Everything you need to know about Houston Texans 2021 free agency
One of the holiday seasons of the interminable NFL offseason is upon football fans as free agency commences this week.
All 32 NFL teams will face the same challenge of over seven percent of their salary cap space missing due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. The 2020 salary cap was $198.2 million, but the loss in revenue pushed the cap down to $182.5 million. Factor in the Houston Texans were already in cap trouble from the Bill O’Brien regime, and their 2021 prospects weren’t so hot.
As new general manager Nick Caserio gets ready to turn around a 4-12 team and assemble a capable roster for rookie coach David Culley, here is everything Texans fans need to know about 2021 free agency.
When does free agency start?
Courtesy — Houston Texans
Technically, it begins at 3:00 p.m. Central Time on March 17. At that point, all of the trade agreements, contract agreements, and tenders become official. However, on March 15 at 11:00 a.m. Central Time, the Texans can talk to unrestricted free agents and enter negotiations with their agents. Here is a list of other housekeeping items that take place on March 17.
All 2020 contracts expire.
The Texans have to be under $182.5 million on the salary cap.
The Texans can submit qualifying offers to restricted free agents with expiring contracts if they desire to retain a right of first refusal and compensation. Houston's restricted free agents are DT P.J. Hall, CB A.J. Moore, and TE Pharaoh Brown.
The Texans must submit a minimum salary tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to players with expiring contracts who have fewer than three accrued seasons of free agency credit.
2. Why is the salary cap lower?
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The results of the COVID-19 lockdowns, chiefly due to the loss of fan attendance at games, is the primary reason for the reduction of $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million in 2021. The $15.7 million downturn is better than the nearly $70 million that was feared in July of 2020. "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 CBA operates the way the CBA is going to operate." As a result, this is the salary cap the NFL is working with.
3. Is free agency more difficult in 2021?
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Caserio told "Payne & Pendergast" on Sports Radio 610 on March 12 that honesty will be the best policy when it comes to negotiating with players amid a downturn in the salary cap that affects all 32 teams. "The reality is just try to be honest as possible, and you're not trying to hide anything, and I think some people understand more than others," Caserio said. "You probably don't give enough credit to the other side. They may be looking at it the same way you're looking at it, and saying, 'All right, you know what, maybe this really doesn't quite make sense.' "If there's a mutual interest, then you can probably reach a resolution. By the same token, if it's something that you don't feel is going to work for both sides, no problem. We understand that. You might have to move on from the player." The lower salary cap isn't a mystery to the players, and it is a challenge both sides have to work with if they seek to form a partnership.
4. Who could the Texans target?
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
In the same interview on Sports Radio 610, Caserio revealed that the Texans' strategy in free agency will be to build quality depth, not so much hit a home run with a big name signing. "We're going to have to make sound decisions I would say, not to oversimplify it, but if we can meat-and-potatoes, hit some singles and doubles, try to improve the depth of our team, try to create as much competition as possible, really that's probably the most rational strategy," said Caserio. "It doesn't mean if we see a player that we think is to a point that we think he can help us and have an impact, we'll always look at that. But just to understand that if you do that, it's going to come at the expense of three other players. "So, what's the risk-reward, what's the tradeoff relative to the value that we're going to get from that player? So, I would say those are the things in our mind, in my mind, kind of how we're approaching it and how we're viewing it." If a splash does happen, it could be in the draft.
4. How much salary cap space do the Texans have?
(AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
According to ESPN's Field Yates, the Texans have $26,738,669 in salary cap space, the 12th-most in the NFL. That isn't bad for a team that was over the cap heading into the offseason and didn't have their first and second-round picks to show. Although, it did take the release of DE J.J. Watt, who would cost $17.5 million, to get near that number. Houston is also wasting $4,567,819 in dead money due to the releases of S Jaylen Watkins, G Senio Kelemete, C Nick Martin, and the trade of ILB Benardrick McKinney.
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