For you, Ryan.

Dallas >texans

Thank you for making the thread. I'm excited about the pre-season opener in two weeks (August 15). The Texans are hosting the Jets on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Wade Phillips has to implement his 3-4 defense faster than usual. He finally got his first practice with the team earlier today and Mario Williams was playing a lot of outside linebacker. Brian Cushing didn't participate so there was more reps at both OLB and ILB.

The rookies J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed took some snaps with the first-team defense. But no Jonathan Joseph or Danieal Manning. Neither can practice until Thursday. Once the defense comes together, I think the Texans will look like a respectable unit. They've got the talent in their front seven to put a lot pressure on the quarterback. Guys like Antonio Smith and Connor Barwin make it a deeper unit. I'll be disappointed if they don't become one of the better teams when it comes to overall sacks.

I'm a little skeptical about Earl Mitchell starting at Nose Tackle. The Texans seem a little thin at that one position. They weren't able to address it in the draft or free agency. Shaun Cody appears to be the backup NT on the depth chart. They released Amobi Okoye. I still have no clue what the Texans starting defense will look like once the regular season starts on September 11. I've got a pretty good guess though.

Yeah, I don't trust Earl Mitchell at NT when he's too small and is only a 2nd year player.

i think our defense will look something like this

DE: J.J. Watt
NT: Earl Mitchell
DE: Antonio Smith
ILB: DeMeco Ryans
ILB: Brian Cushing
OLB: Mario Williams
OLB: Connor Barwin
CB: Jonathan Joseph
CB: Jason Allen
FS: Glover Quin
SS: Danieal Manning

KJ our nickel until he can prove that he can be the #2 CB, Brandon Harris our dime/nickel.

QB: Matt Schaub
RB: Arian Foster
FB: Lawrence Vickers
WR: Andre Johnson
WR: Kevin Walter
TE: Owen Daniels
LT: Duane Brown
LG: Wade Smith
C: Chris Meyers
RG: Antoine Caldwell
RT: Eric Winston

They should've signed Aubrayo Franklin

yeah, i woulda taken him over danieal manning tbh.

The Houston Texans signed fullback Lawrence Vickers on Wednesday. Vickers spent his first five NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He played in all 16 games last season. During his time in Cleveland, Vickers, 28, was the lead blocker for three 1,000-yard rushers.

I'm assuming James Casey and Lawrence Vickers will split time at fullback? Casey is another offensive weapon in the passing game.

The Texans were $8.5 million over the salary cap and they've got some restructuring of contracts to do before tomorrow's deadline, LOL

Per source with knowledge of the cap numbers, here are the seven teams that were in the red: Raiders ($17.3 million), Steelers ($11.5 million), Texans ($8.5 million), Vikings ($5.6 million), Lions ($5 million), Cowboys ($3.7 million), and Panthers ($939,000).

The highest-paid 51 players on each team must be under the cap by the start of the 2011 League Year. It was expected to start Thursday, August 4 with the ratification of the new CBA.

Wow, the Raiders and Steelers GM will probably be up all night crunching numbers...

I think the Texans will be alright if Mario Williams and Matt Schaub re-work their deals. Mario is set to get a DeMarcus Ware-like extension.

Mike Lombardi called the Texans a soft team on ESPN. He said they weren't physical enough to make the playoffs because of the way they practice at training camp - which is full of finesse and no pads. He called them a lucky offense that can put up big stats.

Eric Winston responded to his comments, LOL

strong linebacker corps