It may be a little early, but since we have nothing else to talk about...

I would consider these players all but locked into their positions on the depth chart. Brooks might challenge for a starting spot.

(19)Offense

• (2)WR1 – Andre Johnson, Lestar Jean
• (2)LT – Duane Brown, Derek Newton
• (1)LG – Wade Smith
• (2)C – Chris Myers, Ben Jones (G)
• (2)RG – Antoine Caldwell, Brandon Brooks (T)
• (1)RT – Rashad Butler
• (2)TE – Owen Daniels, Garrett Graham
• (2)WR2 – Kevin Walter, DeVier Posey
• (2)QB – Matt Schaub, T.J. Yates
• (2)RB – Arian Foster, Ben Tate
• (1)FB – James Casey (TE)

(24)Defense

• (2)DE – J.J. Watt, Jared Crick
• (2)NT – Shaun Cody, Earl Mitchell
• (2)DE – Antonio Smith, Tim Jamison
• (2)WOLB – Connor Barwin, Whitney Mercilus
• (2)ILB – Brian Cushing, Tim Dobbins
• (2)ILB – Darryl Sharpton, Bradie James
• (2)SOLB – Brooks Reed, Bryan Braman
• (3)CB1 – Jonathan Joseph, Brice McCain, Brandon Harris
• (3)CB2 – Kareem Jackson, Sherrick McManis, Roc Carmichael
• (2)SS – Glover Quin, Quintin Demps
• (2)FS – Danieal Manning, Troy Nolan

(3) Special Teams

• (1)P/H – Donnie Jones
• (1)K – Randy Bullock
• (1)KR/PR – Keshawn Martin (WR)

That leaves seven spots available to win before the opening day roster is finalized. In my opinion, it comes down to S Shiloh Keo, LS Jon Weeks, OLB Jesse Nading, OG Thomas Austin, OG Shelley Smith, OT Nick Mondek, ILB Shawn Loiseau, DB Eddie Pleasant, DB Desmond Marrow & TE Logan Brock, OLB Delano Johnson, TE Phillip Supernaw, RB Jonathan Grimes, RB Davin Meggett, NT Loni Fangupo, QB Case Keenum, WR Dwight Jones and FB Jason Ford.

I see either OG Thomas Austin or OT Nick Mondek making the team depending on how they feel about long snapping duties. Both Ben Jones and Nick Mondek can long snap as well as provide depth on the line making Jon Weeks obsolete. If they are comfortable with Jones as the long snapper, it would be Austin (maybe Shelley Smith) making the team. If they are comfortable with Mondek as the long snapper, he would make the team instead of Austin.

I think Case Keenum is pretty much locked into the 3rd QB spot.

I like Meggett as the 3rd RB and Ford as 2nd FB. It is possible they could use Ford as both the final RB and FB to save another spot.

I am hoping Dwight Jones pulls an Arian Foster on us and becomes our next diamond in the rough, but I don't want to hold my breath. He might make the team or he might be on the practice squad.

I don't know much about either of the two undrafted TEs, but I would think Koob would use James Casey as the 3rd TE if necessary. I don't think either of the undrafted guys make the team.

Desmond Marrow, Eddie Pleasant, Delano Johnson and Shawn Loiseau look very intriguing as special teamers and depth at S, S, OLB and ILB, respectively.

Loni Fangupo is the wildcard. He could impress and make the team, but either Cody or Mitchell would most likely have to be cut. I personally don't see it happening.

My guess for the final seven spots: OT(LS) Nick Mondek, QB Case Keenum, RB Davin Meggett, FB Jason Ford, WR Dwight Jones, S Eddie Pleasant & OLB Delano Johnson.

This is all based on the assumption that the FO is done making moves...which may or may not be true.

Hello, NFL fans!

A concept we'll be continuing ad infinitum is the 24-hour open thread for fans of all football, located in the FanPosts section of Battle Red Blog(a special thanks to Tim for allowing such nonsense for the low, low price of 2 Coors Lights). A place where football fans can get together and chat about a variety of topics ranging from football to foot fetishes. Just think of it as your favorite bar/hang-out spot where you can get to know your fellow NFL fans on a more relaxed and personal basis. The point of this thread will be to bring us, the fans of the NFL, together for some friendly conversation and camaraderie. These threads started out as a place for AFC South fans to gather, but it has grown to include fans from various NFL teams with Seahawks, Saints, Patriots, Dolphins, 49ers, Eagles, Jets and Packers fans in residence. Don't ask how that works, just be happy it does.

UPDATE:

We've also been honored to inspire other teams and divisions to form their own 24-hour open threads. We welcome them all as part of our growing network of sister-threads, so stop by and check them out. Just be sure to be respectful of their differing rules and traditions. In short, don't be abrasive until they get to know you a little better.

Jack-A-Thread (JAT) Off-Topic Activities (OTA) at Pats Pulpit: A place for mostly Pats fans, but they welcome all visitors that are not Jetsfans or actually from Boston.

APC Open Threads at Acme Packing Company: Real friendly folks who welcome everyone. Headed up by OBrienSchofieldismyHero, a crazy Pack/Pats-loving writer of science fiction and lame jokes. Aaron Rodgers"belt dance" required for admission.

NFC East Eternal Threads (bEAST) at Bleeding Green Nation: They've been around for a while now, but sometimes their threads are a bit more spur of the moment and usually filled with pics and gifs of bouncing boobs. It's a place mostly for NFC East fans and guys with a lot of testosterone, but they'll take anyone with the guts to walk in the door.

Official Community Thread at Niners Nation: They've got topics ranging football to Justin Bieber. Right now, it's mostly 49er fans, but you can help change that! Just watch your language as they have a "no cursing" policy. NOW DEFUNCT

CSC Lagniappe Perpetually Open Thread (POT) at Canal Street Chronicles: If you enjoy discussing time of possession, horror movies, desperate women and no cursing this is your place! Saints fans o' plenty and a few others mixed in as well. Give 'em a hand getting their brand new threads going and stop by for some conversation about Drew Brees' hairline running a 50-yard fade route. NOW DEFUNCT

Daytime Random Live Thread/Cool Kids Club (CKC) at The Phinsider: This is a daytime/nighttime kind of thing. The daytime thread is a little more PG and has a new thread every day. The nighttime thread is more clandestine and only occurs at random intervals and at random locations after hours and disappears by morning. Kind of like the interweb Fight Club for nerdy Dolphins fans. You just keep your fingers crossed and hope you get lucky. CKC was The First, the progenitor, like the Dracula or Blimpies of all off-topic, open threads everywhere (Google it). Bow down and show your respect.

(NEW!) GGN's Thread About Nothing at Gang Green Nation: Newest to the club and in need of a little help getting their threads started, this is a mostly all Jets fan thread started by rexthejet, but they are super-friendly and will accept pretty much anyone with a pulse. So, if you are looking for some Seinfeld gifs and the highest concentration of single Jewish guys on the interwebz stop by and give them a shout.

Rules of the house:

• Nothing will be considered off-topic other than the usual religion/politics. [EXCEPTION!: SEE BELOW!!!!] NO POLITICS IS NOW A SITE-MANDATED RULE
• Check your hostilities at the door. All previous problems you have had with other NFL fans will be considered forgotten when you enter the thread. You may encounter others who seem to be ragging on each other. Please don't jump into the argument like you own the place. Things aren't what they always appear to be. It's probably people who know each other extremely well participating in some inside-joking or friendly ribbing.
• This is not a Game Thread! There are threads already dedicated to this, and for good reason. It's the same reason why I don't watch Pats/Colts games with my Pats-loving brother-in-law anymore. Things get crazy real quick. The Colts game threads will be hosted at The Colts Authority. Feel free to join either one.
  
• No trolling, please. If the only thing you have to say is, "Colts/Texans/Jaguars/Titans SUUUUUUUCK!!!1!!1" you're not going to make very many friends.
• If you are having problems with someone in the thread, please email me and we can work together to resolve the issue in-house. Our hope is that this thread will be self-regulated by the fans themselves and won't need any outside intervention. If you don't like what you see, treat it as any other unpalatable link you have clicked on in the past. Apply eye-bleach and move along.
  
• Have fun! We're all fans and fellow pathetic computer nerds. We have more in common with each other than we have with most everyone else in the real world. Try to remember that.
• Try to keep the thread "safe for work" since a lot of the threaders may be viewing from the job site. In other words, TDM loves her boss's boobs, but it would be inappropriate for her to show pics of them on this thread. NOTE: THIS IS NOW A SITE-MANDATED RULE!
• There’s a lot of joking that goes on around here and it’s usually taken with a grain of salt, but some people are more sensitive to it than others. The line is kind of vague, but I like to think that if it is bothering someone that they should just point it out to the offending party to insure that they know where that line is to avoid future offense.
• If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and we won't be cluttering BRB as much. Also, feel free to rec this thread to get it up to the 5 required to move it to the Rec'd FanPosts section, but please don't go above that as it makes it harder to un-rec it later.
• Read THIS! It is link directing you to a topic that can never be discussed on this site. If you break this rule it may result in warning or banning. So if I were you, I'd read it before commenting on this site, and more importantly, this thread, as it is closely monitored to prevent it's mentioning.
  

Myself (peytonsurdaddy) and TexansDC from BRB will be hosting the threads. As time goes on we'd like to add a representative from both theTitans and Jaguars fans as well. You may lobby for the position by killing a pedestrian at random being a Titans or Jags fan and just showing up for more than 5 minutes and basically having nothing better to do with your life.

Thanks,

peytonsurdaddy

I have noticed some confusion around here about what type and how many compensation picks the Texans will get in next years draft. As the self-proclaimed compensation pick expert around here, I thought I would try my best to clear up this confusion. Like last time, I will again reference AdamJT13's blog, since he has done a ton of work deconstructing the formula used for compensatory picks. Unfortunately, he hasn't updated his blog with compensatory pick info since 2010, so some of his numbers will be slightly outdated. It also means that none of this is updated for the new CBA. As far as I know, no changes were made to compensatory draft picks in the new CBA, but that might not be true. So, with the disclaimers out of the way, let's get this show on the road.

Continue reading this post »

So here is the list of the Houston Texans 2012 undrafted free agents:

• Logan Brock TE TCU
• D.J. Bryant OLB James Madison
• Loni Fangupo NT BYU
• Jason Ford FB Illinois
• Jonathan Grimes RB William & Mary
• David Hunter DE Houston
• Jerrell Jackson WR Missouri
• Dalano Johnson OLB Bowie St.
• Dwight Jones WR North Carolina
• Case Keenum QB Houston
• Mario Louis WR Grambling St.
• Shawn Loiseau ILB Merrimack
• Desmond Marrow S Toldeo
• Davin Meggett RB Maryland
• Nate Menkin OT Mary Hardin-Baylor
• Rennie Moore DE Clemson
• Eddie Pleasant S Oregon
• Tracy Robertson DE Baylor
• Phillip Supernaw TE Ouachita Baptist
• Cody White G Illinois St.
• Greg Williams ILB Pittsburgh

What do you guys think? Sure some of you follow some of these players more than other, so give you insight. From the draft and the UDFA looks like WR is going to have a lot of competition this off season fighting to be Andre's little brother. But if we believe everything we hear Dwight Jones is already going to be the next AJ.

Here is the list of the 2012 Texans UFA's:

Re-signed

LS Jon Weeks, RB Arian Foster, C Chris Myers, S Quintin Demps, LB Tim Dobbins

We Signed

P Donnie Jones, LB Bradie James

Signed elsewhere

OLB Mario Williams, G Mike Brisiel, CB Jason Allen, TE Joel Dreessen, K Neil Rackers

Traded

ILB DeMeco Ryans

Released

QB Matt Leinart, FB Lawrence Vickers, T Eric Winston

Remaining Texans unsigned unrestricted free agents:

S Dominique Barber, DE Tim Bulman, QB Jake Delhomme, QB Jeff Garcia, WR Bryant Johnson, G Kasey Studdard, P Matt Turk and RB Derrick Ward. Delhomme and Garcia are both expected to retire.

I believe this is now updated (I got it from http://blog.houstontexans.com/2012/04/07/free-agency-tracker-updated-look-at-texans-moves/ ).

So my question is, with the guys that have signed elsewhere, we could probably get a pick for each one. What is realistic compensation for each person? Do you think any of the other players that have yet to be signed would fetch anything? Do you think James might produce enough to negate a compensation of 1 pick?

Let's hear you Texan Nation!

P.S. - If list is wrong, I tried to edit it to best of my knowledge using that link as my base. Let me know, if things need to be changed. Thanks

So... As we head into the tunnel of the long dark time between the draft and preseason, I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts on Roger Goodell's proposed (infamous, I guess) 18-game season.

I get the concerns that the players have about the added wear-and-tear on their bodies. I get the concerns that some of the fans have about messing up a good thing. But I hate this stretch of the year SO much where the only alternatives are baseball [yawn... imagines organ music between innings] or basketball [just.... no...] that I wanted to daydream a bit about how to extend the season a bit.

Concerning the wear-and-tear on the players, what about any of the following mitigating alternatives?:
1) It's my understanding that if ratified, the two "new" games would be 1:1 swaps for preseason contests. I frankly would rather that they just "add" two games and leave the preseason intact for talent evaluation. It's not like those games are putting undue stress on the starters and they are invaluable for seeing the rookies compete against NFL-level competition.
2) Why not add two extra "bye" weeks?... and have everyone take them on the same week? So you could have bye weeks after weeks 6, 10, and 14 to give everyone a chance to heal up at the same time. You could also use these bye weeks to accommodate any international travel that teams might have to do for the stupid European games that the NFL cannot seem to get over.

With regard to fan concerns about messing up a good thing... I get that some folks are concerned that the wear-and-tear on the players over the extra two games is going to significantly change the dynamic of the season. But is adding two more games (especially with the added "bye weeks") going to change the game as much as all of the patty-cake hitting rules changes that have happened and are going to happen going forward?

The net result of these changes would be one less month in the calendar year where there was no currently contested or soon-to-be-contested NFL action and anything that keeps MLB and NBA highlights off of SportsCenter is a good thing to me.

I know I'm not the only one who was a little more than excited to steal Jared Crick at the bottom of the 4th round the other day. Combined with first round pick Whitney Mercilus, the Texans front seven is now officially disgusting. I've seen Wade talk about finding ways to get everyone on the field at the same time (because who honestly wouldn't buy a ticket just to see that), and that got my mind going.

If we really did cram everyone on the same field, what would it look like? How would it be used? What situations would call for it? I can't claim to be anywhere near the level of Wade Phillips in terms of football IQ, but I do have an imagination and way too much time on my hands so that will have to do. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you...the Stampede package.

Continue reading this post »

Hello, NFL fans!

A concept we'll be continuing ad infinitum is the 24-hour open thread for fans of all football, located in the FanPosts section of Battle Red Blog(a special thanks to Tim for allowing such nonsense for the low, low price of 2 Coors Lights). A place where football fans can get together and chat about a variety of topics ranging from football to foot fetishes. Just think of it as your favorite bar/hang-out spot where you can get to know your fellow NFL fans on a more relaxed and personal basis. The point of this thread will be to bring us, the fans of the NFL, together for some friendly conversation and camaraderie. These threads started out as a place for AFC South fans to gather, but it has grown to include fans from various NFL teams with Seahawks, Saints, Patriots, Dolphins, 49ers, Eagles, Jets and Packers fans in residence. Don't ask how that works, just be happy it does.

UPDATE:

We've also been honored to inspire other teams and divisions to form their own 24-hour open threads. We welcome them all as part of our growing network of sister-threads, so stop by and check them out. Just be sure to be respectful of their differing rules and traditions. In short, don't be abrasive until they get to know you a little better.

Jack-A-Thread (JAT) Off-Topic Activities (OTA) at Pats Pulpit: A place for mostly Pats fans, but they welcome all visitors that are not Jets fans or actually from Boston.

APC Open Threads at Acme Packing Company: Real friendly folks who welcome everyone. Headed up by OBrienSchofieldismyHero, a crazy Pack/Pats-loving writer of science fiction and lame jokes. Aaron Rodgers"belt dance" required for admission.

NFC East Eternal Threads (bEAST) at Bleeding Green Nation: They've been around for a while now, but sometimes their threads are a bit more spur of the moment and usually filled with pics and gifs of bouncing boobs. It's a place mostly for NFC East fans and guys with a lot of testosterone, but they'll take anyone with the guts to walk in the door.

Official Community Thread at Niners Nation: They've got topics ranging football to Justin Bieber. Right now, it's mostly 49er fans, but you can help change that! Just watch your language as they have a "no cursing" policy. NOW DEFUNCT

CSC Lagniappe Perpetually Open Thread (POT) at Canal Street Chronicles: If you enjoy discussing time of possession, horror movies, desperate women and no cursing this is your place! Saints fans o' plenty and a few others mixed in as well. Give 'em a hand getting their brand new threads going and stop by for some conversation about Drew Brees' hairline running a 50-yard fade route. NOW DEFUNCT

Daytime Random Live Thread/Cool Kids Club (CKC) at The Phinsider: This is a daytime/nighttime kind of thing. The daytime thread is a little more PG and has a new thread every day. The nighttime thread is more clandestine and only occurs at random intervals and at random locations after hours and disappears by morning. Kind of like the interweb Fight Club for nerdy Dolphins fans. You just keep your fingers crossed and hope you get lucky. CKC was The First, the progenitor, like the Dracula or Blimpies of all off-topic, open threads everywhere (Google it). Bow down and show your respect.

(NEW!) GGN's Thread About Nothing at Gang Green Nation: Newest to the club and in need of a little help getting their threads started, this is a mostly all Jets fan thread started by rexthejet, but they are super-friendly and will accept pretty much anyone with a pulse. So, if you are looking for some Seinfeld gifs and the highest concentration of single Jewish guys on the interwebz stop by and give them a shout.

Rules of the house:

• Nothing will be considered off-topic other than the usual religion/politics. [EXCEPTION!: SEE BELOW!!!!] NO POLITICS IS NOW A SITE-MANDATED RULE
• Check your hostilities at the door. All previous problems you have had with other NFL fans will be considered forgotten when you enter the thread. You may encounter others who seem to be ragging on each other. Please don't jump into the argument like you own the place. Things aren't what they always appear to be. It's probably people who know each other extremely well participating in some inside-joking or friendly ribbing.
• This is not a Game Thread! There are threads already dedicated to this, and for good reason. It's the same reason why I don't watch Pats/Colts games with my Pats-loving brother-in-law anymore. Things get crazy real quick. The Colts game threads will be hosted at The Colts Authority. Feel free to join either one.
  
• No trolling, please. If the only thing you have to say is, "Colts/Texans/Jaguars/Titans SUUUUUUUCK!!!1!!1" you're not going to make very many friends.
• If you are having problems with someone in the thread, please email me and we can work together to resolve the issue in-house. Our hope is that this thread will be self-regulated by the fans themselves and won't need any outside intervention. If you don't like what you see, treat it as any other unpalatable link you have clicked on in the past. Apply eye-bleach and move along.
  
• Have fun! We're all fans and fellow pathetic computer nerds. We have more in common with each other than we have with most everyone else in the real world. Try to remember that.
• Try to keep the thread "safe for work" since a lot of the threaders may be viewing from the job site. In other words, TDM loves her boss's boobs, but it would be inappropriate for her to show pics of them on this thread. NOTE: THIS IS NOW A SITE-MANDATED RULE!
• There’s a lot of joking that goes on around here and it’s usually taken with a grain of salt, but some people are more sensitive to it than others. The line is kind of vague, but I like to think that if it is bothering someone that they should just point it out to the offending party to insure that they know where that line is to avoid future offense.
• If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and we won't be cluttering BRB as much. Also, feel free to rec this thread to get it up to the 5 required to move it to the Rec'd FanPosts section, but please don't go above that as it makes it harder to un-rec it later.
• Read THIS! It is link directing you to a topic that can never be discussed on this site. If you break this rule it may result in warning or banning. So if I were you, I'd read it before commenting on this site, and more importantly, this thread, as it is closely monitored to prevent it's mentioning.
  

Myself (peytonsurdaddy) and TexansDC from BRB will be hosting the threads. As time goes on we'd like to add a representative from both the Titans and Jaguars fans as well. You may lobby for the position by killing a pedestrian at random being a Titans or Jags fan and just showing up for more than 5 minutes and basically having nothing better to do with your life.

Thanks,

peytonsurdaddy

This is a spot to comment and complain or rejoice about your Houston Texans free agent acquisitions so far post draft. More details after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

The Draft is over. I'm exhausted, but I'm going to do a little recap and grade each pick.

Overall, this was a good draft. Obviously, we won't completely know if it is a good one until the season's over, but we did address needs, and got good value with each pick.

Continue reading this post »