We have not closed any doors. We'll be visiting with all the top players, including Vince Young. |
We just felt that the man who could really fill our bill was Gary. The thing that really capped it for me was the job Gary did with Jake Plummer. |
We need the input of all 32 owners, that is critical. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves and interview candidates before we define the position. It's difficult, it takes a lot of thought and effort to think about where you want to be in the future as a league. |
We signed the contract this morning, so it's time for him to go to work. |
We started out studying the offensive players, and now we're studying the defensive players. Like Bush and Young, Williams is a unique athlete. We believe he is capable of having as much an impact on the defense as Bush would the offense. He is such a dominating player that he can play anywhere up and down the line. |
We talked to a number of really outstanding coaches. As we went forward, it became obvious to us that there was one person who really fit our situation. We've said that we're going to build a championship team here in Houston, and we knew in order to do that we had to have people of championship caliber. |
We think he's just as dominant a player on defense as Reggie is on offense. The thing we've been missing has been a pass rush. The bigger short-term impact on our team would be more with a running back. But Mario Williams could play for 10 or 12 years, and he may be the next Reggie White. Green Bay had Brett Favre , but they won a championship when they got Reggie White. |
We thought that $100,000 or $200,000 wasn't enough. We thought this was more appropriate. |
We want to see improvement every year. That didn't happen this year. |
We will wait until the end of the year before we make any determinations for next year. None of us are happy with the performance of our team this year. We're all disappointed. It's very frustrating. |
We'll get together this week and get all that wrapped up. |
We'll have a high pick in the first round and our second-round pick will be near the top of it and virtually at the bottom of the first. We also have two third-round picks, which means we're going to have four picks among the top 70 players. I think those four picks can have a significant impact. |
We're a very large enterprise now. It will be difficult to find a CEO with a strong-enough football background, and a football person with a strong-enough business background. We need to keep growing and expanding. |
We're going to look at any and all options. Whether it's keeping the pick or trading or whatever. |
We've had some difficulty in getting our passing game to the level that we would like to have it. Gary has the philosophy of always being aggressive — always attacking. |