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.
Originally Posted by The Bad Guy:
And their cap hits won't be that much in years 1, 2 or 3 of the new deals they sign.
They are going to go out and sign a stud safety. Veach's past behavior has dictated future results. He wanted to upgrade safety in season last year and now he has his chance with a player like Collins that played his best under Spags.
People getting up in arms about the cap is hilarious. The cap has been manipulated by countless organizations. How many players have the Saints lost? Packers? If you want a player, there's always a way.
Your logic here requires the contracts to be backloaded. Almost every major QB and WR contract over the last 3 years has been front loaded, I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.
Veach trying to get Earl Thomas last season is a different situation, that’s a one year rental that does not effect the long term cap. Any of the big name DBs in this upcoming FA pool are gonna want long term high guarantee front or center loaded deals.
I hope I’m wrong, but really think a lot of you are setting yourself up for a huge letdown. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
When I say overhaul this team needs to get a safety and CB, I think the rest can be handled in the draft..maybe even CB can be.
I'll say this though I'd pursue Jason Verrett for a nothing contract see if you can pull something out of him coming off injury.
That would be a great pick-up. The guy can play - when healthy.. [Reply]
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. [Reply]
Speaks was playing completely out of position. They had Kpass playing OLB too at 6'7 290 lbs. That just shows how much sutton left his guys out of position. I expect both of them to have significant improvement. With a new/better DL coach and another offseason in an NFL weight lifting program speaks will be good [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Bad Guy:
Houston's great games were few and far between last year. There's no way you keep him at the current number and it would take a substantial salary reduction to see him on this roster.
I'd agree we should pursue some kind of reduction, but Houston is a more complete player than Ford. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefoftheKeyboard:
Speaks was playing completely out of position. They had Kpass playing OLB too at 6'7 290 lbs. That just shows how much sutton left his guys out of position. I expect both of them to have significant improvement. With a new/better DL coach and another offseason in an NFL weight lifting program speaks will be good
To be fair to Sutton, he didn’t draft 2 4-3 ends to play 3-4 OLB. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Cave Johnson:
To be fair to Sutton, he didn’t draft 2 4-3 ends to play 3-4 OLB.
Ya, but it's also not fair to speaks and kpass to say they suck bc they were playing out of position. I guess my point is I think the plan all along was to switch to a 43 defense. I think we have more options at DE than it may seem like. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefoftheKeyboard:
Ya, but it's also not fair to speaks and kpass to say they suck bc they were playing out of position. I guess my point is I think the plan all along was to switch to a 43 defense. I think we have more options at DE than it may seem like.