The question everyone on the Ridge wants to know is, will Paradise High School product Jeff Maehl make the Houston Texans' 53-man roster?
Maehl's fate, whether it's on the waiver wire, the actual roster or the practice squad, will be revealed at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) today.
The former Bobcat performed well - albeit with one mistake on fourth down - in his final test Thursday night in Minnesota against the Vikings. Sure, the Texans lost 28-0, but Maehl, a 2007 Paradise graduate, hauled in a preseason-high four passes for 25 yards, which was the most catches of any Houston receiver that night.
Maehl also has numbers on his side after second-year wide out Dorin Dickerson announced his release from the team via Twitter.com yesterday, and Trindon Holliday is expected to be cut today, the Chronicle reported.
The Texans disputed Dickerson's claim that he was released, saying that no cuts were made on Friday. The team said it would announce its roster moves today.
Bryant Johnson, the lone veteran in the mix for the fourth and fifth receiver spots, appears to be a shoo-in after Thursday's performance.
The former Arizona Cardinal and Detroit Lion, who was a first-round draft choice in 2003, caught three passes for 64 yards against the Vikings.
"We just gave him a few days and obviously he went in and made a few plays," Houston head coach Gary Kubiak said via the Texans website. "I think he had three or four catches, but he can help us. He's a veteran
player and he's been successful in this league. I think we've been missing that throughout camp with so many young receivers. We'll go back to see how he played, but I think he should be able to help us."
If that's the case and Johnson, 30 is on the team, then Maehl is fighting Terrence Toliver, Trindon Holliday and Derrick Townsel for the fifth and final wide receiver spot.
Townsel started with Johnson and recorded 2 catches for 24 yards, while Holliday, by far the smallest of any Houston receiver including Maehl, made 1 reception for 14 yards.
"The key is when you're putting 53 guys together, you got to keep good football players," Kubiak said. "You may go light in one spot and heavy in one spot. It's a long season. A lot of things have to come into account as you're putting a team together. It's a tough day today letting players go, making it even tougher over the course of the next 24 hours trying to make some more tough decisions and trying to see where you're going to go next with your football team."
Maehl is a good football player; Houston wide receivers coach Larry Kirksey said, following the San Francisco game. With the exception of one mistake, Maehl proved it on Thursday.
Late in the fourth quarter with the Texans (3-1) looking to grace the scoreboard for the first time, Maehl caught his fourth pass on third down and made a move to set up a fourth-and-three at the Minnesota 47-yard line. The next play Yates found Maehl again, but this time the former Bobcat three-sport star dropped the ball that would have picked up a first down.
"We played hard but we just played pretty sloppy. We turned the ball over on offense and had over a 100 yards in penalties and obviously lost contain on defense. If those things are happening you're not going to win in this league," Kubiak said.
"Looking at the big picture, it's been a good training camp and we got a lot of film to go look at. On the plane these guys have got a lot of tough decisions to make but we did give everybody a good chance to play, so that is the most important."
Whether or not that translates into a roster spot for Maehl remains to be seen.
One thing's for certain, though; Maehl and the Ridge will be sitting on the edge of its seat waiting to hear the news.
Any rookie who makes a 53-man NFL roster earns a minimum salary of $375,000 a year, according to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The CBA also stated that seven- to nine-year veterans can sign for a league minimum of $810,000, which is what Johnson will collect if he makes the team. Ten-year veterans earn a minimum $910,000, the CBA reported.
All practice squad players take home $5,200 a week, which totals just over $100,000 a season.
In 2006-07, the year Maehl graduated from Paradise, practice squad players earned $4,700 a week. The practice squad is formed one day after the 53-man roster on Sept. 4.
Rick Silva contributed to this report.
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