1560 radio had a nice interview with OD while ago. This is what I think he said. He said he had a nice talk with Kubiak and Smith yesterday. He said he liked Houston, Texans and wanted to be here his whole career. He said when he's at practice he only thinks of being a good player and the team winning, or something like that. Then he said he was scared his plans for a long career here might not happen.

My thought is for OD to stop negotiating in public, don't critique your bosses in public unless all positive, and then good things will come in due time, like pretty soon. Spouting off in public probably makes things more difficult for your bosses. And be reasonable- big, big pay days take more than one good year, you're still a young man. if not right away, always play your hardest, be very positive, your payday will come. and btw, your current contract ain't that bad, almost 3 mil a year. I guess Smith will get to this after Cushing is done.

From first day of camp quotes, looks like Demeco and Owen both ready to play and leave new contracts as a separate business issue, more positive than I thought perhaps.

I really don't see any negatives to locking up OD long-term, especially in the neighborhood of 12.5 guaranteed. Even if Casey turns out to be a savior, a pro-bowl tight end certainly has value on the trade market. 2nd round picks can turn into pretty damn effective players, and OD would certainly demand at least 1 of those. Besides, aside from his expressing his disappointment in not having a long-term deal (which is pretty nit-picky, imo), the guy has done absolutely everything right. he didn't even miss a day of OTA's, when a holdout would have been standard operating procedure for a player in his position. He's been uber-effective, at a very low cost, since he got here. He's earned a reasonable payday. I still think we have a new deal for OD before they put on the pads for real.

I agree, but top 4 is slightly above reasonable for me, and number one, if even for a year, is over the top. Smith has said they offered a reasonable deal to him, no one knows what that was for sure but it what McClain reported was true then OD has become unreasonable and doesnt really want to play here.

A pro bowl TE does have trade value, but, its unlikely we will have any interest in trading him because guaranteed money would likely make it prohibitive early in the contract.