Kubiak and Smith Contracts Extended
 

No word yet on the terms:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ct-extensions/

I guess McNair had to do this and it's probably the right thing to do. I'm a little more comfortable with extending Smith, but for Kubiak, I'm still a bit on the fence with him and in the 'prove it to me stage'. How much of his success was McNair's mandate of hiring Wade and him finally getting a competent DC?

Like I said, it's probably the right thing to do at this point and I'm good with both extensions.

I would say a big part of any Head Coach's success is due to having good coordinators. It has certainly been a part of our offensive success. I don't knock Kubs at all for suceeding as the head of a great staff.

But with all that said, Tom Coughlin just got a two year extension after his 2nd superbowl win. Hopefully we gave Kubs something similar instead of an unecessarily long deal.

Chuck, don't look. :p

Funny, you know, I was reading through this (I'd first seen it on the Chronicle's site) and before I got to your post I was reflecting on how sanguine I am about the extensions and how I'm even more at ease with Kubiak's being extended than I am Smith's. Like barrett I do not begrudge Kubiak's success as the head coach of a team with an excellent coaching staff. It would have been fantastic had he put a competent staff together six years ago but what can you do? Last year there was a notable lack of halfback passes, fewer bonehead challenges than usual and no suicidal clock management decisions.

I'm still not sold on Smith. For every home-run draft he seems to oversee two or three that just suck massively. But there's not a hell of a lot I can do about that, either.

At the end of the day I think if the team's winning then continuity is good.

Only thing I begrudge Kubiak for is wasting 4+ years on trash DC's, how slow he's been on identifying a weakness and fixing it (RB/S/CB in years past), and his boneheaded officiating challenges. As chuck said, he wasn't so bad in that regard last year. Nothing glaring, at least. We'll see...

UPDATE - Haven't seen the money #'s (not that it really matters), but per John Clayton, the length is as follows:

John Clayton ‏@ClaytonESPN
Gary Kubiak's extension through 2014 is well-earned, but the extension of GM Rick Smith through 2016 will allow this team to have nice run

EDIT:
Nick Scurfield ‏@NickScurfield
McNair re-did Kubiak's contract this year and gave him a new 3-year deal. Smith got a 4-year extension #Texans

Per sources, Kubiak refused a 4yr deal and opted for a 3yr deal.

I just find it odd that our coaches and front office guys can't play out their contracts, but we make Mario, Arian, Schaub, Duane, and Barwin play out theirs. Wish we would take the same approach with our better players that we take with our decent, but by no means great (at least not yet) coach and GM.

What did we not do with foster?

That’s basically how I feel. I’ve never seen anyone with the team give a straight answer about who does what as far as player personnel, but I’ve heard/read that the Texans organization is set up like the Broncos were under Shanahan, with the coaches doing the serious player evaluation and the scouts being basically information gatherers. At the very least, it’s clear that the coaches have significant input into the draft and free agency. Kubiak has shown that he has a pretty good eye for finding players that fit his offense, and so far, so has Wade on the other side of the ball. The previous defensive staffs not so much, and that’s where the biggest busts have been. So I don’t know how much credit (or blame) Smith is due as a talent evaluator, but the results have been a mixed bag.

I think that we have had generally improving results on the field and in the draft room the last few years. I remember Smith giving an interview this spring about how much easier it is to make a draft day trade now that he knows the other GMs and is a little calmer/knows what to expect on draft day.

Basically, we had a 1st time GM and 1st time head coach partnering up and scattered results. They appear to have figured it out to some degree now.

As for Kubs not getting a competent DC for so long, that is concerning. It blows my mind how some really good football minds can be so clueless on the other side of the ball (Andy Reid comes to mind). Other guys never figured it out but lucked into/inherited great other side of the ball guys (Dungy and Moore, Reid and Johnson, Gruden and Dungy's defensive system). As long as Wade sticks around we are safe, but I wonder what will happen in a few years when we need to replace Wade. If Reggie Herring is not our next DC (and turns out to be a good one), then I have no confidence that we can go outside of our coaching tree and hire a guy cold.

What I meant by that is that they seemed to take the position with him that he had to prove he wasn't a 1 year wonder. Kubiak arguably falls in that camp as well but he doesn't have to prove he wasnt a 1 year wonder.

Having said all this, I'm not upset the re-upped him. I do wish they did a better job of getting their main guys re-upped. Admittedly, I picking nits.

Foster had 35 games and 27 starts in his career before he signed his deal. He definitely had no room to complain (and he didn't). The only thing that seemd like a 'delay' in getting new deal was that his initial deal as an UDFA was shorter than a normal rookie deal, so he got to RFA faster than guys are supposed to.

As for treating kubiak and the guys the same, I get what you are saying in general. I think it is harder for a coach sometimes since they can't get anyone to work for them if they are in their last year, but I don't think we were hiring anyways this year for any assistant spots.

I am neutral on this extension. It is not my money so I am fine with McNair rewarding Kubs as long as he is willing to eat the deal if it becomes necessary to part ways for some reason.

Does that happen ? I mean I guess I can see a strategy here if he's thinking that he can negotiate a better deal in 3 years rather than waiting until 4, but how often does a coach (or player) opt for a shorter contract term than he's offered ?

Not often. The two things I can think of are either Kubiak feels so secure that he thinks he'll be in a better position to renegotiate in three years (very foolish if he believes this)

or, more likely, the fourth year wasn't very good so the idea is to take three and hope to get an extension that is better than the fourth year.

There's no salary cap on coaches and GMs, that's why. If McNair makes a mistake and has to eat a coach or GM's contract, it doesn't prevent him from signing a new one but if we sign a long-term contract on a player who then turns into a bust, the team loses the cap room that the bad contract cost them.