Well it's official, 100 million dollars and 6 years and Mario is gone. Can't blame him for taking that money and if you hold that against him... it's 100 million who wouldn't take that? After John McClain's horrible report he helped give Texans fans a false hope that Mario would actually consider staying even after hitting the open market which everyone knew if he did he would be the highest paid defensive player in history and the Texans can't compete with the crazy salary caps with teams like the Bills have. When Mario was drafted by the Texans 1st overall in 2006 every single fan criticized the Texans passing up Houston native Vince Young and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. That decision is no longer questioned, not in Houston. It will be hard for Texans fans to say goodbye as now that he is gone, it will take sometime to let that sink in now that he is gone.
When Mario Williams came to Houston even though he was the number 1 overall pick he had alot to prove to Houston fans. Being a number 1 overall pick as a defensive player is even more stressful as he had to prove to all the Houston fans why he was chosen over Vince Young who also got around the same rookie contract as Mario getting 5 years around 50 million. Mario was seen as a superstar around the league and nationally but it seemed here he wasn't a superstar but just a really great defensive player. It could be argued that he was never considered one of the faces of this franchise, that being Andre Johnson and Arian Foster along with Matt Schaub and arguably Brian Cushing and now JJ Watt. During Mario's 5 years here in Houston he holds the teams all time sack record with 53, and the single season sack record with 14, the teams all time tackle record with 241 all in 6 seasons but in a 89 game span missing 11 games last season and 3 the year before. Mario proved himself to Houston fans as he showed himself as a freak of nature on the defensive side of the ball. Others will argue Mario would just get some sacks and seem to take some plays off. That was the view of a few fans and only a few. Saying goodbye to Mario is hard because for a guy thats drafted 1st overall to a team is a guy that usually finishes
his career in the city that drafted him. It is not Houston's fault for not locking him up earlier to a contract extension as he got hurt the past two seasons. Those circumstances really where just not normal and put the Texans in a hard spot, they tried to lock him up this year but they where up against the cap and having let go of a lot of free agents in the hope of being able to resign him but it was clear to most Texan fans that this was the end of the Mario Williams era. Sure this defense was top 5 in the NFL without him this past season but you cannot argue that with him it would've even been better. It will be hard to say goodbye to Mario as it is a tough pill to swallow and now that he is gone we appreciate what we took for granted once it's gone. Mario Williams legacy in Houston will now go unfinished, it will not be looked as tarnished since he took the mega contract, but it will be looked at as the legacy that never finished. He will never be a part of the Texans in the playoffs, or their hopeful Super Bowl run, he was a big star stuck in the losing era of the Texans and part of the dead last ranked defense. Now Mario will be joining another atrocious defense with the Bills, but we will see how he does going back to his old position of defensive end, it will be hard and weird to see him in another uniform. We are going to miss you Mario.
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