Here's whats sad about this move: It's not really that bad. In a market where Leonard Davis gets 49 million for no fucking reason, Ahman Green got 23 million, but only 6.5 guaranteed.
But the bigger issue is that it doesn't really do anything for the Texans. Ahman Green was 16th in the NFL in DPAR last year, behind a much better offensive line. That's essentially league average. Ron Dayne, the Texans highest ranked back, was at 28th. But the difference between the two was only 8 DPAR, and Dayne played in only 11 games and started just 6. DVOA, the percentage based Football Outsiders stat, has it as Dayne 4.9%, Green 4.6%. They're essentially the same player.
And in a league where talented running backs are essentially becoming the easiest thing to find in the draft, spending so much money on one who makes so little difference is downright silly. The Texans should be spending their money on young free agents, or at the very least at positions of need like safety, offensive line, or outside linebacker.
And yes, it's easy to criticize and not give any suggestions. So who would I have spent this money on? I'd have gone after someone like Deon Grant, Ken Hamlin, or Kevin Kaeshviharn (so we can have a monopoly on white ex-Bengals who play distinctively non-white positions). I'd sign Josh Bidwell, who in my mind is the best available punter, because we'll be doing a lot of that. I'd sign Alfonso Boone, to give us a prayer of stopping the run. And most importantly, I would sign LOTS of young players and see what you can find. If we're gonna get smacked all year, we might as well see if we can find some quality players that were stuck on the practice squad.
Instead, we have someone who is interested in Jeff Garcia, Ashley Lelie, Ahman Green, and trading up to get Adrian Peterson. Is competency too much to ask for?
