NFL and Houston Texans Superthread: Are we ready for some football?

[Satin]

Don, you wil love this bro: The Broncs were 50-1 odds to win the Superbowl before Manning. Now, it looks like they are suddenly now 15-1 odds. That places them tied with the Texans and the best in the AFC. That's also 4th best in the league. 1 freaking guy...amazing....

Looks like Mannimg will get about $18 million a year. But there are protections for the Broncs in his contract if he can't play....

[TheDon]

Skipped my last class to go home and watch the entire press conference. Pretty fascinating stuff. It's my dirty little secret, but Peyton is secretly one of the few people who I look up to in life, I'm happy for him and his new situation.

Satin, can't say I'm shocked at the odds going way up for them to win, hopefully some clever bastards got on that 50 to 1 lol. You know Peyton will be bringing in some of his buddies, though. And the defense looks legit.

That being said, their schedule looks brutal, and I'll be shocked if they make the playoffs. I can't believe the amount he got in his contract, I'm baffled by it. He must have looked really Fucking good in his workouts for 19 mill!

[Guest121013]

Denver's schedule is a beast between playing away games at new England and Baltimore and home games against the texans and steelers and they play the NFC south which should be tough home and away games.

Speaking of NFC south happiest qb on the planet besides Peyton has to be Drew Brees because his negotiating power just increased about ten fold. If Peyton can command $19 mil per year and there's questions about his health and overall ability to play, then Brees is definitly gonna get closer to that $23 mil he's requesting from the saints for his new contract based on his record year in 2011.

[One-Eyed Willy]

Odds To Win Superbowl XLVII

ALL 32 TEAMS according to:


Green Bay Packers 13/2
New England Patriots 15/2
New Orleans Saints 10/1
Denver Broncos 12/1
Houston Texans 12/1
San Francisco 49ers 14/1
Baltimore Ravens 15/1
Philadelphia Eagles 15/1
New York Giants 16/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 18/1
Dallas Cowboys 20/1
San Diego Chargers 22/1
Chicago Bears 25/1
Detroit Lions 25/1
Atlanta Falcons 28/1
New York Jets 30/1
Carolina Panthers 40/1
Cincinnati Bengals 40/1
Miami Dolphins 40/1
Seattle Seahawks 40/1
Arizona Cardinals 50/1
Kansas City Chiefs 50/1
Tennessee Titans 50/1
Washington Redskins 50/1
Oakland Raiders 60/1
Buffalo Bills 75/1
St. Louis Rams 75/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 75/1
Indianapolis Colts 100/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 100/1
Minnesota Vikings 100/1
Cleveland Browns 150/1

[Satin]

Fuck!!! The Texans just traded DeMeco to the Eagles....damn, things are going from bad to worse. He was my favorite defensive player and the heart and soul of that defense....:weeping

[carkido45]

Originally Posted by Satin

Fuck!!! The Texans just traded DeMeco to the Eagles....damn things going from bad to worse. He was my favorite defensive player and the heart and soul of that defense....:weeping

I knew this was coming when they gave Cushing a Captains patch last year .

[Guest040616]

Originally Posted by Satin

Fuck!!! The Texans just traded DeMeco to the Eagles....damn, things are going from bad to worse. He was my favorite defensive player and the heart and soul of that defense....:weeping

My initial reaction was "that sucks." I would agree with Satin to a certain degree but not fully. I believe Meco used to be the heart and soul of the Texans defense but that was before his season ending Achilles injury a couple of years ago. I do not believe he has ever regained that level since. He is still a good player but I do not believe the heart and soul tag applied since the injury. In order to be that type of player, DeMeco would have needed to be on the field for almost every defensive play. For the most part, he was replaced in passing situations for the better part of the past season.

How good is the trade? I suppose this will depend upon what type of draft choice(s) we get before we pass judgement on how good the Texans trade will be. One thing about it, the Texans have been drafting very well in recent years. I suppose that will give us something to look forward to but it just will not seem right to see someone else wearing #59!

[Guest040616]

I just found this on the Great Blue North Draft Report website. Ugh!

March 20(8:00 PM): Eagles get vet LB for pick ... Philadelphia has acquired veteran LB DeMeco Ryans from Houston in exchange for a 4th round pick at this year's draft. The Eagles and Texans also swapped third-round picks meaning Houston will now have the 77th pick, while Philadelphia will select 90th. Ryans was one of the best young MLBs in the game early in his career, but ruptured an Achilles in 2010 and hasn't been quite the same since.

Personally, I would rather have Meco than a 4th round draft pick! Just sayin

[Satin]

BT, I also agree with you to an extent. You are right about his injury and reduced playing time. But that's not the whole story. He's a smart player and a leader. In basketball, it's a similiar situation to how I feel about Derrick Fisher. It's hard to find players like that and it's also about chemistry.

I realize these guys get paid a lot to make these kinds of decisions & that they know a helluva lot more than me, but I still don't like it.

Trade DeMeco but keep Jacobi and Kareem Jackon....fucking brilliant....

[Gator42]

Shit..... Now every jersey I own except the blue one is an ex-Texan.

[TheDon]

Sucks to hear, just sucks to hear...Didn't mind seeing Mario leave because we had Reed, and I think we've got some capable guys at LB, Bryan Braman in particular. Hard to justify, though. I'm sure Rick Smith is doing what he feels is best for the team. Losing Mario and DeMeco in the same off-season is definitely tough, but if we've got depth at certain position, I'm all for improving our weak points.

Just shocked it was only a fourth round pick...Eagles made a smart move here. Credit to them, Their LBs sucked last year and now they get one of the best run-stoppers in the league.

Ugh, these picks better be good!

[Guest040616]

Originally Posted by Satin

I realize these guys get paid a lot to make these kinds of decisions & that they know a helluva lot more than me, but I still don't like it.

Trade DeMeco but keep Jacobi and Kareem Jackon.

Meco's trade smells to me like another salary cap move. Apparently, he did not fit into their long term plans.

As for keeping Jacoby and Kareem those two probably had very little, if anything, to do with the decision to trade Meco for a 4th round pick. I suspect that Jacoby will not be on the 2012 roster when they start the regular season but Kareem will. KJ is still young and has upside, I do not believe the same can be said of Jacoby!

I will repeat what I said after it was announced that Mario moved elsewhere. (At the risk of sounding like a broken record) The Texans are not a better team than they were a few weeks ago. Sniff, sniff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Satin]

Well I wasn't saying trading Meco had anything to do with keeping JJ & KJ....I was just making a statement. They trade their defensive captain and soul of the defense but keep 2 sorry ass underachievers. I hope they have a plan...

I feel a DeMeco tribute coming up from my main man Cat-Man in 5,4,3,2....

[Guest040616]

Originally Posted by Satin

Well I wasn't saying trading Meco had anything to do with keeping JJ & KJ....I was just making a statement. They trade their defensive captain and soul of the defense but keep 2 sorry ass underachievers. I hope they have a plan...

I feel a DeMeco tribute coming up from my main man Cat-Man in 5,4,3,2....

By the same token, my point was the Texans are probably not going to have JJ on their 2012 opening day roster. If that is the case, JJ will become a moot point. Once again, I don't see that one has much to do with the other. If Meco and JJ both played the same position you would probably have a valid point but they do not even play on the same side of the ball. The only thing Meco and JJ have in common would be that both have been Houston Texans for the past several years.

I will grant you that Meco is a far better football player than JJ. But Meco is better suited to be a middle backer in a 4-3 defense as opposed to a 3-4. If I am not mistaken, Philly runs a 4-3 defense. That coupled with the fact that the Texans will save cap room down the road are the two principle reasons he is gone! At the end of the day, football is a business and unfortunately the Texans made a business decision to look elsewhere. Isn't it about the same circumstances as it was last week? It was a business decision when the Texans decided not to sign Mario and it is a business decision when they decided to trade Meco. But we know that both Mario and Meco are better players than JJ. Right?

As for a tribute to #59, it would certainly be in order. He is without a doubt one of the 10 best Houston Texans players in team history.

[One-Eyed Willy]

Then

Originally Posted by One-Eyed Willy

2012 Big Salaries (according to sportrac):
Johnathan Joseph $7,250,000
Matt Schaub $7,150,000 (last yr of contract)
Andre Johnson $6,500,000
DeMeco Ryans $5,900,000
Antonio Smith $5,500,000
Eric Winston RT $5,500,000
Danieal Manning SS $5,000,000
*Jacoby Jones* $4,791,000
Owen Daniels $3.5M ** correction
*Kevin Walter* $3,500,000

NOW
Johnathan Joseph $7,250,000 CB > Schaub, Dre, & Foster???
Matt Schaub $7,150,000 (last yr of contract)
Andre Johnson Base:$700K + Signing Bonus:$1.7M + Misc Bonus $2.4M = [$4.85 cap hit] What a team player!!!!
Owen Daniels $3.5M
DeMeco Ryans $5,900,000
Antonio Smith $5,500,000 is he next??
Eric Winston RT $5,500,000
Danieal Manning SS $5,000,000
*Jacoby Jones* $4,791,000 cut cut cut!!!!!!!!!
*Kevin Walter* $3,500,000


I'm still uncertain if J. Joseph and D. Manning's contracts can be touched or not since they are still within 1 year and the rules changed after the lockout. Earlier, I read they could not till after hitting the 1 year mark(July 2012). However, now, I'm reading that only rookie contracts are untouchable for the 1st year and may not get a raise in Salary till after the 3rd yr. Fucking red tape! Go figure.. But if we can, with no disrespect to J. Jo, he'd make a prime candidate for contract reconstruction. However, obviously he didn't under-perform, but rather the Texans are paying him too much. I can't point the finger at Rick Smith though because after the lockout, time was condensed and the Texans did what they could in such a short period of time. It worked out well for 2012... But what the fuck is going on now???

The issue with the NFL is that these players are looking mostly for upfront and guaranteed $$. Rightfully so! Back-loaded contracts don't usually pan out (Peyton Manning), and good players get cut when they just get in stride. Also in this practice, they often get shafted out more than half the amount they originally contracted for. Also, GM's over-using this strategy often end up having to completely rebuild when quite a few back-loaded players all hit the cap at the same time. Over paying players and back-loading contracts can keep a great team together short-term, but in the long run, it will fuck you up. There is a reason why the Steelers don't like to pay big $$ for receivers and why the got-damn Patriots are contenders 10yrs running. Fucking Patriots got the shit down to a science and they have proven: the only player you overpay for is an ELITE QB!

In the case of the Texans, being contracted over the cap in the previous year, hinders the team the following year. Especially WHEN THE CAP IS LESS THAN WHAT YOU EXPECT IT TO BE. This shit we're witnessing is simply due to the NFL having a hard cap. It's got to even out, or you wind up being penalized like the Cowboys and Redskins as they abused the system an "uncapped year" (2010). The NFL is a now or nothing league, for players, coaches and management. There is a fine line between building a dream team and fucking yourself out of a job. One thing that Rick Smith (Texans GM) likes to say is, "We'll continue to build though the draft and supplement via Free Agency." Overall I think that's an excellent motto, provided you get good draft picks. However, one has to wonder.. Are we relying too heavily on the draft this year??? Do we need to bring in a cap specialist to help manipulate the cap via miscellaneous bonuses similar to what GB and NE have done?

Meco tribute comming.......