Grice cut dl to be added soon

[Yubaking]

Aubrayo Franklin outplayed Cam Thomas for a whole season of real games, but Thomas got his job anyway. Moves don't always make sense.

I know we were supposedly "re-building" last year. Maybe the Texans are doing the same thing.

Franklin was a UFA that the team chose not to pursue. That's a different situation, but I agree that that failure to re-sign Franklin did not make sense. Our defense suffered because of it.

Nix and Mathews were both signed, but not necessarily competing directly against each other as Mathews is a 3-4 DE that can rotate in at NT (kind of like Lissemore in that sense). Powe and Nix are traditional NTs. Was it Nix that cost Mathews a roster spot or was it a 3-4 DE that was kept?

[Guest]

You are citing preseason stats to support your position? Yes, I like stats, but unless I can see when/against whom each player played, I am not going to draw conclusions about interior line play based upon preseason stats.

Even if Mathews did outplay Nix, at a minimum the team liked Nix's potential over that of Mathews. Otherwise, they would not have kept Nix/would have kept Mathews.

But I am not really even sure that the competition was between Nix and Mathews. One of the cited posts from a Texans fan makes it sound like Mathews is a 3-4 DE that was going to play opposite Watt. If so, he was not competing against Nix even if he can rotate in at NT in a pinch. By size, the guy is not a true NT, but rather a 3-4 DE just like Lissemore.

But according to the Texans, who were the ultimate judge of any competition that may have existed, Mathews did not outplay Nix. Nix is a Texan. Mathews is not. Ultimately, that is how the competition is defined in the majority of instances. (Of course, injuries and salary cap considerations can be a factor, but there is no evidence that they were in this case.)

Nix doesn't have any stats other than preseason to compare with. You say that you're not going to draw conclusions - but you did exactly that when you said that Mathews did not outplay Nix. The Texans cut Mathews because Nix is a 3rd round draft pick, not because Nix outplayed Mathews. You're a hoot.

[Yubaking]

If our new D lineman is just like Lissemore, I can deal with that.

He is like Lissemore in that he can play multiple positions and is undersized when compared to most NTs. Since he was cut, my guess is that he is not as good as Lissemore.

Since our issue has been getting run over in the preseason, my preference would be to get another player that has run stuffing potential. If we have reached the conclusion that players like Franklin, Pickett and other previously unsigned players are done, then Vickerson might be the best we can do. But he's probably a better option for us than Mathews. I think we are heading for some problems with our run defense if Carrethers, a rookie, is our only true run stuffing NT.

My concern is that if opponents can run on us, in addition to scoring against us, it may upset the rhythm of our ball control offense, making it less effective.

[Panama]

Franklin was a UFA that the team chose not to pursue.

Revisionist history, or am I misremembering? I thought the team was interested in bringing him back, but he very quickly signed elsewhere.

Our defense suffered because of it.

Overstatement of a player's worth! Our defense suffered in the short term for a number of reasons, but the Almighty Franklin's absence was no more than perhaps a small part of it.

[Yubaking]

Nix doesn't have any stats other than preseason to compare with. You say that you're not going to draw conclusions - but you did exactly that when you said that Mathews did not outplay Nix. The Texans cut Mathews because Nix is a 3rd round draft pick, not because Nix outplayed Mathews. You're a hoot.

I said Mathews did not outplay Nix and based that on the fact that the Texans kept Nix and dumped Mathews, which usually defines the winner and loser of any competition that may have existed. If you want to define the concept of one player "outplaying" another differently, go ahead.

I do think the Texans' roster move means either 1) Nix outplayed Mathews in the eyes of the Texans, 2) the two were never in direct competition as Mathews is really a 3-4 DE that has some experience moonlighting as a NT, or 3) the Texans preferred Nix's potential to that of Mathews (even if the Texans felt that Mathews played better than Nix in the preseason--i.e., how you want to define "outplaying"). I have suggested all 3 as possibilities for the Texans' decision. If you want to take door #3 and claim that Mathews outplayed Nix by that definition of "outplaying", go ahead.

At the end of the day, the Texans wanted to keep Nix and didn't want to keep Mathews. Unless the Texans do not know how to judge players properly, we likely just signed the lesser player between the two.

[Yubaking]

Revisionist history, or am I misremembering? I thought the team was interested in bringing him back, but he very quickly signed elsewhere.



Overstatement of a player's worth! Our defense suffered in the short term for a number of reasons, but the Almighty Franklin's absence was no more than perhaps a small part of it.

There is no evidence (and I asked for anyone to provide any such evidence) that the team ever pursued Franklin. Accordingly, yours is the revisionist history.

Our defense went from 5th in the NFL in YPC against to 27th. Only the Bears suffered a worse drop off in YPC against. Undoubtedly, there were other factors as well. I never said otherwise. But your dedication to the proposition that run stuffing NTs play no factor or a very small factor in stuffing the run is impressive.

[Guest]

I said Mathews did not outplay Nix and based that on the fact that the Texans kept Nix and dumped Mathews, which usually defines the winner and loser of any competition that may have existed. If you want to define the concept of one player "outplaying" another differently, go ahead.

I do think the Texans' roster move means either 1) Nix outplayed Mathews in the eyes of the Texans, 2) the two were never in direct competition as Mathews is really a 3-4 DE that has some experience moonlighting as a NT, or 3) the Texans preferred Nix's potential to that of Mathews (even if the Texans felt that Mathews played better than Nix in the preseason--i.e., how you want to define "outplaying"). I have suggested all 3 as possibilities for the Texans' decision. If you want to take door #3 and claim that Mathews outplayed Nix by that definition of "outplaying", go ahead.

At the end of the day, the Texans wanted to keep Nix and didn't want to keep Mathews. Unless the Texans do not know how to judge players properly, we likely just signed the lesser player between the two.

The only part of your post that I think could be the case is that they prefer the potential that Nix may (or may not) have. If you can find the games somehow, I'd suggest that you maybe go and watch both players in their preseason games.
Otherwise, any discussion is nonsense.

[Bolt-O]

Teams sometimes keep players drafted higher than those who play better in preseason, especially if you are comparing a rookie with a vet who had a chance to show himself previously. (Which explains the strange scholarship case for Mouton). I didn't see Nix or RM90 play in preseason, but those who did, like the coaches and fans, imply a disappointing start for Nix, and a pretty good PS for RM90, and fans were surprised that he wasn't kept. Mathews even had a sack against Peyton Manning... who isn't going to play with anything less than first-teamers. I will grant that it may have been due to other factors, but a sack is a sack, just like those clean-up sacks that Phillips used to get here in SD. Not making that Houston DL is not exactly a failure, and someone thought enough of him to bring him to a 53 man squad. I don't know how much of an impact that Mathews will have here in SD, just like we didn't know too much about Lissemore, other than he didn't fit to the Dallas scheme, but its a step in the right direction for SD. Nix is a rookie who can't play all downs, who was traded up for, and could be pretty good, but he couldn't beat out the incumbent NT... who by reports was also outplayed by RM90.

[thelightningwill]

Revisionist history, or am I misremembering? I thought the team was interested in bringing him back, but he very quickly signed elsewhere.



Overstatement of a player's worth! Our defense suffered in the short term for a number of reasons, but the Almighty Franklin's absence was no more than perhaps a small part of it.

Cam Thomas was literally a large problem. He was 330 pounds of terrible until he got replaced by Lissemore. I'd have rather had Franklin starting over Thomas. Franklin was better in 2012 and I'm sure he would have been better than Thomas in 2013.

In the end, losing Franklin didn't hurt us (We probably would have been a Wild Card either way). However, with Franklin on the D at the beginning of the season, we may have had a less stressful Week 17. I think we could have won at least one more of those early games with Franklin instead of Thomas as the starter.

Yea, I know last year was supposedly "re-building," but that, to me, turned out to be untrue. We re-built (for one or part of a season) in some areas, I guess. But, mostly, we're still not a young team, and we're not playing for the future. We can and, I hope, plan to win now. And I thought we could have won last year. One lucky play by the Broncos stopped us from making what I swear would have put us in the AFC Championship game.

[Panama]

I said Mathews did not outplay Nix and based that on the fact that the Texans kept Nix and dumped Mathews, which usually defines the winner and loser of any competition that may have existed. If you want to define the concept of one player "outplaying" another differently, go ahead.

You are seriously confused over the meaning of "outplaying."

[Panama]

There is no evidence (and I asked for anyone to provide any such evidence) that the team ever pursued Franklin. Accordingly, yours is the revisionist history.

Go back and re-read my post. Phrases such as "am I misremembering" and "I thought" should make it clear to a competent reader that I am not sure, which is far from stating something is history of any sort, much less revisionist.

[Yubaking]

Are you saying Tourek Williams outplayed Cordarro Law? Or that Lawrence Guy outplayed Chas Alexcih? You logic doesn't hold water.

A team is not going to cut a 3rd-round pick they traded to get. Period. Regardless of whether another player the team has not invested heavily in outplayed him.

It sure sounds, from what the coach was saying, that Nix has underwhelmed, and that it isn't the typical expected growing pains but perhaps attitude and effort -- but maybe I've misread his comments.

It appears that the team thought that T. Williams outplayed Law even if I would have reached a different conclusion based upon preseason performance. The team gets to see the players more than we do, so perhaps what they saw in practice made a difference. Also, you can argue that the team sees greater upside in T. Williams even if Law played better in the preseason games. As for me, I am glad that Law made it to the PS.

Yes, I think Guy beat out Alecxih. The limited action they saw from Guy was enough for the team to reach that conclusion.

You are reading way too much into what the coach was saying. He said that Nix has improved since arriving but has a long way to go. The Browns said similar things about Manziel. Our coaches said some pretty bad things about Keenan Allen during last year's preseason too. Somehow I think none of the three players was ever anywhere near being cut. The delusional notion that Nix was somehow worthy of being cut is something that has found a home only in this thread.

Finally, even assuming arguendo that the Texans "had to keep Nix", and I agree that there is pressure on them to do so, but disagree that it is required of them, if the team truly valued Mathews, it could have kept him as well by altering the player distribution at other positions (like we did when we drafted Green) to keep him. The Texans simply did not think highly enough of him to do that. So pardon me if I laugh a little at the notion suggested in this thread that we somehow got a player that is better than Nix.

Another 3-4 DE is not the answer to our NT issues.