End of the (Texans) Road for Dunta

On Wednesday, the Houston Texans decided not to put the Franchise tag on Cornerback Dunta Robinson and allow him to hit the free agent market. While the decision was announced today, I am sure it was made months ago.  Dunta is a talent, not doubt.  In his 6 year career, he has put up some great numbers overall.  13 interception, 394 tackles are great numbers.  Look at Nnamdi Asomugha's numbers in 7 years: 11 interceptions, 291 tackles.  At face value, you would think Dunta was 100% justified in wanting more money.  Let's take a closer look at those numbers.

6 of Dunta's interceptions came in his rookie year as did 87 of those tackles.  A great year, but he did nothing close to that in the following 5 years.  Of course stats don't tell the entire story, for much of the time Dunta was in a Texans uniform, he had little help in the secondary so that left plenty of other targets for opposing quarterbacks to throw to.  His best year was when he had Aaron Glenn on the other side of the field.

My concern is that in the past few years, Dunta was not feared.  Pre- and especially post-injury he seemed to get routinely beat on plays and seemingly out of position allowing gains in critical situations.  

• When in key situations your "shutdown" corner is getting thrown at, you know something is wrong.  
• When your #1 CB would get Pass Interference calls on seemingly every deep ball thrown his way, you know something is wrong.
• When the Rams are abusing your #1 CB, you know something is wrong.

Combine all that with Dunta's infamous "Pay Me Rick" incident to start the 2009-2010 season, the writing was on the wall.  Declining play and bad attitude doesn't make for good times.  The fact is Dunta was never the same player he was his rookie year.  It was like in his 3rd or 4th year, teams decided to test him and see what the hype was about and found out it was all hype at that point.  I shed no tears for Dunta, he is a very rich man who will be overpaid by some team out there.  But, it is a shame that in Houston he will be known for "Pay Me Rick" and not that outstanding rookie year. 

Comments

[Jason Kwong]

Well, to compare Dunta to someone who has the reputation of being the best cover corner in the game isn't fair, and we discussed it privately, but here's why:

#1 - Nnamdi is a unique person in the NFL. Here's someone at the top of his game, playing a position that has the reputation of having diva-like characters as stars and idols, and you couldn't find someone that is the opposite. He has a bachelors in Economics from Cal, a spokesperson for the United Way, and he donates his time and money to help kids in the inner-city by taking them on college tours.

#2 - When Nnamdi was franchised, he never complained. Al Davis ended up giving him the highest paid contract for a defensive secondary position.

#3 - Rookie years should never be the end-all be-all when discussing someone's career or future. Especially when looking at corners, how many people are tested their first year. Also, look at Antonio Cromartie, a mega-hyped superstar who is already being touted as trade bait. I like to look at the first 3 years, if players even get that far.