In, roughly, three weeks, he's dumped.... four (?) draft picks into his offense after an offseason in which they had picks and money.... He seems pretty desperate. In terms of just talent - putting aside the cost - I have no issues with the moves. The Tunsil trade is a no-brainer and I *really* like them pulling Stills out of that deal, too.
Yeah; I think they did the best they could to salvage a situation they royally screwed up. The lack of an experienced GM - who could have walked them through the do's and don'ts of the franchise tag - really bit them in the ass. Again, the idea of turning Clowney into a young, elite-level LT is very smart. But it should've been done prior to July 15 when Clowney didn't have to sign anything to consummate a trade. They very obviously did not know that.
The day Gaine was fired was the last day of OTA's, right before minicamp started. My equally unfounded pet theory is that BOB told Gaine that what he needed from the draft was an LT who could start relatively quickly. Gaine did his Bill Parcells thing and got the prototype athletes, regardless of their polish. By the time OTA's were over, BOB had determined that Howard and Sharping may be prototypes, but they wouldn't be able to kick slide like an NFL left tackle for some time, and Gaine had failed at his orders and had to go. Since that point, he's been poking around to try and get what he wanted on his own. My guess is BOB got pissed at Clowney when he threw a wrench in his nascent Tunsil trade plans and at that point he wanted him gone no mater what.
These are all valid points and while we had a lot of history with old man McNair, Cal is reasonably new to the job... so perhaps he suddenly has held BOB’s feet to the fire... I just don’t see it based on history... BOB is a very impulsive person so I am not shocked by his actions. However I could also see BOB throwing Gaine under the bus and making these deals with the idea that if they fail, BOB can say he was cornered after Gaine “failed”. As a side note, the entire Gaine situation was odd. BOB worked with him, wanted him and basically got him the job. Then Gaine is abruptly fired with a 5 year contract. Then there are leaks that Gaine wasn’t good enough to be an NFL GM. Those leaks either came from the Texans or BOB. Those leaks made both BOB and the Texans look bad because it made them look incompetent. They could have easily just leaked it was a “change in philosophy”. Also what is odd is about 4 weeks before the firing I had someone who would know, tell me that there were sexual harassment allegations against Gaine that the Texans were aware of. Just a lot going on in this organization
I didn't say his future is secure. Feels like when O'Brien butts heads with people he can't find a way to make it work. It's probably wearing thin on his bosses. Like I said before in this thread, I think making this deal so late in the off-season smells of the ownership demanding better. I think he has been in on all the decisions so far and Cal was not willing to start the season with what they had. I really wish they hadn't waited this far in the off-season to do so.
Here's another one. Gaine told Obrien I told you so after his o-line selection made it clear he couldn't start. Apparently BOB didn't like Dillard because he wasn't "tough enough". This is code for I know more than everyone. Your theory assumes that BOB's handpicked GM made all of the picks without consulting BOB. That does not match a guy who has been consolidating power. It seems more likely that Gaine tried to tell him no when BOB told him to pick the guys he wanted and get rid of Clowney. Only an idiot wouldn't have been able to forecast what Clowney did.
I agree with you. In fact, I agree with most of this thread, but it's a step too far, IMO, to claim BoB is desperate due to overpaying for talent he had to have and the fired GM failed to get. It was only the Miami trade where that happened. The trouble is that we're seeing a number of first time actions that are long overdue. Hard to know what underlies it. There have been reasons to give BoB the benefit of the doubt over the years. Now that he has OL talent, a QB and players at the skill positions there can finally be some winning...or accountability.
I've been wondering this myself ever since the trades and actually made basically this same post in another thread. Could he have gotten better terms from Miami? Maybe the same picks with X. Howard thrown in. Would he have talked BOB down on Clowney and kepth him from selling for pennies on the dollar? We'll never know now.
Dude stop defending this franchise actions. We did not (I repeat) we DID NOT turn Clowney into a young, elite LT. Those two transactions are not related what so ever. The trade to get the LT might b solid (who knows), but the trade to get rid of Clowney was just outright stupid.
Exactly it was like when they wasted a 2nd round pick to dump osweiler. People said it turned into Watson. Nope, two separate transactions
Nope, the Gaine pick was a Bob McNair pick, he and went with who he knew. IMHO You're right about BOB not wanting Clowney. I could see things going down exactly like this.
Unfortunately with the mess RS left the answer is yes. I mean they just added 2 rookie OL how long do you think it will take them to get up to speed? This is what rebuilding teams unfortunately have to go through.
I too wish it was handled a lot differently leading up to these two trades and it is diffidently 2 separate transaction, but they were trying to turn Clowney into Tunsil until Clowney learned he could screw/kill that potential trade. Clowney's worth before draft- ?? IDK more I would think During draft - 2 round pick after draft and a few days ago - Tunsil after Clowney learns he has control - peanuts and crap
Well the Colts drafted an all pro fist team lineman last year with the 6th pick, then followed that up in the second round (37th) pick with the guy who is likely to be their very solid starting right tackle for years. Sure, too little too late for Andrew Luck, but someone eventually put two and two together and said instead of not drafting o-lineman, or consistently drafting "project" o-lineman, how about we just draft solid o-lineman who have experience in big conferences against NFL size bodies and can come in and actually help our team.
Sorry but BOB wanted Gaine. Obviously McNair was familiar with him and supported the move but BOB pushed for Gaine.
Well, no - they also spent a 3rd round pick on Duke Johnson. But they were very clearly desperate to acquire Tunsil, and, more or less, turned their next two drafts over to Miami to do so. That reeks of desperation.
Don't extract a sentence from a much longer paragraph and then fumble all over yourself ripping it of its context. I am well aware they did not trade Clowney for a LT and never said otherwise. What triggered all of this, however, was indeed a deal that would've sent Clowney to Miami for Tunsil. *That* was a good idea that was torpedoed because our front office wasn't smart enough to know that, after a certain date, Clowney held the cards on any trade.
