Quinn Gray to the Texans: Where Will Sage Rosenfels Go?

Columnist John McClain of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that free agent QB Quinn Gray is about to sign a one year deal with the Houston Texans. UPDATE: Signing is official.

He chose to come to the Texans, canceling other free agent trips, to be signed as a #3 behind #2 QB Sage Rosenfels? GM Rick Smith claims the Texans would like to carry three veteran quarterbacks to start the year, even though the Texans haven't done that while coach Gary Kubiak has been running things.

Of course, nobody with a brain thinks that this is the end of the story. Clearly, the Texans are giving themselves the flexibility to trade Sage Rosenfels for some draft considerations. Most sentient football observers would think this is a sensible thing to do, but Richard Justice at the Chronicle claims that:

The Texans cannot and must not trade Sage Rosenfels. It's not even a close call.
...
Weakening the most important position on the field to strengthen another makes no sense. And there's no one available that's even close to being as good as Rosenfels.

Then he proceeds to say a bunch of blather that has no relevance to whether you should trade Rosenfels away if you get good value for him. Well, I suppose I'm glad that Richard Justice isn't running the Texans as actually it is a close call.

Gray is a good quarterback prospect who has shown flashes of ability that the Texans feel they can further refine, like they did with Rosenfels. The Texans have many needs and no second round draft pick this year due to last year's trade for Matt Schaub. Given they have found someone serviceable in Gray and they know how to develop quarterbacks, if they can get good value for Rosenfels they should take it. Seems pretty sensible to me.

Cannot and must not trade Sage Rosenfels?! Oh please.

Rosenfels is someone who clearly has value in a league that suffers from a lack of good quarterbacking. He was able to win games for the Texans coming in as a backup, despite injuries to key offensive players and a ridiculously unreliable Texans running game. He was able to spread the ball around to a variety of targets. He is also articulate, a good teammate and leader. He is someone I could see being a coach after his playing career is done.

I know a lot of the commentary about Rosenfels seems to just see him as just a fungible backup quarterback, but at least what I've seen of him, he is better than a number of the guys starting as NFL quarterbacks last year.

The Vikings have repeatedly come up in trade talks, originally via a rumor from SI.com's Don Banks. It makes sense. The Vikings have an extra third round pick. Maybe they make the playoffs last year if they have a good backup to Tarvaris Jackson or better quarterback play in general.

Heck, check out the side by side stats of Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels. You can make the case that Rosenfels may be a better quarterback than Jackson, and might be the favorite to be the starter.

The Vikings offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell was a graduate assistant at Iowa State at the same time that Rosenfels was there so at least they have that shared history.

As someone who follows the Texans, I'm not eager to trade Rosenfels away. He is relatively inexpensive, understands the system, has been productive on the field, and is a great guy in the locker room. He throws more interceptions than you like to see, though some of those interceptions may have been a product of having to throw the ball so much due to the poor state of the Texans running game and getting behind in games.

As with any player, if you are getting enough value to improve your team as a whole, you should do it. Kubiak feels comfortable grooming quarterbacks, and from what I've seen of Gray, I'm satisfied that Kubiak can train him up as a backup.

One way or another, the Gray signing is great in that it gives the Texans more flexibility if they get the right deal.

So where do you think Rosenfels goes? Texans, Vikings or other?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-24-2008 @ 4:18PM

Big Sam said...

I hate to see Sage go, but he was leaving after this season anyway. He's a driven player who wants a chance to start and will not get that here given the fat contract of the guy ahead of him. A 3rd or 2nd would be reasonable at this point.

Shalom Mr. Rosenfels... you will be missed.

1Texan said...

You said it all when you said, "Of course, nobody with a brain thinks that this is the end of the story." It's going to be interesting.

beef said...

Hey Steph,
I know it will be a small hit, but what of the possibility that Smithiak told Gray that HE might be the one traded, if something didn't come through for Sage? Obviously, he signed a very cap-friendly deal, so teams would certainly look his way if the need arose; and for him, why not sign with a team that already has other teams talking to them about a good backup? We're kinda like a superstore for backup QBs right now. You don't like Sage? Check out this slightly used Gray model we've just added to the lot!!!! Stackin'em deep, and sellin'em cheap!!

Anyway, I hadn't heard anyone bring that up yet, and figured it was worth asking about. And since you brought him up, why does Justice even write about the Texans anymore? Does he have some sort of Idiocy Quota he's shooting for?
"And there's no one available that's even close to being as good as Rosenfels."
Seems like I hear him saying something like this about a certain ex-horn QB, now playing for the Titans.
He obviously knows more than anyone in our front-office.

3-24-2008 @ 8:18PM

dave small said...

Sage is the Texans only proven winner at quarterback. Matt deserves to enter training camp as the starter (because you shouldn't lose your job to an injury). But Sage has the better record and is a good bet to be the starter. Quinn is 3rd string insurance against injury.

3-25-2008 @ 8:19AM

bigfatdrunk said...

"As with any player, if you are getting enough value to improve your team as a whole, you should do it. Kubiak feels comfortable grooming quarterbacks, and from what I've seen of Gray, I'm satisfied that Kubiak can train him up as a backup."

That's the story. One just cannot say it any better.

@Beef:
Q: "Does he have some sort of Idiocy Quota he's shooting for?"
A: Need you ask?

3-25-2008 @ 10:30AM

Tom said...

We should have just kept the 2 round 2 picks we gave up for Schuab, I mean all we saw last season is Matt Schuab, Sage Rosenfels, they might as well be twins so what did the Texans gain in the Matt Schuab trade that they didn't already have on their roster except 2 players further away from being able to compete with the Colts in Indy. It might just be a simple matter of Quinn Gray being in the right place for the right price, and the Texans needing a veteran 3rd string QB in case Schuab (no sense of self preservation) and Rosenfels (I wish I could play middle linebacker) or (I feel like blocking backside on this toss sweep) actually get hurt, and the Texans are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. OH PERISH THE THOUGHT!

3-25-2008 @ 10:39AM

Stephanie Stradley said...

Tom-

I will defer to Kubiak's analysis of QBs, and it is too early to completely tell with Schaub. It is hard to do a comparison of Schaub to Rosenfels from last year because of the timing of injuries, most notably to Andre Johnson.

That being said, I think the biggest differences between the two is 1. Rosenfels needing to reduce his interceptions (lots of good QBs can do this over time, see e.g. Favre, Eli, Romo but some never learn); 2. Rosenfels' technique isn't as consistent as Schaub's. Over time, consistent technique allows you to improve and makes the players around you better because they know where you are in the pocket, and it doesn't break down under nerves and pressure.

I have no regrets at all about the Schaub trade here and now. I think a three years down the road analysis point is where we need to look. Schaub performed admirably in his first year in this system. Assuming he stays healthy and gets an actual running game, I see him as a top QB in the league given how well he played in his first year in the system.

Thanks all for reading and commenting. Especially @2,3&5 because we need that sort of thing here. :)
-Steph

3-25-2008 @ 1:47PM

Thomas Hilton said...

Steph,

Good topic. I for one never really felt they were going to put Sage on the trading block for anything less than a second-round pick. I could be wrong. The Texans may change their minds, but I remember someone writing that Kubiak is trying to accumulate as many draft picks as possible, since we don't have a 2nd-rounder and we already gave up a 6th-rounder for the guy from Denver. It's also unusual for Kubiak to keep three QB's on the full-time roster. To be honest, I am not real sure what the game plan is, but I'm sure he and Smith have something up their sleeves. Quinn is very familiar with the Denver system, so I am not sure why they would keep Quinn and Sage? I just can't believe Quinn signed for so little and for just one year. I think he's a fine QB. Usually on draft day, teams start to get antsy and nervous and you can usually get more for a player on that day than you can when the team has time to actually sit down and think about it. Maybe that's what the Texans are hoping for? Really nice insight, Steph. Thanks.

-TH

3-26-2008 @ 4:33PM

Ted Striker said...

Hmm. The plot has indeed thickened. I can't conceive of the Texans getting less than a third rounder, since that's (allegedly) where the Vikes started the bidding. A 2nd would be almost too good to be true, considering what sort of DE/NT/CB could be had at that point in the draft.

I hope that management has put a very obvious "For Sale" sign around Rosie's neck, lest they wait around too long and get a fraction of his worth.

4-02-2008 @ 4:30PM

You can call me nobody with a brain because this is starting to look over.