| I have no doubt Texans GM Charley Casserly will
do a great job establishing the foundation for the NFL’s newest franchise in
Monday’s expansion draft. His game plan to hone in on fewer but better players
rather than emphasizing quantity over quality makes perfect sense. And there’s strong
reason to believe that, by the end of the day Monday, the Texans will have selected 10-20
solid NFL starters, including a few who rank among the best at their positions when fully
healthy.
While there’s hardly any guarantee, the best bets to be tabbed as the Texans’
top pick Monday are either Jaguars OT Tony Boselli, who will definitely be worth his
$6.5-$7 million cap charge if his shoulder is back to normal, or Ravens OLB Jamie Sharper,
who is reportedly so much a lock to be headed to Houston that his locker in Baltimore has
already been cleared out.
In addition to providing air-tight protection for whomever Houston picks to play
quarterback for the next half-decade, a healthy Boselli also would add a little spice to
the Houston-Jacksonville/Texas-Florida rivalry the NFL hopes will be a strong selling
point in the new AFC South. In a conference call with the national media a few days ago,
Caserley indicated that finding a good offensive tackle was traditionally the biggest
challenge facing most expansion teams.
Other notable players who very well could become Texans include Ravens return
specialist Jermaine Lewis, Jaguars DTs Gary Walker or Seth Payne and Jets CB Marcus
Coleman — all of whom have talent to burn.
What makes Monday’s exercise all the more meaningful for the Texans’
braintrust is the fact that this year’s free-agent crop is as thin as it’s been
in some time.
Casserly acknowledged as much in his conference call, and yours truly would have to
agree after recently being asked to put together a preliminary list of the top 100 free
agents available by the Pro Football Weekly powers that be.
While there appears to be more than a few quality unrestricted-free-agent LBs available
(Jeremiah Trotter, London Fletcher, Sam Cowart, Jason Gildon, James Farrior), it once
again looks like a really weak overall free-agent crop that could become only slightly
more appealing once cap casualties are thrown into the mix.
In terms of building a foundation, the expansion draft figures to be a much stronger
link.
But I disagree with the Texans’ thought process in one significant area — the
decision to completely avoid any players over the age of 30, which technically eliminates
43 of the 155 players in the expansion talent pool right off the bat.
Said Capers, "When we had older players (in Carolina), they started off playing
great, but then they started descending, and we didn’t have any youth to pick up the
program. We’ll need more patience this time around."
Caserley voiced concerns about players over 30 being unable to play effectively through
the lengths of their contracts, but you have to wonder how long-term he’s thinking.
It says here the Texans are missing the boat if they completely eliminate the
thirtysomething NFL nation from consideration. Where would the Rams have been this season
without 34-year-old newcomer Aeneas Williams? Would the Raiders have remained in
contention as long as they did without a rejuvenated Jerry Rice?
Every team needs a solid core of guys who have been around the NFL block, guys who
provide leadership and character, which the Patriots proved could be just as important as
pure talent.
I can’t help but be drawn to one of the guys who has now supposedly been
eliminated from the Texans’ wish list — DE Willie McGinest, who turned 30 on
Dec. 11. A few days before the Super Bowl, you should have seen the look in Patriots
rookie DT Richard Seymour’s eyes when he spoke glowingly about how much of a father
figure McGinest had become to him, how much McGinest had gone out of his way to show him
the ropes.
The Texans are going to need a few trusty graybeards like him after all is said and
done.
Perhaps more than a few.
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