Tag: Texans salary cap

Texans restructure contract of WR Brandin Cooks

The Houston Texans have restructured the contract of receiver Brandin Cooks, saving them $6.53 million in salary cap space.

New general manager Nick Caserio is finding ways to create salary cap space and gather at least one resource to help the Houston Texans recover from their 4-12 finish in 2020.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Texans have restructured the contract of receiver Brandin Cooks, creating $6.53 million in salary cap space for the Texans, who entered the 2021 offseason over the salary cap.

For the Texans, it means they are starting to create salary cap room to possibly make a move in free agency. Of course, given what led to the 4-12 record that cost coach and general manager Bill O’Brien his job, the Texans have a bevy of areas to fill on the roster, and it would take a monumental amount of salary cap space to sign the necessary number of free agents to fix the problem.

Cooks led the Texans with 81 catches for 1,150 yards. His six receiving touchdowns were second only to Will Fuller’s eight.

Taking a closer look at C Justin Britt’s 1-year contract with the Texans

The Houston Texans signed center Justin Britt to a 1-year contract. Here is a breakdown of the former Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman’s deal.

The Houston Texans signed former Seattle Seahawks center Justin Britt to a one-year contract.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the breakdown of the $3.2 million contract has a $1.5 million base salary with a $500,000 signing bonus.

The contract also includes a $1.2 million per-game active roster bonus with a $75,000 rate. The salary cap figure is $2 million, but the contract also has incentives that can raise the total value of the deal to $5 million.

The Texans are searching for solutions at center after cutting former 2016 second-round pick Nick Martin, who had been a stalwart at the position with 62 games started at center since 2017.

Britt hasn’t played since 2019 when he logged eight games. His season was cut short with a knee injury, and he was released by the Seahawks in April of 2020. The Green Bay Packers tried him out in early September, and the Kansas City Chiefs tried him out in late January.

Report: NFL salary cap at $182.5 million in 2021

The NFL salary cap will be $182.5 million in 2021, a decrease from 2020.

The NFL salary cap was expected to decline in 2021, and now the official figures have been released.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the salary cap for the 2021 season will be $182.5 million, down from $198.2 million in 2020.

The numbers for the 2021 salary cap were based on the revenue generated during the 2020 season, which saw inequities in stadium attendance with some cities allowing fans at a reduced capacities and some cities not allowing fans at all.

“[The] salary cap is this year what the salary cap is this year because it was based on a projection from last year’s revenue,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters on July 17, 2020. “Next year’s salary cap will be projected on revenue this year if nothing happens, if the [collective bargaining agreement] operates the way the CBA is going to operate.”

For the salary cap-strapped Houston Texans, a drop in the salary cap is not what they needed as they seek to rebuild from a 4-12 season without their first and second-round picks to use.

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Texans restructure contract of RB David Johnson

The Houston Texans have restructured the contract of former All-Pro running back David Johnson.

The Houston Texans have reached an agreement with a former All-Pro to get the last year of his contract more manageable for the team’s salary cap.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans have reached an agreement with running back David Johnson to restructure the final year of his contract.

Johnson, who was in the last year of a three-year, $39 million deal he signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, was slated to make $8.5 million in 2021. The Texans could have cut Johnson, and it would have cost them $2.1 million in dead money against their salary cap space.

Houston lowered the former 2015 third-round pick’s salary cap figure to $6 million with $4.25 million guaranteed at signing.

Johnson was hardly a bargain following the trading of three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals. The 6-1, 224-pound running back tallied 691 yards and six touchdowns on 147 carries while catching 33 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns through 12 games, all of which he started. Of the four Johnson missed, one was due to being a COVID-19 close contact, and the other three were part of being placed on injured reserve for a concussion following the Texans’ Week 9 win at Jacksonville.

The Texans released running back Duke Johnson last week yet re-signed running backs Dontrell Hilliard and Buddy Howell.

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Texans cut center Nick Martin; save $6.25 million in salary cap space

The Houston Texans have released starting center Nick Martin.

The Houston Texans announced Friday they have released starting center Nick Martin.

The move will cost the Texans $2.5 million in dead money against the salary cap, but saves the team $6.25 million.

Martin was due $8.75 million in 2021. The former 2016 second-round pick from Notre Dame missed only two games in his four seasons with the Texans.

The 27-year-old had a down year in 2020 as his bad snaps in December may have cost the Texans some games, although it is unfair to pin Houston’s disastrous 4-12 season entirely on those snaps. However, they were part of the mosaic of failure and missed opportunity that comprised Houston’s disappointing finish.

Martin was hoping to use the bad season in 2020 as motivation to turn the Texans around in 2021.

“There’s no doubt it’s motivation,” Martin told reporters on Jan. 4. “We’ve made the playoffs and we know we have the taste of playoffs and that’s the goal is to get back there and continue to win games. Not making it, it hurts. But it’s been, as everyone knows out there, an incredibly tough year. A year of, when you reflect, you learn a lot about yourself, about your teammates.

“One thing I’m so proud of this team is the way we fought. We easily could have packed it in weeks ago. We didn’t. We fought every game. We scratched, we clawed and obviously we didn’t get the outcome we wanted because at the end of the day people chalk it up wins and losses and that’s how you’re measured. But we definitely fought, and that’s just a testament to the guys in this locker room and on this team.”

Martin will have to continue the fight in another NFL city as the Texans continue to reshuffle their roster in attempt to have a fresh, optimistic start with general manager Nick Caserio and coach David Culley.

Report: Texans intend to keep RB David Johnson

The Houston Texans would like to keep running back David Johnson, who has a salary cap figure of $8.5 million in 2021.

The Houston Texans got rid of one Johnson at running back, but they may be keeping the other for the 2021 season.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans want to keep running back David Johnson, even though he will count $8.5 million against the team’s salary cap in 2021. The former 2016 All-Pro carried 147 times for 691 yards and six touchdowns and caught 33 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns through 12 games, the second-fewest of his career.

If the Texans were to keep Johnson, they would need to find a way to lower his salary cap hit. Johnson is still under contract with Houston through 2021. It would cost the club $2.1 million in dead money to cut him before or after June 1. A trade would get Houston out of his contract, but Bill O’Brien is Alabama’s offensive coordinator, not an NFL general manager anywhere.

Johnson, a former Arizona Cardinals 2015 third-round pick, will turn 30 years old on Dec. 16.