Monday, January 09, 2006

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Domanick?


One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes was on tonight. George was trying to retrieve some incendiary messages that he'd left on a new fling's answer machine, leading to he and Jerry deciding on a password. They debate which song to pick ("lemon tree" being the title that George resorts to in a panic a few moments later) and briefly discuss "How do you solve a problem like Maria." For some reason, I immediately started thinking about next spring's NFL Draft. You can see how these go hand and hand, right? Regardless, reports have been made in recent days that the Texans plan to stay the course by taking Reggie Bush with the first pick of the 2006 NFL Draft. This makes sense, considering he's Superman in pads. And there is a case to be made that David Carr is worth keeping around. But what do you do with Domanick Davis? He's arguably one of the ten best running backs in the league. He's young and relatively cheap. How do you solve a problem like Domanick? Discuss.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why not just keep him and Reggie both? I don't see how it is a "problem" as you have described. Bush is going to be sick, but he's only 200 pounds. It is easy to imagine him being dinged up and it would serve the Texans well to have a good backup. Just look at the Packers this year - they went through about 5 running backs. I say keep Davis and enjoy the fact that you have two good running backs.

Adam Hoff said...

Well, I suppose they could do that. Davis is injury prone as well, so maybe that would work. However, I think they have to move him. Here is why:

1. Top value. You never want to leave value sitting on the bench, not when your team sucks horribly. They need a #2 receiver, they need defense, and they need a whole new offensive line. Davis is good enough to fetch something in return. Why not take advantage of that? I would look to move him to a team with a good power runner that is in need of a versatile running back or just needs a new running back altogether. The Jets would be a good fit. The Vikings seem perfect. He would be great in Arizona. There are places they can go with a trade.

2. The biggest reason this wouldn't work is that Davis would probably be unhappy. Two years ago, when he stayed healthy and played 15 games, he went for over 1,700 yards from scrimmage with 14 TD's. He's not going to want to ride pine.

3. They don't need him as a backup. They have Jonathan Wells (and Vernan Morency) to do that. Not only that, Wells is a between-the-tackles runner that will be a much better change of pace with Bush.

4. One of Davis' best skills is that he's a good receiver out of the backfield and is terrific on third down. However, Bush is even better. Again, Davis is kind of like a poor man's Bush. All of their skills overlap. There is no place for him on this roster.

See, they have to trade him,

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm convinced. I forgot all about Wells. You are right, he is the perfect backup running back.

Do you really think Davis has that much trade value though? It wasn't a very good year for "third down" style running backs in the NFL, so I'm not sure a team would want to build an offense around a guy like him. No way would you get starting lineman for him and even a #2 reciever or stud defensive player seems unlikely. Nobody likes to trade for running backs in the NFL anyway. The reason is because you can always find guys like Davis (or Samkon Gado, Willy Parker, etc.) deep in the draft or just floating around somewhere.

I'm on board with you in philosophy, but I just don't think they can get all that much for him.

Adam Hoff said...

You might be right. I think there is a home for Dom Davis, but perhaps you are on to something. The Texans could always try to find someone that really, really wants Bush (the Jets maybe?) and is willing to pay a Ricky Williams level fee for the rights to him. They could bring in players and draft picks and do what the Cowboys did in the early 90's when they traded Hershel Walker to the Vikings.