MP - eNFL: Houston Texans 2006 – The Veruka Salt Dynasty
 

The Past
2003 - David Carr & Stacey Mack led the Texans to a 6-10 in the inaugural year of the eNFL. The Texans were probably closer to a .500 team as several of those losses came in either overtime or last second plays in the fourth quarter.

2004 - The surprise non-signing of Mack and several trades for picks gave the Houston franchise a much younger look as they build toward the future. Unfortunately, the bottom dropped out when several key players, including Carr sat on the bench for most of the season. Veteran Tony Banks took the team about as far as they could go and the Texans only managed 5 wins.

2005 – Year 3 in the eNFL saw the Texans revamp their roster. They were very busy during the off-season with 13 free agent signings, 3 resigned players and 11 renegotiated contracts. All of this combined with 9 draft picks had many Texan fans scrambling to study the team yearbook in order to figure out who is on the field.

David Carr had many targets to throw to including Jabbar Gaffney and David Patten at wide receiver, and a trio of excellent tight ends in Billy Miller, Anthony Brecht & Bennie Joppru. Duce Staley & Tony Hollings platooned at running back and the Texan offense became a force to be reckoned with. The Texan scoring machine went on to an 11-5 record and won the AFC Sourth for the first time in team history. They also earned a bye week for the playoffs.

The team’s major weakness was defense, especially against the run. That weakness was exploited by division rival Indianapolis in week 17 and again in the team’s first playoff game. Neither contest was close; Indy managed to shut down Carr & the Texans. It was a sobering experience.

At the end of the season, things looked fairly bright as there were less than a dozen players with contracts that were ending and most of these were marginal players. The core of the team would remain intact. GM SplitPersonality1 could pretty much stand pat; maybe make a few minor changes in the off-season; and the Texans would be all set to defend their division crown.

Yeah. Right.

Next up: Trades and Free Agency

The 2005 AFC South Champion Houston Texans

For the Houston Texans, 2006 started off with a bang.
We resigned our scout, head coach and offensive coordinator, but replaced the old DC with George Blackshear, a 53yo unproven guy with an affinity to the d-line and young players in general. He should do much better that the last guy.

Then we received a surprise e-mail stating that running back Duce Staley had retired.

???

He was only a 9-year vet, and was playing on a team that gave him a chance; a team that seems to be on the rise. What the heck?

With Duce Staley retiring (he will forever be known as ‘the SOB’ in this thread), the Texans scoured the league for a potential replacement. We found one in Chicago Bears RB Anthony Thomas (54/55). His quality was similar to Staley and I like a lot of his abilities; especially his rating for ‘avoid fumbles’ – the SOB had 5 in 2005. We contacted the Bears and gave up an extra 4th rounder that we had. We still had 7 draft picks left, one in every round.

Knowing that I there were several high quality wide receivers available, I deal 10-year vet David Patten (50/50) to the Lions for 12-year vet Kevin Carter (50/50). He was a Pro-Bowler as recently as 2004 (with 12.5 sacks), but had a rough year last year recording just 3. I picked him up primarily for his run defense which is better that what I had out there last season. He has very good technique against the pass as well, and being a mentor, should help train my first round pick of 2004, Dwight Hammond.

Patten will be missed as he did get nearly 1000 yards despite missing 4 starts. All in all, I think it was a good trade for both teams.

Now it was time to hit the free agent/trade market. I had an interest in the following players:

WR Marvin Harrison (IND – 67/68) – it would be good to take him away from Indy
WR Terrell Owens (SF – 72/72) – another solid vet
WR Tyrone Calico (STL – 87/87) – this 4th year player is rated the best WR in the league by my scout. Hmmm.
LG LeCharles Bentley (NO-FA – 64/64) – 5th year guard that would really help my o-line
LT Levi Jones (CIN – 89/89) – another 4th year phenom – he would be a great addition
LT – Flozell Adams (TAM – 59/59) – solid player, but seems to be on the downside of his career. Brilliant in 2003 and in 2004, he only played in 12 games last season. I would still be willing to take a chance on him however.
RT Oliver Ross (PIT-FA – 56/56) – a decent tackle, but ten times better that what we put on the field in 2005. Like his pass blocking skills, hate his blocking strength and his endurance
RT Lincoln Kennedy (OAK – 61/61) – aging vet who still ranks as one of the best in the league – however his three year contract scares me – the SOB has me very vary of possible retirements.
RT Steve Scuillo (STL – 39/50) – this 4th year player is still improving and would be somewhat of a project.
RCB Ronde Barber (TAM – 82/82) – getting him would be a home run for this defense.
RCB Brian Williams (MIN-FA – 56/56) – an improvement over my guys last year and quite a bit younger – my top three CBs averaged 12 years in the league last year.

Lots to choose from, but I only had just over 8M in cap room. There was no way I was going to get all of these players. Hell, I would settle for one or two. Unless………

Next up: more Trades and Free Agency