Texans 2011 NFL Free Agency Targets: Free/Strong Safety

Saw a comment by someone yesterday that said it was technically mathematically possible for us to win the division next year with a 4 or 5 win season. Given our schedule, that might be the only chance we have….

I like the direction we went in the draft though. Somehow despite going from a top5 offense to a bottom 5 after losing two HoF offensive linemen, we avoided drafting an OL in the first 3 rounds from 2006 until last year. Very smart, and now 2 head coaches and a GM are gone in a large part because of the oversight.

So last year we picked up Okung and this year a 1st round RT and a RG in the third round. Word on the street is we’re going to sign Robert Gallery (Tom Cable helps with that— he “saved” Gallery’s career by moving him to LG) and become a power rushing team. I’m just excited to finally have an OL again. Now, when the inevitable Matt Hasselbeck signing occurs and he sucks yet again, his fanboys will have to acknowledge that when the ENTIRE GOD DAMN OFFENSE HAS BEEN REBUILT that it JUST MIGHT be the gawd damn quarterback who is the issue.

That being said, people are pissed we grabbed Carpenter in the 1st— they wanted Jimmy Smith. And I initially was like, “WHO?!?!?” But the more I read about him, the more I like him. He’s gonna be a player for us for a long time.

Of course Mel Kiper and the like panned us. But that’s mainly because despite needing a QB, we didn’t overdraft a crappy one who a pundit loved by 2-4 rounds like Minnesota and Cincy. And then we took a guy in the 1st who wasn’t a big name early despite quietly moving up some of the better of the “experts” mocks in the last weeks before the draft— and absolutely moving up team lists.

People are idiots. They think because Hairdo says a guy is a 2nd rounder that we could just magically trade down and draft him then. Well, it doesn’t work like that. For one thing, there were 2 tackles taken in the next 5 picks after us, and two other teams that would have taken one of the three had they fallen. And we took the one the staff wanted and believed in. Not really sure why that’s grounds to bitch…. well… other than people being idiots.

We’ve got an offensive line with two 1st rounders, and an early 3rd added in the last 2 years. I love the philosophy. Fix the line, let it jell, then even if we suck next year, we finally get our young franchise QB in the draft. Plus, by fixing the line first, we don’t run the risk of scarring him for life by taking him before building the line. (No offense to you guys, but David Carr is the league-wide poster child for a QB who was put into the fire too soon and got consumed.)

We’ll be young, we’ll be trying to compete, and we’ll probably be picking in the top 10 next year. It may not be pretty this year, but 2-3 years from now, I’m optimistic we’ll be looking good in dynasty mode.

But then again, it is the NFC West. StL is still a bunch of Lambs, and the Cardinals had a moment in the sun but not that’s set. SF scares me without Singletary there to muck things up. They could be ready to make a leap. But, it’s still an Alex Smith led team as far as I can tell. In my eyes, that pretty much means we still have a chance to repeat as 7-9 champs.

in more ways than two.

Nice.

After last year’s cynicism on my part (I actually wanted us to lose in week 17 and get the 8th pick in the draft instead of going to the playoffs— hastening… forcing even… the rebuilding that is needed) .

I personally recently started sipping the Pete Carroll kool-aid after he drafted to rebuild the OL, and it tastes great!

But I still hold out some hope that someday Stern will pull his head out of his ass for air long enough to realize how he’s driven that league into the ground.

In the meantime, I’ll just sit and enjoy a Red Hook as I watch the NBA burn in yet another lockout.

Of course, Durant has a big part in that, but it sucks to have your team taken from you and then see them get good. I can sympathize. It was the same way when the oilers left. You could see that they had a chance to be a pretty damn good team and having to see them in the Super Bowl was just brutal. I couldn’t stand to see Beelzebud win the big one, but I still had an attachment to some of the players on the team. It was impossible not to think that used to be MY team.

…awww crap. Excuse me. I’m going to lock the door to my office and turn out the lights so I can curl up in the fetal position in the corner and drink a gallon of bleach while I try to cry myself to sleep.

let’s do it

Most of us up there are of the opinion he should be gone, even if KJR and KIRO listeners still think it is 2005-2007.