I completely agree with everything you said here but I just want to point out that Rick Smith took the high road…again. I don’t know what he’s like behind closed doors but he seems to be smart and fair in negotiations.
And come on OD, facebook? Really?!? That’s the forum teenagers and college kids use to bitch about their girlfriends after they got dumped. It’s certainly not a way to express your misguided feelings about your boss or the company you work for. Many a person has been fired for things like that.
Be upset, don’t attend voluntary workouts, but for God’s sake be a man and just tell a reporter that it’s business, it’s not personal and that you would still like to play out your career in Houston. Don’t forget that there are two young guys that were drafted who have some potential and that TE is one of the more easily replaceable positions on the field.
I want the man to get paid and watch him play for 10 more years in a Texans uniform, but you’re right, this is certainly a wrong way to go about your business.

Not only have they drafted a tight end that can replace Daniels, they’ve also acquired a number of corner backs. Anyone who holds out through camp is only hurting himself. So what me worry, they can hold out for all I care. The only downside is you don’t want players on the field that don’t want to play for you.

i know its unfortunate to have folks missing OTA’s etc, but does anyone think that if you step back and look at the situation from a franchise health standpoint, that the Texans struggling with coming to terms with players is a sign of increasing fiscal discipline and use of leverage, which in a salary capped universe is not such a bad thing, is it?

It means headaches for sure, but the organization seems to be paying folks when it has no leverage (ala, Smith or D Anderson or mediocre FA’s) and reigning in the purse strings a bit when the Tezans are clearly in the drivers seat. So long as the Texans continue to get deeper and more competitive overall, I see it as a positive sign that the Texans are asserting themselves rather than playing pure victims of the market. When we have the depth to let a high-calibre player go b/c they are worth more on the market than they are to us…then we have reached the position that the elite teams and perrinial contenders are in. Our Texan’s success is not hijackproof yet, but we seem to be enroute to getting there, so I don’t think holdouts are an entirely bad sign.

Someone said somewhere that the players on our 8-8 team are acting like they went 10-6 or 11-4. After thinking about it, I’m starting to agree.

I like Owen Daniels, even after this whole facebook thing. Another TE is not going to replace him. If he’s looking for Winslow money (which is merely fan speculation) he won’t get it anywhere – let alone from the Texans.

As for Dunta, I think the FO should let him go test the market. He won’t get an offer even coming close to ours and it would send a message to other players that the FO is not going to overpay them.

I’m confident that Rick Smith is doing what’s good for the franchise. He’ll probably overpay DeMeco (fine by me), come to fair terms with OD and worry about Dunta in a year.

why aren’t they behaving like businessmen? Tight-lipped and professional, ESPECIALLY DURING ONGOING NEGOTIATIONS!!! You ever hear of a top EXEC at a fortune 500 company going on Facebook to publically gripe about the fairness of the compensation package he was offered relative to market during negotiations? I have not…These guys are among the most pathetic businessman inthe world…this kind of garbage only paints themselves in a corner (as now they publically lose face if they change their mind) and doesn’t enhance their leverage in the slightest…PR is a serious facet of this business and Dunta has damaged his so much in the process that he has made himself less valuable as a franchise commodity and the previously unthinkable notion of letting him go has become completely acceptable to me as a fan…that is hardly “Business”…that gives “Business” a bad name…that’s pure bush League. Work a deal…don’t work a deal…whatever…but whatever you do (in public)…SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

…is the comments from the agent. He is whining about the Texans are talking about how it was years ago vice contemporary contracts. I don’t know anything about OD’S agent, but he is obviously trying to use Winslow’s contract as the going rate. I say OD deserves a contract in the top ten range of TE’S, but not top 5. He hasn’t done it for long enough, and his #s aren’t there. If his agent stands firm on Winslow money, then we have to make the business decision to let him go. I am a big time fan of OD’S, but I have seen this scenario before. We will always be on the cusp, and not beyond it, if we hamstring ourselves w/dubious contracts.

and I’ll have to see how it plays out with the heavy hitters: OD, DeMeco, Dunta.

But the one thing I want him to be careful about is the team stability. We have a good young core, and I think the next year and a half (through the 2010 season) will demonstrate how long our core will be around to build a franchise on.