J.J. Watt Extension

[Keith]

Agreement in principle being reported by several sources.

[Keith]

Six years
$100 million
$51.876 million guaranteed.

Tops Mario's deal. Should make him highest paid defensive player I believe.

Well deserved. Big money, but seems like it's appropriate for the times and money well spent.

[Arky]

Good news. Watt is devoted to his craft and has earned it...

[Nconroe]

Originally Posted by Arky

Good news. Watt is devoted to his craft and has earned it...

Way to go Texans.

[HPF Bob]

Comment from another board "You can pay a defensive player like a franchise quarterback when you aren't paying for a franchise quarterback."

Which reminds me. Aren't we still paying for Schaub or did the Raiders absorb his entire contract with the trade (and how stupid were the Raiders to do that if that were the case)?

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Comment from another board "You can pay a defensive player like a franchise quarterback when you aren't paying for a franchise quarterback."

But that's the problem, we still need to locate a F-QB, and then pay him, but if he's a free agent it's gonna be tough to do. Happy for JJ and he's deserving, but this wasn't something that needed to be done by management/ownership.

[Nconroe]

my thoughts are - on JJ we needed to pay him or when he became a free agent some other team would have gladly paid him and we would have lost a true hero for Houston. JJ has earned it and keeps earning it. Many say he is best defensive player in the league right now.

on salary cap, it kind of is what it is, a team has to deal with it, but it is increasing in next several years, so perhaps not so bad as has been in the recent past where it was basically frozen for four straight years.

so while salary cap basically flat probably true a team could only afford one high paid player at a time, but cap rising so perhaps helps spread the wealth more in future.

on Schaub salary, pretty sure this year Texans have about 10 mil of dead money but free of that next year.

On Franchise QB, not many around and very few available ever as a free agent since if a team has one then better keep him.

So, if Savage or Mallett develop great. For a drafted QB will be four years typically after drafted before he gets a big pay raise so atleast four years off most likely to be a high paid QB here.

According to Sporttrac Texans have about 5 mil cap space available now, which likely mostly they hold for emergencies during the year. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/houston-texans/cap/

[Warren]

From Overthecap.com:

From Houston’s end the timing was right if they were to sign a mega deal. At the moment they have no big name or money QB on the horizon. The team is clearly transitioning away from Andre Johnson as the face of the franchise and it was important to lock Watt up as the new face. From their perspective they could have had Watt for the next three years for around $23 million and dealt with three years of questions about committing to him long term and potential holdouts. They will likely spend an extra $11-$13 million over the three year period for peace of mind and favorable salary cap terms.