You sign a top notch FA safety (Thomas, Collins or Amos) for multiple years and a good DT (McCoy, Richardson, Suh, etc.) for a one-year or two-year contract. You can also sign other players on offense and defense on cheap deals.
Draft
1st round: CB
2nd round: ILB and C/G
3rd round: CB
You restructure Houston. You tag Ford. You trade a 2020 2nd round pick for Patrick Peterson or a lower pick for a decent veteran player who has a year or two left on his contract. I guess you could sign instead a FA CB on a one-year deal.
You end up with:
Houston-Nnadi-Jones-Ford
O'Daniel-Hitchens-2nd round LB
Peterson-Collins-Berri-1st round CB (Fuller in the slot)
You have Speaks and Kpassagnon as backup at DE. You have your FA DT rotating with Nnadi/Jones.
With the Hithens contract, I just don't think you can afford paying big dollars to a FA LB. Plus, recent drafts have showed that you can have a good LB late 2nd round/early 3rd round (Anzalone, Carter, Warner, Cunningham, etc.) and those guys are good early.
The linebackers would be the weakest group but I think they can be decent, especially if Hitchens goes back to his Cowboys' form.
The secondary would be a strong group. Even if Berri doesn't play, you have Watts or Murray (I know he is poor) who can play there. You have Ward and a 3rd round pick as backup CBs. I guess that 3rd round pick could be a safety but I would rather get a CB. If Berri doesn't play, Veach needs to find a scrap heap safety like Dorsey did so well.
I think it would be a defense set up for the next two years where you can draft a 1st round DE in 2020 to replace Houston/Ford or something like that.
Murray should be out, frankly so should Sorenson and Berry. Williams I think has value still. I think they'd like to keep Houston just obviously not at that number.
Personally I think this team should call Minnesota see what the price on Rhodes is, if it's like a 3, I'd do that. Sign Jason Verrett to a cheap deal with incentives, bring in Collins cause he knows the scheme and do what you can to pull Adderly and Bush out of the draft and this defense should be improved greatly. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Was there a $20 million difference in play when Speaks started for Houston for 4 games?
Keep in mind Speaks had 2 sacks in that time with a forced fumble and also would have had another if not for the stupid ass rule that has made players fear hitting the QB bc of penalty.
And yeah Speaks is slow...as a stand up backer covering in space. This guy should have never been doing that.
Yeah, there probably was.
Speaks wasn't good. Sure he picked up a few coverage sacks and was totally out of position at OLB. Theres some hope I guess, but i'm not sure he's ever more than a solid DE at his ceiling.
Houston may or may not be kept, but he's still a really high end player. He just makes a lot of money. [Reply]
I also think you guys are gonna be a little depressed when they keep a lot of these guys. If they think they're as close as they do apparently, they aren't gonna go rocking the boat too much with a new coaching staff AND 5 or 6 new starters on D. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
I also think you guys are gonna be a little depressed when they keep a lot of these guys. If they think they're as close as they do apparently, they aren't gonna go rocking the boat too much with a new coaching staff AND 5 or 6 new starters on D.
Secondary needs a huge overhaul, the front 7 needs a better scheme and a guy who can run at MLB. [Reply]
Been saying it since the beginning. Cutting Murray, Ragland and Sorenson saves us almost $4.5 million. And these are spots that can be easily filled by players already on the roster. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
Been saying it since the beginning. Cutting Murray, Ragland and Sorenson saves us almost $4.5 million. And these are spots that can be easily filled by players already on the roster.
Originally Posted by O.city:
They'll have Fuller, Berry and Ward back. The rest sure, do whatever with. But that's essentially 2 people there?
Good call, Berry is like money in the bank, very reliable. Wild horses couldn’t keep him off the field. Definitely need to bank on her being ready and raring to go every game.
JFC, I wouldn’t rely on him to fill up the canteens much being within 10 miles of the playing Field. I guess we could continue to lose every game he plays in. Pat would really have to prove how good he is to overcome that failure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Nelson is going to get paid in this market. A lot more than he's worth.
I understand, maybe I should of added for a reasonable deal provided he wants to stay here. His PFF score is ridiculous and he doesn't pass the eye test for me, I've always seen him as a back up in the slot position to Fuller, since he's a better player in that position... But, you're right someone will pay him. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hoover:
I think we are wasting Speaks by keeping him on the bench. I'd let Houston walk.
Honestly think they will rotate Speaks in a lot more with Houston this year, let him learn a bit more from him with the goal by the end of the year being that Houston is the 3rd guy who they can bring in and keep fresh and wreck havoc on the qb and also assist with outside runs [Reply]
I forgot about Lucas, they'll bring him back i'd think.
And with as much as they will likely move guys around in the front 7, starter or no starter won't really matter. They need a lot of depth up there. [Reply]