Posted By LambChop
I am writing this as a less-than-proud supporter of the Houston Texans since the NFL voted to accept McNair’s $700 million offer for the 32nd NFL franchise in 1999.
The History of the Franchise
The birth of an NFL franchise. The year was 1999. Despite my reservations, the Texans hired Washington Redskins G.M. Charley Casserly to be the Executive Vice President & General Manager. I attended luncheons during which Casserly enthusiastically spoke about the new Reliant stadium and described his “roll up his sleeves” mentality as he prepared to get ready for the business of football (even though Casserly more closely resembled the main character of a J.K. Rowling novel who played quidditch). I stood by as they rolled out the name and logo bypassing suggestions like the “Apollos” (sounded like a 1950s Motown group), the Colt 45's, the Energy, the Roughnecks, Roughriders, Roustabouts most of which sounded like imprisoned hooligans or biker gangs.
I looked the other way when Dom Capers was hired as head coach. By 2002 Texans finished 4–12; and by 2005 they completed their worst in the league record of 2–14. Of course, at that time, the prudent decision would have been to fire everybody – EXCEPT Casserly? Go figure. Then even more questionable decisions were made – making Broncos offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak the head coach. Nobody checked to see if Kubiak was responsible for the Broncos success or if Kubiak was working FOR Mike Shanahan.
The Texans went on to give pretty boy QB David Carr an $8 million bonus, and instead of recruiting Reggie Bush or Vince Young, the Texan’s used their draft pick to snap up…Mario Williams. Whatever. By the end of 2006, Reggie Bush and the Saints played for the NFC Championship and Vince Young had won the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Casserly resigned in June. Meanwhile Mario Williams finished with 4.5 sacks and 47 tackles while suffering from a really bad foot wart. Watching Mario wander around the field for an entire season was frustrating to say the least, causing a long-time Texan fan to comment, “Time to throw a tent over Mario’s circus.”
By 2007, Matt Schaub replaced Carr, and Mario started playing again, but the Texans finished last in their division. In 2008 Texans were 8-8 and acquired Andre Johnson.
Kubiak Under the Radar
A full four years after hiring Kubiak, the Texans finally had a 9-7 winning season in 2009 (the first in franchise history) and instead of firing him for his 4 -year lull and stupid play-calling, the Texans re-signed head coach Gary Kubiak to a contract extension through 2012. Why?
In 2010, the Texans finally made a good decision - hiring Wade Phillips. The addition of Wade Phillips made the Houston Texans the first NFL franchise in history to have a Defensive Coordinator who was a better head coach than the head coach in title only, Gary Kubiak. By 2011, under Phillips' recruiting ability and superior guidance (plus the additions of draft picks J.J. Watt, Brandon Harris, Roc Carmichael, Brooks Reed, and Shiloh Keo) the Texans defense rose from 30th to #2 in the league. Texans went 10-6 in 2011 and won the AFC South. In 2011, the Texans repeated their AFC South title with a 12-4 record.
While Schaub was on IR in 2011, his stats were good (both before and after his recovery) but Schaub lacked the leadership, brains and consistency to be classified as an “elite quarterback.” Sadly, the Texans seemed to believe if they paid him like an elite QB he would become one… so they inexplicably signed Matt Schaub to a 4-year, $62 million extension in September of 2012. One word: overpaid.
This Season & Schaub's Future
So welcome to 2013. The Texans hardly look like a playoff team. We have a Head Coach with a head full of hair colored with shoe black who acts more like an assistant offensive coordinator, and a quarterback who can’t call plays and holds the record for most consecutive pick 6’s. Sadly , we're only in the first half of the season.
Schaub’s contract has a “Sanchez clause” in 2013, in which the quarterback receives a fully-guaranteed base salary of $7.25 million.
According to Mike Florio at NBC getting rid of Schaub would “result in $14 million in dead money thanks to the unallocated portion of his $17.5 million signing bonus.”
Florio wrote, “Though the hit could be reduced to $3.5 million in 2013 with a post-June 1 designation for the release, the other $10.5 million would apply to the cap in 2014. Moreover, dumping Schaub would constitute an admission that the $22.4 million Schaub was paid in 2013 was a mistake.”
Needless to say, Kubiak probably wishes to avoid the appearance of yet another mistake since he has been skating by for 8 years.
So what happens in 2014 - will Kubiak continue to prowl the sidelines looking like the booger- eating moron that he is? Will the Texans pay Schaub another $10 million? Let’s hope not.
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