Dark Horse Tavern » The Texans are apparently looking to add compet

ition to a position that doesn’t need competition." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteBattle Red Bloga Houston Texans communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsTexansOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Texans StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Texans NewsYahoo Texans Team PageYahoo Texans ReportYahoo Texans Depth ChartYahoo Texans TransactionsYahoo Texans PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Filed under:News2019 NFL Free Agency2019 NFL Free Agency: Marquette King To Visit Houston TexansNew Benardrick McKinney Color Rush Jersey ,40commentsThe Texans are apparently looking to add competition to a position that doesn’t need competition.CDTShareTweetShareShare2019 NFL Free Agency: Marquette King To Visit Houston TexansMark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsI’m mad!!!!!!From 2014 to 2018, the Texans employed Shane Lechler as their punter.Lechler is a former All-Pro who will go down as one of the greatest punters of all time. He was cool. The type of man you aspire to be when you are 40 years old. Billy goat gray goatee. Back pocket blue jeans dented and imprinted from hockey pucks of snuff. A liver swirling in yellow belly Banquet original. Floppy Kacey Musgrave hats. Pearl snap shirts and leather bracelets. A real cool guy. He just wasn’t good though. From 2014 to 2018, the Texans’ punting unit ranked lost 6.1, 15.1 (31st), 13 (30th), and 10.7 (28th) expected points per season according to Football Outsiders. The Texans’ special teams unit finished in the bottom of the league year after year. No changes were ever made. The punter couldn’t be questioned. Last season, Lechler lost his job to rookie UDFA Trevor Daniel. Lecher was sad and upset about something that should have happened a long time ago. After years of awful punting units, the Texans finally changed their punter, and guess what?The punting unit became immediately and substantially better. The Texans’ punting unit added 4.5 expected points last season. Wow. Crazy. Who knew punting the ball as far as you possibly could to the detriment of your coverage team was a bad thing? Yet today Aaron Wilson reported the Texans are bringing in Marquette King for a visit. I have no qualms with King Jordan Akins Color Rush Jersey , who is a fine punter. I have qualms with the Texans looking to add competition to a spot that doesn’t need it. Daniel is a second year player. He’s on a cheap deal. He was very good last year and should get better. The Texans still have $41 million in cap space according to Over the Cap, and they are out here looking to push Daniel, instead of, you know, trying to find interior pass rushing help, or adding a quality pass catching third down back, or flipping the tires on another physical, sideline-dwelling, first down snagging wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins Color Rush Jersey , or grabbing another cornerback for a room that can use additional talent. The Texans should have added punting competition three years ago.Not this year, not after the season Daniel had.They would be better off looking to improve the roster in different ways than this one. This is the beginning of a golden era of Texans football. That may seem like a hyperbolic statement, considering the team is by no means perfect and has shown off flaws with a consistency that many would consider to be the hallmarks of a bad football team. Yet, despite all of this, the Texans may be (if they are not already ) in what can only be described as a ‘‘championship window’’. It’s a time period that is often times fleeting and brief for any team that isn’t the Patriots. This window is a culmination of various factors coalescing together to form what might be the most talented team in the history of the franchise. Players such as DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney are hitting their primes, which makes them among the best at their position. A defense that is elite at a key facet of the game.Perhaps most importantly of all, the emergence of Deshaun Watson. We’ve waxed lyrical and poetic about Watson various times around this blog, to the point one might mistake him for something of a minor deity capable of feats few could imagine from a quarterback wearing a Texans’ jersey. These factors, and Watson’s emergence in particular Ka'imi Fairbairn Color Rush Jersey , are shaping the potential opening of the Texans ‘‘championship window’’. In a league that revolves around attempting to maximize the productivity of players against a salary cap, the young quarterback on a rookie contract is Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. The most important position in football is often times the most expensive. The toll it takes on team’s ability to shape and mold a quality roster around the QB is a difficult task at the best of times. The mathematics are quite simple. If you have a good young quarterback on a rookie deal, you have the cap flexibility to invest on the various other elements of the team that are lacking, thanks to not having to devote $25 million or more to a quarterback’s yearly contract. As soon as the quarterback’s rookie contract runs out and he needs to be extended, the amount of resources available to a team to build and maintain a roster drastically diminishes. That isn’t just for free agent acquisitions either. The room for error with draft picks is larger when there’s a quality QB under a smaller contract.When you have to pay that quarterback, the limited cap space available stops you from being able to address issues in free agency. The team becomes much more reliant on rookies to fill key positions.This idea has historical support. Both of Seattle’s Super Bowl appearances in the past decade occurred with Russell Wilson under his rookie contract. Carson Wentz (kind of), Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick were all starting quarterbacks for teams who went to the Super Bowl, and all of those QBs were or still are on their rookie contracts. It was easier for the Seahawks, Eagles D.J. Reader Color Rush Jersey , Ravens, and 49ers to invest in stud defenses when they didn’t have to dedicate a huge chunk of their cap to one player.This is where the Texans are right now. Being in this window means the Texans should be pouring their assets into everything around Watson while they still can. This means doing things like re-signing Jadeveon Clowney because you have no idea when windows like these are going to open again. The Texans should realize the urgency of their current situation. These are the best conditions for a Texans’ title run since the Gary Kubiak led teams in 2011-12.Even then, where the Texans are now is probably better.The upcoming Texans’ offseason has to be framed within these parameters. Every decision, every draft pick, and every free agent signing will be judged by how it’s going to affect the Texans’ championship window. The clock is ticking.This window won’t be open forever.