DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Matt Millen might have been an upgrade

Jul 7, 2007 Casserly blows goats... I have proof, Money Money Money, Preview, Tank Johnson's gunrack

There are three things that I am obsessive-compulsive about–making my lawn perfect, bar-b-queing, and writing about football. I point this out for two reasons: first, I have been doing the second of those things today, which is why I haven’t posted, and, second, it appears that former GM Charlie Casserly was in no way obsessive about anything related to his position.

You see, to be truly OCD about anything, you have to be able to devote a singular intensity to it, so that nothing else matters while you are working. I can stand and stare at the thermometer on a smoker for 8 to 10 hours at a stretch–I’ve done that today, in fact, starting at 6:30AM. Casserly, apparently, couldn’t make it through a single contract negotiation without losing focus (and possibly taking total leave of his senses) and he damn sure could not devote the focus needed to build a cap-friendly, successful team.

Why do I say that?

See, e.g., here. (Hat tip to the fellas Tim at BRB.) As of right now, the Texans have approximately $30.5 MM locked up in dead money (i.e. money paid to players who will not suit up for the Texans this season).

Such luminaries as Gary Walker, Zach Weigert, and Seth Payne grace that list. Plus, you have the always-fun situation of paying Robaire Smith to play for Tennessee and Cleveland. Great.

Now, there are some glimmers of a silver lining to this situation. For one, at least according to the author of the article, it was precipitated by the regime change from Shitard-Fucktard¹ to Smith-Kubiak and from the switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense. If last season is any barometer², both of those changes were for the better. Certainly the coaching change was an improvement–Capers reliably demonstrated that he couldn’t manage a whore house on a troop train. Moreover, the defensive shift certainly allowed DeJesus Ryans the freedom to roam without worrying about too many 300-lb blockers. Both of those things have to be worth a certain amount of money down the road.

Second, the salary cap this season is $109 MM. On top of that, we currently have $3.35 MM in “forward cap adjustment”³, meaning we have cap space of around $7.2 MM dollars to spend between now and kickoff 2007. Translation: We aren’t exactly scraping and begging for cap room just to field a team. Sure, we’d like to have more room–every team would–but we are sitting more or less fine at the moment. Besides, the author of the above article draws the line for “problematic” dead money at $10 MM, which is a threshold that 2006 playoff participant New Orleans crosses (as do a number of other teams with first- or second-year head coaches).

Finally, and most fantastically orgasmic, next year’s projection only has us on the hook for about $2.93 MM, with cap space of over $37 MM. Obviously, that is an estimate, but it is a FAR better number to look at than many teams have right now.

Now, please, PLEASE, don’t get me wrong. None of this absolves Casserly of the shit-poor job he did over the past few years. Signing someone like Gary Walker to a contract that would have you on the hook for $5.5 MM even if he played this season is asinine. At best. And paying Robaire Smith to play for a friggin’ division rival last season smacks of incompetence of the highest order. Casserly was to Scott Pioli as Corky Thatcher was to Stephen Hawking.

Still, you almost have to consider us lucky that we can be in year two of a new regime and still have over $7 MM in cap space to spare, especially with the core that we have. Right now (other than 75% of a secondary) what do we really need? A veteran WR2? Sure. But that’s enough money to sign any one that might come available to a one year sheet. Honestly, that’s even more than enough to sign, say, Keenan McCardell and Tank Johnson.

At this point, I don’t know how much more we could ask for.

(You know, other than a real CB2.)

¹ Also known as “Casserly-Capers.”
² Three straight sentences with a meteorological bent. I’ll stop. Maybe.
³ Quickly, if a team defined an incentive as “likely to be earned” (based upon language in the CBA) in a player’s contract in 2006, that incentive would have counted against last year’s cap. However, if the player never actually achieved the required goal to trigger the incentive, then a portion of that incentive counts as a credit against this year’s cap. It’s not a great reflection on your prior season is people fail to reach “likely” incentives, but it sure helps this year. C’est la vie.