Bob McNair breaks it down, gangsta-style*
Mar 23, 2008 Barbaro is dead, Bob McNair, Casserly blows goats... I have proof, Charles Spencer, Old dudes, Tony Boselli is dead
*Or, um, “rich old man”-style. Whatever.
Texans owner Bob McNair did a two part interview with Texans TV early last week. It was, as you would expect, fairly general stuff–yes, we’ve turned a corner as a team; yes, it was hard to watch all the injuries last year; yes, it was important to re-sign the Special Teams Ninja; etc.
There was, however, one answer that stuck out.
Brooke Bentley: This year’s draft will be a little different for you because the Texans don’t have a top-10 pick. They will be selecting a player with the 18th selection. What excites you about this year’s draft and which direction do you see the team going with the first-round draft pick?
Bob McNair: Fortunately, there is depth in several positions and depth in several positions where we could use some more help. We’ve had problems with left tackle in the offensive line from day one, as you will recall. We thought we solved that when we picked Tony Boselli. Then, we drafted another young player behind Tony and he didn’t work out and Tony never played one down for us because of his injuries. And the last year with (Charles) Spencer, we thought, “Now, we’ve got the guy in there,” and then I think it was in the second game (of 2006) that he got injured and then he was down. So we have had a real difficult time filling that position. Ephraim (Salaam) did a good job for us last year and he’s going to be back with us, but we need a young player in there that’s going to be with us for a long time.
Hopefully, we’ll find that. If we don’t, there’s some good defensive backs and one of those should be available at the 18th pick. And who knows? Maybe there’s an outstanding running back. If there is somebody special, we would certainly consider that. But I think that Rick and his people have done a good enough job in free agency that we are not really vulnerable or desperate at any one position, so we can pick the best athlete that is available when our turn comes. And if we have the opportunity to trade down and still get the player we want and get an additional pick later, then certainly we always like to do that.
Hmm…I like the reference to possibly trading back. I dislike the idea of taking any DB at 18 whose name doesn’t rhyme with Smodgers-Thromartie. And I am genuinely concerned by the total lack of mention of DE or DT. (Though I suppose it’s possible that Bob is just playing some Texas Hold’Em and not tipping his hand here. Maybe he is just reciting what some of the “experts” are saying while fully planning on going a different direction. Or maybe I am overthinking this.)
Bo Jackson’s bionic hip
Jul 2, 2007 Injury bug, Legal stuff, Old dudes
It is not by accident that I don’t waste words on “big” stories like Pacman/Vick/Tank, the demise of NFL Europa, and the like. I figure that any story of that size or importance is going to be covered to death by every other outlet, so what the hell could I possibly add? Besides, we at DGDB&D aspire to be Texans-centric and these stories would require much thinking and writing about non-Texans football. Blech.
In that vein, I was going to ignore the whole “former players wanting better compensation after football” thing. Then I saw where former Texans o-lineman Ben Lynch filed suit against the NFL’s retirement and disability plan.
[Lynch's attorney] alleges in the federal court suit that Lynch was improperly denied full disability benefits because plan administrators claimed his disabilities were not the result of an “active” football injury.
The suit says Lynch, 34, suffered an “on-the-field injury” that ended his career. It said his knee was seriously hurt in a 2003 preseason game, that he had a staph infection during his recovery and that he now suffers “crippling pain in his leg, lower back and neck.”
Assuming that the allegations here are true, one has to think that Lynch has a pretty strong case. I mean, I’m not a doctor (shocking, I know), but staph infections would seem to be relatively common post-surgery issues. It’s not like he’s claiming that his busted knee caused him to get hit by a truck1–he’s saying that he hurt his knee in a game and that led directly to his inability to work now. In response, if we are again to believe the allegation, the NFL disability people said that the infection that stemmed directly from the surgery to repair his injured knee did not qualify as an “active” injury.2
Whatever. At best, the league is playing a semantic game. You get your leg torn off mid-play? That counts. You have to get your leg amputated a year from now because of a freak thigh injury? Not so much.
I have no idea what the long-term implications of this case will be, if any, so I’ll stop talking about it now.
1 Here is where I would get into a discussion of proximate cause and the like if I didn’t HATE legal discussion.
2 Causation/intervening cause (kinda) discussion would go here. My head hurts.
