This looks like a nice deal all around. Moving down from 18 to 26 saved about $20 million (Flacco signed for roughly $30M over 5 years). They picked up a better version of Reggie Bush (Slaton) and Barber. And they addressed one of the most important positions on the field for the next 10 years (fingers crossed).

Maybe these guys know what they’re doing after all???

I’m glad he didn’t hold out… word is that he needs all the practice he can get.

From Reiken’s article:

He didn’t do very well lining up against Mario Williams in offseason practices, but coaches are confident he’ll improve with time and practice.

I’m pretty sure anyone (let alone a rookie in his first few practices) is gonna to look bad going up against Mario. I know Brown will take his lumps… but that’s the risk you take plugging any rookie in. If he falters at any point in the season, you have Saalam to fall back on.

It sounds like Duane Brown is a very athletic LT, and should help to solidify the Texans line. How much of an impact do you think he’ll have in his first year?

Personally, I think he helps win a few more games, and makes 10-6 and a wild card a distinct possibility. Or maybe that’s just me being optimistic.

A lot of credit should go to Chris Olsen and Rick Smith, especially when you look at the salaries of players around that position in the draft.

25. Mike Jenkins – Probably in the $15M range
26. DBrown – $11.5
27. Antoine Cason – $12M
28. Lawrence Jackson – $11.25
29. Kentwan Balmer – $11M
31. Kenny Phillips – $11M

As bennprince astutely noted above Rick Smith was able to parlay the 18th pick into much more.

The Texans’ War Room at Reliant Stadium was buzzing Saturday afternoon thanks to a risky trade that turned out to be quite rewarding.

The Texans traded their No. 18 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for the No. 26 overall pick in the first round, as well as the Ravens’ third-round pick (No. 89 overall) and the Ravens’ sixth-round pick (No. 173 overall) in this year’s draft.

Results:
1) Saved a ton of money and got the player that (say) they coveted signed in the nick of time so that he does not miss a single rep of camp. San Diego picked 27th and have said he would have been a Charger if we did not take him at 26.
2) Steve Slayton, a prototype 3rd down receiving RB who ran in a ZBS type scheme in college. This kid has speed and power. Another target for Schaub on 3rd down.
3) Dominique Barber, who impressed everyone in OTA’s with his athletic play. He will undoubtedly be a special teams contributor, and could make a contribution on defense as well.

Pretty soon Rick Smith’s cap will have so many feathers that it will be a headdress, and we will all hail Chief Smith.

GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!!!

Smith will have us out of cap hell in 2010 and 2011. He will allow us to have room to sign our own FA’S. Tim do you think they will have trouble resigning Dunta this season or is it a foregone conclusion?

I disagree with the premise that the Texans are in some sort of cap hell. They don’t have a lot of money to play with, this is true, but it’s certainly not cap hell.

It looks like there’s about $10M in dead money (mostly from Domanick, Wong, McKinney, Babin, Flanagan and Putzier) on the books for 2008 and that will all be wiped away before 2009.

On the downside, you have players like Green, Schaub, Greenwood, Weaver, Reeves and Colvin that are due a very large payment next season and about half of them will probably not be around. This will translate to another good chunk of dead money, but we should still have about $25M to play with given the $8M increase in the cap.

Now with players like Dunta, Daniels and Winston up for renewals that might not leave a lot left over depending on what type of season they have. The biggest chunk should come from an extension for DeMeco. He is grossly underpaid given his production and in comparison to some of the other players on the roster.

Either way, it’s exciting that we finally have some gues that have earned their money by producing with the Texans. In the previous regime the big money was spent (overpaid) on free agents and rookies that had done nothing in the league. Or guys like Gary Walker, Marcus Coleman and Seth Payne who were nothing more average players.

thanks Tim. I’ll tell you though, even an 80% Dunta is better than 75% of other CB’s in the leauge.

He was a good talent evaluator (excluding Travis Johnson). Andre Johnson, Mario, Dunta, Demeco, Winston….all Casserly guys. Besides that, he sucked at the numbers and made the most “WTF”-inducing trades/free agent acquisitions.