I mean you just said it. We need more depth in OL and the secondary. You expect to get players via free agency with all the cap room we have? If you can get a second rounder or hell maybe a late first for Tate I think you do it. He's going to walk so why not? The team is going to have holes to address and that can only be done through the draft. Besides, I feel good about Forsett as our second stringer if we trade Tate.
I think people are expecting too much for Tate. I'm thinking the Texans could get a 3rd or a high 4th. Draft picks are highly valuable in the NFL as rookie contracts are needed to balance high priced veterans like Joseph and Schaub. As Rhino said, it may be best just to have him play out contract and hope to get a compensation pick from him.
Where's the "STFU and watch the game, worry about this crap after the season" choice?!?!? This is not the time to make these threads, man. With all due respect, eff you.
Hopefully that puts an end to these sorts of discussion throughout the season. If Tate were a feature back, his flaws would be more exposed... apparently fumbling is one of them.
this is going to be thte same as when Michael Turner was eventually traded after backing up LDT for a while
We don't really have holes. Our issue with the offensive line is that our starting RT is young without much NFL experience and all signs point toward us going with Jones at RG, so getting a draft pick to teach another rookie how to be RT in this system won't exactly help us a great deal. Secondary, the only ones we have to worry about are Quin and McCain. McCain showed in today's match up that he is far from perfect at the nickel CB position and we have two other CBs just waiting to snatch his spot. Quin, we might be able to get but if not, you could easily start Demps while using a draft pick on a saftey. We have no other holes worth mentioning, we don't owe anyone our top picks. Trading a good RB that can help and has helped us get wins isn't smart unless you are not trying to win in the upcoming season. Once again this is the NFL, trading for picks is something you do when the player demands out or you are up against it in cap. No telling what our cap situation will be but you worry about that stuff at the end of season when you look at who helped you and who didn't.
Don't really understand the whole Eagles cap management fascination. It's not rocket science. Having cap space is simply a product of having a bunch of under-paid players. Whether it's because the team's skimping on particular areas, or they have incredible players on rookie contracts. And not overpaying for mediocrity. You can't create cap space out of thin air. The Eagles simply spent a lot of money at certain positions and had guys making peanuts in others. The Texans are similar. Watt, Tate, the entire OLine minus Myers, LB corp, are all making peanuts. That's why the Texans have what most people peg as the "most complete team" in the NFL while staying under the cap. Because they have so many solid to great players making $1-2mil/yr. Ironically, while the sentiment today seems to be about the Texans mismanaging their cap, I remember most people wanted the team to give extra money to AJ during his contract dispute. When Andre was making like 8% of the salary cap by himself. I see the Texans getting more. At least a 2nd rounder. Because Tate comes with a built-in 1-yr/low salary contract for the team trading for him. This isn't your typical RFA tenders where other teams have to offer a sizable contract. Tate will be a much smaller financial risk compared to most other 3rd year players.
I get where the OP is coming from. Great teams have succession plans in place, and try to plan roster moves 2-3 years in advance. But, for the time being, as a fan, my mentality this season is, "I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show." I'm sure management has thought about this and discussed this, and although trading him for a pick certainly makes sense, I'll let them field the offers and make that decision. That's why they get paid the big bucks.
I'm not saying we trade him during the season, that's silly. but after the year I would strongly consider it IF and only if we can get a 1-2rd for him. He will demand starters money if he continues to run the way he has and I don't see any reason why he wouldn't. We will not be able to afford him, I can tell you that much. I would much rather us spend our money on our young players in the front 7 than on a backup RB when we have Forsett who I think would do an adequate job also. You get those picks so that you can add depth because eventually we won't be able to afford someone. Depth is what keeps good teams good. Sure we don't have any glaring holes right now as it comes to starters but we could do with some more depth. Depth is always appreciated and I believe that Tate is expendable if it will help us fill future holes since he will be gone anyway once he is a FA.
