Houston Texans Trade Mark Ingram to New Orleans Saints

Wednesday afternoon multiple reports came out that Houston and New Orleans had agreed to terms on a trade that would send veteran runningback Mark Ingram from Houston to his old stomping grounds New Orleans. Houston had a glut of runningback depth with five backs on the active roster prior to this trade. New Orleans was short handed on runningback depth. Essentially this could be classified as a “win win” for both sides.

The trade terms have been revealed today with details as follows: Houston received a 2024 7th round pick. Essentially a contract dump to avoid paying the salary if Ingram was released.

Houston signed Mark Ingram early in the free agency process since Ingram was a street free agent. Head Coach David Culley was very familiar with Ingram’s work and character after spending time together in Baltimore. By most accounts this signing was as much about veteran leadership, culture, and a locker room rebuild as it was for performance. Teams generally do not sign 31 year runningbacks for their potential performance.

To facilitate the trade and to assist New Orleans with their tight cap situation, Ingram signed a 1 year extension including a $250,000 signing bonus (to be paid by Houston). New Orleans will now only have to pay 11 weeks of pro-rated $1.075 million base salary for 2021. Ingram is set to earn a $300,000 roster bonus in 2022 along with a non-guaranteed salary and $500,000 in per game bonuses. Details of the contract restructure provided by Field Yates of ESPN.

The trade was surprising for some, including myself, given how much Culley’s valued Ingram’s leadership and presence on and off the field. Suspect that New Orleans reached out the Houston on Ingram’s availability, and as with Caserio on this rebuild almost every player on the roster is available via trade.

Some have speculated that Caserio had alternative motives in signing such a large veteran free agent group as opposed to signing a large undrafted free agent class. The thought is that Caserio may try to flip some of the players for draft picks. Caserio has shown, early in his tenure, that he is willing to spend cash for draft picks (see Randall Cobb, Shaq Lawson, Bradley Roby).

Update (as of 3:30 pm CST) the New Orleans Saints tweeted a video of Ingram’s explanation of the trade. It is interesting to note that Houston approached Ingram and gave him the opportunity to make the choice. This was not a team directed move to just move a player for draft assets.

Houston Texans Release Veterans Whitney Mercilus & Andre Roberts

Houston Texans’ General Manager has resumed his shuffling of the poorly built Houston Texans roster with the reported releases of veterans Whitney Mericilus (DE) and Andre Roberts (WR), as reported by Aaron Wilson. Head Coach David Culley did not mince words in this morning’s press meeting raising concerns about player discipline and attitude on and off the field. The release of Mercilus and Roberts was the first clear signal that no player’s roster spot is safe.

Mercilus’ contract is one of the major contract blunders of the Bill O’Brien era when the team gave Mercilus a 4 year extension worth $54 million with a stout $28.5 million guaranteed ($18 million guaranteed at signing). The team went away from their model by giving Mercilus an year early vesting on his 2021 salary. Mercilus’ performance was already starting to decline before this extension was signed. And that decline carried over into 2020 on into 2021.

New GM Nick Caserio adjusted Mercilus’s contract to gain cap space for 2021, by shifting money to the 2022 salary cap. In March, $6 million of Mercilus’ scheduled $10.5 million base salary was converted to signing bonus for salary cap purposes. This move saved the team $2.9 million in 2021 cap dollars at the time. However this shifted dead money to 2022. The team also added a void clause to the contract for the 2022 league year. The team was and is still scheduled to have a $7 million dead money charge in 2022 (originally would have been $3 million).

The Texans will take on a $8 million dead money charge for 2021, along with the aforementioned $7 million in 2022. The only savings is a $617k roster bonus that Mercilus would have earned for being active for 17 games. The $4.5 million guaranteed salary for 2021 is subject to offset. Houston will gain a cap credit, in 2022, on any cash Mercilus earns with another team in 2021.

The late evening player release is likely Houston’s way of trying to sniff out a late day 3 trade compensation for Mercilus’ contract. The transaction will not become official until 3pm tomorrow (Oct 19). If a team were to trade for Mercilus, that would free up $3.176 million from Houston’s salary cap, and would also represent the amount of salary the receiving team would be on the hook for. Unlikely at this point another team picks up the contract via trade.

Houston also reportedly released Andre Roberts WR/KR. Roberts was a member of the historically large free agent class of 2021. Roberts was signed to a 2 year $5.5 million contract with $2.5 million guaranteed. Injuries, fumbles, and poor performance appears to be the main driver for this release. The release will leave a $2 million dead money charge in 2021 and $500,000 dead money charge in 2022. The release will provide the Texans with a $570k cap savings in 2021.

Expect Houston to remain busy the next two weeks leading up to the November 2 trade deadline as the team does have a few potential trade assets as Caserio continues to remake this roster in his vision for the future.

Houston Texans – Maneuvering the 2021 Salary Cap

With the 2020 regular season having come to a close for the Houston Texans (as well any 2020 game for Houston finished), all eyes now move towards the 2021 offseason. The organization is looking to hire a new General Manager and Head Coach. The new regime will be tasked with rebuilding the roster, along with repairing the team salary cap. Copious amounts of damage left behind from the short lived Bill O’Brien GM era. The team has two savings factors for any incoming front office: Deshaun Watson and quality book end offensive tackles.

For this article we will use $176 million as the league salary cap for the numbers. Unfortunately, the league will not announce the league cap until the middle of March. This generally occurs a few days prior to the start of the new league year. The 2021 league year begins at 4pm EST on March 17, 2021. The annual team adjustment is unknown at this point, expect that information to be leaked by media in the coming weeks.

2021 Cap Space

The team has recently completed the signing of future’s contracts, leaving the team with 54 number of player contracts for 2021 on the books; expectations are more future contracts are coming this week. With the 54 contracts, the team currently has approximately $202.98 million (Top 51 rule) in cap commitments for 2021. The team will roll over approximately $9.6 million of remaining 2020 cap dollars over to 2021. Absent the annual adjustment, the Texans will have approximately ($17.73) million, yes negative, in cap space to begin the offseason. While the team is currently projected over the salary cap, the need to be cap compliant is not due until March 17. There are available roster moves to get the team within compliance.


The new regime will examine the roster top to bottom for potential savings or adjustment. With any new regime, this means almost every player is available for some sort of transaction, the new front office will be not “married” to any player. At this point the only untouchable players are Deshaun Watson (QB), Laremy Tunsil (OT) and Tytus Howard (OT). As with any new General Managers it is difficult to project potential roster management without a clear history to reference.

The Texans finished the 2020 league year as the top team in cash spending on the roster, spending just over $250 million. This is a rare place for Houston as the team is generally in the bottom third of cash spending year over year. The heavy cash spending in 2020 could lead to a pull back of spending in 2021 to assist in balancing out the salary cap.

The 2021 league year will need to be a year of low cost veteran contracts and cost controlled rookies or 1/2 year experience players on minimum deals. The team has limited draft capital, and will likely sign a large undrafted class in hopes of landing 1 or 2 prospects.

Pending Free Agents

The Texans have a large group of pending free agents, however only a few players are heavy contributors for playing time. Below is the list of free agents and an opinion on how the team may proceed.

Resign (UFA)

  • Will Fuller (WR) – Fuller was well on his way to a career season before receiving a 6 game suspension from the league for performance enhancing drugs. Fuller played the 2020 season on the 5th year option of his rookie contract. Heading into a down cap year coupled with a strong wide receiver draft class, and given Fuller’s injury history; makes for a difficult projection on Fuller. The team likely would make an offer of two years at $11-13m APY and let Fuller explore the market. This value is down from initial projections of Fuller topping $14+ million APY.
  • Tyrell Adams (ILB) – Adams stepped in as the starting linebacker when Bernard McKinney was placed on season ending injured reserve. Adams has been adequate in his performance, despite his career high in snap counts. Adams played on a minimum level contract. Suspect Adams will need to accept a similar contract for 2021.
  • Roderick Johnson (OT) – The league is short on offensive linemen, but in a cost controlled cap year this will work against Johnson. Houston should bring back Johnson on a one year contract to compete with Charlie Heck as the OT3. This will be difficult for Houston with Johnson’s solid two game audition at the end of the season. Very likely he is signed elsewhere to compete for a starting job.

Let Walk (UFA)

  • Vernon Hargreaves (CB)
  • Gareon Conley (CB) – Unless new front office has change of heart.
  • Carlos Watkins (DL)
  • Jon Weeks (LS) – retirement?
  • Brennan Scarlett (Edge)
  • Phillip Gaines (CB)
  • Brent Qvale (OG)
  • Michael Thomas (S)
  • Dylan Cole (ILB)
  • A.J. McCarron (QB)
  • Kyle Emanuel (LB)

Restricted Free Agents

ROFR (right of first refusal) tentatively worth $2,133,000.

  • P.J. Hall (DT) – Attempt to resign at minimum level contract.
  • A.J. Moore (S) – ROFR tender to evaluate his continued development.
  • Pharaoh Brown (TE) – Attempt to resign at minimum level contract.
  • Buddy Howell (RB) – No resign.
  • Dontrell Hilliard (RB) – No resign.
  • Cornell Armstrong (CB/ST) – Resign at minimum level contract.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents

ERFA’s are prohibited from negotiating with other teams until March 17, 2021. The team will need to sign/tender the player by this date. Expect the team to tender all ERFA’s.

  • Geno Stone (S)

Proven Performance Escalator

Justin Reid (S) and Jordan Akins (TE) received a salary increase for playing time under the proven performance escalator; Reid received the Level 2 increase and Akins received the Level 1 increase. The Texans do not have any other 2018 draft picks eligible for the PPE.


If the above player re-signings and salary adjustments are completed the team will have (x) contracts on the 2021 cap with ($x) available in cap space. Now we turn our attention to ways the team can shed cap and cash for the 2021 league year. Cap savings listed after gross savings, not net after Top 51 replacement.

Potential Releases (amounts do not reflect net savings under Top 51 rule)

  • Benardrick McKinney (ILB) – McKinney still has plenty of talent, this release would be characterized as cap casualty. The team extended Zach Cunningham in 2020, making it difficult to keep McKinney on the roster at his current rate. The team could explore resigning McKinney at a lower rate. Release saves $7.0 million in cap and $7.75 million in cash.
  • David Johnson (RB) – Johnson has $2.1 million in salary guarantees for 2021. With a release the team would gain a cap credit in 2022 on that money if Johnson earns cash from another team in the 2021 league year. Release saves $6.9 million in cap and cash.
  • Zach Fulton (OG) – Fulton had another down year in performance in 2020 after taking a pay cut in the 2020 offseason. Release saves $3.0 million in cap and cash.
  • Duke Johnson (RB) – The team never utilized Johnson correctly after sending a 3rd round pick to Cleveland in 2019. Release saves $5.15 million in cap and cash.
  • Brandon Dunn (DL) – This contract was another Bill O’Brien special, over valuing Dunn at $4 million APY in February 2020. Dunn’s performance has not lived up to the contract. Release saves $3.25 million in cap & $3.75 million in cash.

The team could also look at veterans Senio Kelemete (OG) and Darren Fells (TE) for potential release. However both contracts have minimal savings when compared to replacement cost.

Potential Trades

  • J.J. Watt (DE) – The elephant in the room. The new front office will have a critical decision on their hands with one of the faces of the franchise. Watt is due $17.5 million in 2021 with no guarantees remaining. Watt will likely be looking for a contract extension regardless of which team he is on in 2021. 2020 will be Watt’s second full season of work in 5 years, and is 31 years of age. Dealing Watt for a draft pick would likely bring back a mid/late 2nd round pick. If the team plans to retain Watt, then an extension is needed to lower Watt’s $17.5 million cap charge for 2021. Trade saves $17.5 million in cap and cash.

Potential Extensions & Restructures

The team does not have any potential contract extension players beyond Justin Reid and Jordan Akins. The new general manager will likely expect both players to finish out their rookie contracts as the team builds their plans for 2022.

  • Brandin Cooks (WR) – As part of the 2020 trade for Cooks, Houston inherited the remaining years of Cooks’ contract. Cooks has zero dead money in his contract (currently), and is under contract through 2023. Houston could convert $9.0 million of his $12.0 million base salary to a signing bonus, creating $6.0 million in cap saving for 2020. However this move would increase Cooks’ 2022 and 2023 cap charges by $3.0 million each year respectively. The move would also create $6.0 million in dead money for 2022. This move likely would ensure Cooks is on the roster for 2021 and 2022.

Difficult Contracts

  • Whitney Mercilus (Edge) – Mercilus signed a large extension with Houston at the end of the 2019 season. The contract included an early vesting schedule for his 2021 salary, which is now fully guaranteed worth $10.5 million. Absent a retirement by Mercilus, the team would have to keep Mercilus on the roster for the 2021 season. Any kind of trade would need to include draft assets with it. Mercilus would quickly say no to any salary adjustment. This is an unfortunate contract left behind from the Bill O’Brien era, that the new front office will have to manage until 2022.
  • Nick Martin (C) – The Martin extension in 2018 was another over value by O’Brien. Martin is currently the 5th highest paid center in the league, based on APY. Martin grades out in the top 10 on pass blocking with PFF, however is near the bottom in run blocking. Martin does not have any guaranteed money remaining in his contract. The team could approach him about a salary adjustment, but when the team does that they need to be prepared to release the player if they quickly say no. A release of Martin just creates another hole on the roster that the team will need to fill with a free agent. Martin has been the center for all of Watson’s career. Release saves $6.25 million in cap and $7.5 million in cash.

What Does it All Mean?

If the above transactions are completed the team could realize a net cap savings of $29.74 million, placing the team near $12 million under the cap. This does not include any potential transaction with Nick Martin.

PlayerTransactionCap Created (mil)Cap Saved (mil)
W. FullerSign$11.00m
T. AdamsSign$0.95m
R. JohnsonSign$2.50m
P. HallSign$0.85m
A. MooreTender$2.13m
P. BrownSign$0.85m
G. StoneTender$0.78m
Total Created$19.06m
B. McKinneyRelease$7.00m
D. JohnsonRelease$6.90m
Z. FultonRelease$3.00m
Du. JohnsonRelease$5.15m
B. DunnRelease$3.25m
B. CooksRestructure$6.00m
J. WattTrade$17.50m
Total Saved$48.80
Net Savings$29.74
Houston Texans Potential Cap Savings

The the organization will need to manage the 2021 league year with low cost contracts via veteran minimums and rookie/low experience players as they rebuild the salary cap and roster for 2022. Absent the players listed above the core of the roster is well defined. Certain contracts are what they are, and will have to continue to utilize those players as best as can be done until they become moveable. This pertains to Whitney Mercilus, Randall Cobb, and Eric Murray.

-TC

Podcast #7 of The Zack Moore Show Notes

Today’s podcast breaks down the quarterback market after the first few days of free agency where we saw Brock Osweiler get a four-year, $72 million contract with Houston and the Broncos trade for Mark Sanchez on a one-year, $4.5 million contract with only $1 million guaranteed to replace him for the time being and where the Jets allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to test the market and he found no takers.

We had both ends of the spectrum, teams overspending on unproven quarterbacks like the Texans and teams like the Broncos and Jets sticking to the kind of run-first, defensive formula that the 2000 Ravens and 2013 Seahawks provided the blueprint for from a salary cap perspective.

Continue reading Podcast #7 of The Zack Moore Show Notes »

Texans 2015 Salary Cap Outlook

Estimated 2015 Cap Space: $8.6M ($140M cap limit)

Roster Overview

Players Under Contract: 60
Pro Bowlers: 2
Unrestricted Free Agents: 9(5 with 50%+ playtime)
Draft Selection: 16

Salary Cap Breakdown

Texans 2015 Salary Cap

Texans 2015 Salary Cap

Texans 2015 Salary Cap

Free Agents to Re-sign

I think that it’s a given the Texans will do what they can to re-sign tackle Derek Newton. They have worked hard to develop him and it seemed to come together last season for him.   At some point, perhaps this season, there will be a young QB on the roster and you don’t give these players up when that is the case. Mid tier money at the position is around $4 million…I don’t think Ryan Mallett will cost much to keep and he is at least worth exploring over camp and the preseason as a starting option. They were ready to give him the opportunity last season so it would make sense to do the same here. Brian Hoyer signed for less than $2 million with Cleveland when he was hoping for a job and I think this would not be much more expensive than that….Kendrick Lewis had a strong 2014 season and looks to be a mainstay of the secondary from this point forward. He should earn mid tier money which is around $5 million a season, a reasonable figure for what he can bring.

Free Agents to Let Walk

Kareem Jackson had a good season, but given some of the salaries that went into the position last year and lack of available talent he’ll be overpriced. If they believe he will continue to improve and want to move more veteran money around to sign him then they can do it but they are probably better off turning the position over…I think both Brooks Reed and the Texans would benefit from a mutual parting  of the ways. Reed never developed into a pass rusher and while he is versatile I believe they can find a better player by using his money elsewhere.

Contracts to Modify

This is the final year of Jonathan Joseph’s contract and he carries with it a $12.25M cap hit. Clearly that figure is never going to happen. This is the time to attempt to bring him down to the $6M salary range on an extension…Depending on what the team plans in free agency it is obvious that reworking JJ Watts contract will be discussed. He has a $21.969M cap hit this year which can easily be lowered, but if Houston can get through this season with him at that number they will have one of the great bargains in the NFL for the next four or five years…

Players to Consider Releasing

Andre Johnson wasn’t happy with the Texans last season and his production began decline. He’ll be 34 years old and the team frees up nearly $9 million in cap room by moving on. Johnson should still have some trade value provided he is willing to rework his contract, but if not it is probably best to release him and move on rather than overpaying him for the final two years of his career…Chris Myers has had a nice career, but with a $8 million cap charge there is no justification for keeping him. He is better suited to a different offensive scheme and the team saves $6 million when they release him. They could wait until after the draft to make the cut just to ensure they have another lineman…The Texans were prepared to stop using Ryan Fitzpatrick last season and they can save $3.25M by moving on. His job was to get them through a season which he did. They can explore trades with a team like the Jets but I would expect Houston to try one of the younger guys this season…Releasing Tyson Clabo saves $1.22 million.

Offseason Plan

The Texans had a nice season last year, but between playing in an easy division and having the new coach honeymoon year they shouldn’t stray from slowly turning the roster over with new talent because they finished better than expected. Though on paper they don’t have a great deal of cap room they have great flexibility in the contracts on their team at this stage and can certainly create it to bring in certain players that they may like.

Obviously the biggest need for the team is to find a quarterback that can be a long term solution. That probably means the draft though they could always take a chance on one of the disappointing young players like Jake Locker to see if they can get anything out of the player. Either way I think it is important for them to have young bodies competing for the position rather than having Fitzpatrick or a similar veteran taking snaps.

The offensive line is solid and if they can get Arian Foster to play 12 games next season they have the running game in place to take the pressure off the QB.  That should prevent them from a total collapse if they can’t find a QB that is as productive as Fitzpatrick. Foster played so well last season that you have to hope his body can hold up for one more year even though they continue to work him into the ground.

Houston will hope they get something out of Jadeveon Clowney, who was hurt most of the year and not very impressive when he did play.  If Clowney works out they can have an absolutely devastating pass rush, but if he struggles they have to hope he can at least stay heathy so they can explore a trade next season. At this stage their spending on defense is likely a barrier to any real activity in free agency on that side of the ball.

In free agency I would expect the Texans to look at a running back to take some of the load off of Foster as well as a Tight End to pair with Garrett Graham.  Wide receiver is a need but I feel as if that is a better draft target than going in free agency, though there will no shortage of free agent targets available. They need to come out of this offseason with more explosiveness on offense to be ready for the future. But the Texans should mainly be improving through the draft where they should be able to find more help in the secondary and at the offesnive skill positions to keep climbing forward.

Texans Links

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Texans GM Salary Cap Calculator

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Should the Texans Release Ed Reed?

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The Houston Texans officially benched struggling Safety Ed Reed yesterday which brings up many questions about his future in the NFL. With that in mind it should be best for all parties to simply release Reed from his contract to see if he can find another home.

I discussed a while ago how teams can attempt to use the waiver process as a means to essentially make a trade for cap space and for the Texans it is probably worth the risk even if no one bites on Reed. Reed will carry a salary cap charge of $5.333 million in 2014 which includes a $4 million base salary. They will free up $2.666 million in salary cap space by releasing him and clearly when you factor in both the $4 million cash savings with the cap savings his future in Houston is already set in stone. Releasing Reed now or in February has the same salary cap effect in 2014.

Reed currently earns two sets of payments from the Texans. The first is a fully guaranteed base salary that is paid out as $58,824 per game and totals $470,588 for the remainder of the year. If Reed was to go unclaimed the Texans would have to cut Reed a check for that amount. Reed also has a roster bonus that is paid at $62,500 for each week that he dresses for the game. This bonus is not guaranteed so the Texans would save themselves a potential $500,000 by releasing Reed. They could also avoid that payment by making him inactive on Sundays, but that would make what is likely a bad situation worse.

Because the weekend is upon us the Texans would still be responsible this weeks pay. If Reed was claimed by a contending team the Texans would save both the $411,765 guarantee and the $437,500 in bonus payments. Assuming he would be replaced by a rookie the net salary cap savings for Houston would be $682,500, a significant sum for a team with a delicate salary cap situation moving forward. If he went unclaimed the savings would be nearly $270,735 making it make financial sense to move on from a player with no future or real ties to the Houston franchise.

I would think it is possible that a playoff caliber team would take a flier on Reed for the balance of his salary and possible bonus payments to ensure they were entitled to his contract rather than allowing him to be a free agent. If Reed immediately signed with a club as a free agent he would earn $387,059  for the balance of the season so a team would really only be adding the roster bonus money to the equation. I could see a team making that additional investment if they believed he could still contribute.

Houston really has nothing to lose by releasing Reed. It gives him the chance to go elsewhere and finish his career while the Texans will get some cap relief and avoid any problems that may occur with him playing sparingly on a bad team.  The Texans don’t owe Reed anything, but he is a sunk cost at this point and they will not be getting any value from him anyway in 2013. If they can save some money from this point forward its the best decision the team can make.

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OTC Power Rankings: Week 7

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