nfl_dovkleiman/s...067959809?s=21

A video game is a better personnel manager than the Texans.

Underwhelming for sure but still better than the Tunsil deal. Giving up Clowney *and* a first? That was suicide.

LeSean McCoy just got cut by the Bills. We can use some of that unspent cash to get him under contract.

Can anyone name a worse transaction in franchise history?

Not trading him before the tender deadline made him a one year rental with little value.

Add that to having no GM and nobody involved with trades who is staked in being here long term.

Put it together and we traded him away for no reason and no return.

Taking Tony Boselli in the expansion draft?

I'm still frosted that they passed up LB Derrick Johnson twice for a trade down then a DT that didn't last 2 years.

Now I see we got a 3rd rounder too. I am more okay with that.

They were going to get a 3rd anyway if he walked, which he would have.

Compare this to what the Raiders got for Mack. Criminal.

They traded Clowney for Martin. That’s it. Mingo was getting cut and we would have gotten a 3rd letting him walk in free agency.

I wasn’t around here much anymore due to kids and other priorities in life but this just about does it for me. Absent a complete overhaul, this franchise will never achieve anything of significance and they’re no longer worth the aggravation. Sundays will now be spent on the golf course.

Best of luck to everyone here. I wish I could say it was fun.

This is terrible
bob is gutting the team based on his feelings being hurt,
Complete and utter incompetence...

Background info from my friend now that all is said and done.

Things make much more sense when you get the inside info they are basing there decisions on.

And I would love to know why Clowney decided to fire his agent. Did it have to do with Clowney not being willing to miss a check, a smart stance btw, and Bus wanting him to hold out.

If the player that was voted #52 (iirc) by the players thinks he will get that kind of money they must be crazy. He passed up $115MM, that is a bigger contract than JJ got. I've never been a Bus fan, and now I am seeing more info that supports my side of that opinion.

And Bikerack, thank you again for this summary.

I'm very interested in the terms of the contract the Texans supposedly offered Clowney but those numbers mean nothing to anybody unless you tell us
the amounts that were guaranteed ?
This whole episode between Clowney and the Texans has been very bizarre and
could be the textbook example of how not to negotiate with a player who's contract was expiring.
Houston did everything wrong especially in negotiating with Clowney to consummate a new deal with him or trade him on or before the two key dates which were the 2019 NFL Draft in April and July 15, the deadline for the team to negotiate a new long-term contract.

I'm not going to defend the Texans in how they did everything from start to finish, but I don't know how you can say they did "everything wrong" when they negotiated with his agent and gave some solid offers in the Spring.

Also, I asked my friend if he knew anything about the guaranteed money and he said the best offer had around $75 million guaranteed with around a $30 million signing bonus.

Mack was $90 mil guaranteed with a $60 million signing bonus and I don't think any of us would argue that Clowney should have received anywhere close to that kind of offer.

My own opinion is that the Texans offered close to what they knew they could afford knowing that Watson, Watt, Hopkins, Mercilus, etc. were going to get extensions or bumps soon (and that doesn't even factor in an extension for Tunsil).

One last thing...something I learned through this whole ordeal.

Everyone kept saying that the Texans lost the ability to sign Clowney to a new deal once that July deadline passed. That's all John McClain or the other guys on the radio would talk about.

After the deadline, you can still negotiate and come to an agreement...then you rescind the tag making the player a FA...then you sign him to the negotiated deal.

There is some trust you have to have that the player doesn't just bolt once they are a FA, but signing a new deal after that deadline is possible.

Yep, when I heard the numbers, I thought they were fair and not insulting. As for the trade, I think the value received is what is upsetting to most people.

OTOH, some "experts" have predicted that Clowney will not have a very long career due to his knee surgeries. If this proves to be true, then the Texans might have avoided a bigger faux pas....

I've seen the same thing...apparently the ROI for the type of surgery he had is about 5 years.

I should have said that once the Texans realized that they would not meet Clowneys demands for a new deal they then proceeded to do everything wrong in terms of getting something close to reasonable value for him.
I never thought Clowney was worth anything like multiple first round picks but maybe multiple picks with the top pick of the batch being a second rounder.
And thanks for the specifics on the guaranteed money which to me seems reasonable.