Free Agency About to begin

[Warren]

Antonio Smith has signed with the Raiders.

[Nconroe]

Seems about all left of Dl is JJ.

[Nconroe]

Ben Tate sined 2 yrs for 7 mil with cleveland.

We have lost a lot of our good draft picks during last four yars of FA. Lotta guys making pretty good paydays.

Good for the players getting FA deals, just not good for Texans.

[Nconroe]

After four days of fA the Texans we lost so far are

Bryan Braman. OLB. Eagles. 2 years, $3.15M
Joe Mays. ILB. Chiefs. 2 years, $6M
Terrell McClain. DT. Cowboys 3 years, unknown amount
Earl Mitchell. DT. Dolphins. 4 years, $16M
Darryl Sharpton. ILB. Redskins. 1 year, $2M
Antonio Smith. DE. Raiders. 2 years, $9M
Ben Tate. #RB#. Browns. 2 years, $7M

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Good for the players getting FA deals, just not good for Texans.

Well, the team should recoup a decent haul of some middling 2015 compensatory picks.

[painekiller]

Who still believes that we are not rebuilding?

[HPF Bob]

I do. The Texans have never been big players in free agency, preferring to draft and sign their own players.

When the Texans have dipped their toes in free agency, they've regretted it (Ahman Green, Ed Reed) as often as they've benefited from it (Jonathan Joseph, Antonio Smith).

This is shaping up like a normal Texans off-season, especially when they crafted their payroll to try to keep most of their players for a playoff run instead of losing key pieces. Unfortunately, Schaub and Foster turned to crap right after signing big long-term deals and we didn't successfully fill a few holes from last year.

The Texans will ink a few players once the feeding frenzy is over and the big names are gone. They'll sign them for at or below market value and we'll be back out there competing again.

[popanot]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

I do. The Texans have never been big players in free agency, preferring to draft and sign their own players.

This is great way to go when you're actually making good draft picks - especially the cheap middle round ones - developing them, and then having the smarts to retain them without killing your cap. At least until you've been able to make a few playoff runs. Rick Smith and company haven't really be able to do any of that. Somebody better start hitting on some middle round picks or we'll be in a world of hurt. Perhaps last year was the first sign of it.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by popanot

Somebody better start hitting on some middle round picks or we'll be in a world of hurt. Perhaps last year was the first sign of it.

This is an odd observation. The 2013 draft was a classic Texans effort. They got two guys at the top of the draft who are pretty good and the rest of the draft was a complete wasteland. They do this year after year and it's a primary reason why the franchise is as terrible as it is.

[popanot]

What I meant with the last sentence was that perhaps last year was the first sign of us being in a world of hurt due to Smith not hitting on those mid-round picks over the last few years. Yes, his mid-round drafts have generally sucked and we're paying for it now. Their contracts/cap guy sucks too.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by popanot

What I meant with the last sentence was that perhaps last year was the first sign of us being in a world of hurt due to Smith not hitting on those mid-round picks over the last few years. Yes, his mid-round drafts have generally sucked and we're paying for it now. Their contracts/cap guy sucks too.

I keep hoping that Kubiak was behind all of that massive stupidity but I fear that Smith was at least equally to blame. We should find out soon enough.

[HPF Bob]

They certainly don't know how to draft OL or CBs. They seem pretty good at finding TEs though.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

They certainly don't know how to draft OL or CBs. They seem pretty good at finding TEs though.

I think that's more a function of the quarterbacks they've had.

[Nconroe]

Just checked roster at team web site. Looks like approx. for now 63 players under contract for start of OTAs on Apr. 7.

Not sure I saw any DT on that roster, so likely will see a FA DT coming sometime in next few weeks.

I thought Texans draft was about as successful as any teams, including the mid-rounds. But we lost a lot of those guys to FA where they got paid more than Texans could afford under cap. Cap appears to be going up now and next several years so that should help Texans retain more of their own draft picks.

I think Texans turned over several scouts and personnel guys along with Kubiaks regime. So evaluations should atleast look different this year, maybe.

[popanot]

Didn't want to start new thread on this so I stuffed it here.

Adam Caplan ‏@caplannfl · 12m
#Rams waived RB Daryl Richardson.

Texans should give him a call. Might be a good, cheap compliment to AF.