Still rehabbing and hasn't been cleared for anything yet (so can't be cut). His contract is no longer guaranteed but guessing he'll get a shot in training camp. The Texans would be smart to move forward as if he weren't on the roster though.
Housecleaning: Cut Cushing and Newton as soon as we can to free up as much room as we can. Meanwhile, try and sign Joseph to a friendly 2 year deal. Hopefully he gets beat out by a younger player in year 2 to a guy he mentors next season. Re-sign Lechler and Bruce Ellington and let every other free agent we have walk. Free Agency: Sign one of EJ Gaines/Kyle Fuller/Bashaud Breeland to be CB1. If Joseph is too expensive I would look to sign Rashaan Melvin as CB2. We also look to sign S Tre Boston to play with either Kareem or Hal as the starting FS. On Offense, sign Justin Pugh to play LG and Cameron Fleming to play RT. Draft: 3-68:LT Martinas Rankin - Mississippi St: Will split reps with Davenport as a rookie with the potential to supplant him moving forward 3-80: CB Donte Jackson - LSU: Nickle corner as a rookie. Has potential to be long term starter on the outside. 3-98: CB Quenton Meeks - Stanford: Prospect to be groomed into eventual starting CB 4-105: OL Alex Cappa - Humboldt: OG/OT combo who will need time but could develop into something special. 6-180: S Jeremy Reaves - South Alabama: will be designated special teamer. We have to improve special teams. 6-212: LB Shaquem Griffin: will be designated special teamer. 6-215: DL Kentavious Street: will be designated special teamer. 7-222: S Dane Cruikshank: will be designated special teamer. Oline: Davenport - Pugh - Martin - Allen - Fleming Secondary: Gaines/Fuller/Breeland - Boston - Hal/Jackson - Joseph/Melvin Would also have depth with Jackson/Meeks and Kevin Johnson along with Kareem/Hal and Decoud at safety
Anyone have JJ on snap/Instagram? Looks like Derek Newton doing shrugs on his story. Who knows, could be a pleasant surprise for us. Like it's been said before though, we have to plan like he'll never play another snap for us.
This is a big get. Players love this guy. He’ll be doing much more that just S&C for us. Texans really stole him. Newt has been there every day. He has no life outside of football. Hope for the best, but he’d be the first to return to play meaningful snaps from his accumulated injures.
Butler maybe, Graham not for me. He's 32, probably $8M per, and had one good year in SEA -- right before becoming a potential free agent. Caught a lot of TDs (only in 2017), did little between the 20s, notorious non-blocker, dropped 6 (that's a lot, worst = 8), 59% catch rate. He seems to be more of a "contract player" who's old enough to expect injuries, and at a cost we can better deploy those funds to our many other roster holes. Let's not make the same mistake SEA did by prioritizing TE over needed OL.
He has biceps, that's cool. He should have used them more when he was supposed to make a block. Interesting that Football Outsiders has him ranked as 28th (out of 51) and PFF both have him ranked 33rd best TE in 2017. So you'll be paying him top 5 money for middling production and high injury risk. Free agency isn't free. And why has he worn out his welcome with both the Saints and Seahawks, both teams with pretty good QBs?
https://985thesportshub.com/2018/02/06/malcolm-butler-curfew-mike-giardi-toucher-rich/ Was only Patriot who violated curfew for Super Bowl week. Butler is described as moody, complicated, habitual line-stepper, a lone wolf who doesn't hang with teammates, and someone who always has to be pushed to do what everyone else does. Sound like a $13M/per guy to you?
I certainly hope they don't go after Butler, he's a player I could see BOB throwing a temper tantrum about and demanding he be cut due to something trivial like missing curfew or whatever. When you have a mental midget as your head coach, you can't have guys like Butler around.
Um....Butler has denied this and other Patriots have supported him. No one knows exactly why. Also, certain people seem to be protecting Crooked Bill on this.