If you’re an NFL fan, particularly a fan of a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a lot of salary cap space — the Houston Texans check BOTH of those boxes in 2024 — then today is your day! At 11 a.m. Central Time, NFL teams can begin talking to free agents from teams other than their own. Deals can be verbally agreed to literally at 11:01 a.m., if it come together that quickly. Wednesday, free agents can officially put pen to paper and sign those deals.
This year’s free agency period in the NFL feels more unhinged, in a good way, than the last few years. Start with the fact that the salary cap increased by a whopping $30 million per team, to a total of about $255 million. Sprinkle in the star studded free agency class of running backs, a couple marquee quarterbacks out there, and the relevance of the Texans in all of this (roughly $60 million in cap space), and it’s going to be a fun week!
If you have a few minutes, and you want a preview of free agency and some relevant draft chatter, here is a YouTube of my latest “Houtopia Football Podcast” episode in which I chat with the great John Harris, Texans sideline reporter and draft guru:
For those desiring the written word, here is a cursory rundown of what to watch out for over the next few days:
Who are the big targets for Texans fans to keep an eye on?
The biggest one, and he is literally quite big, is Miami defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who probably watched his next contract increase by several million dollars when Baltimore re-signed DT Justin Madubuike to a four year, $98 million deal on Friday. There has been plenty of chatter linking Wilkins to the Texans, as head coach DeMeco Ryans has been open about upgrading the defensive line. Also, keep an eye on the aforementioned crop of star running backs — Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler. It wouldn’t be a shock too see one of these four end up in deep steel blue. Finally, keep an eye on the mid tier WR market (Tyler Boyd, Curtis Camuel) and the “cap casualty” safety market (Justin Simmons, Quandre Diggs, to name two).
Who are the Texans free agents we could see return?
We did a post on this last week. Here is a refresher on my odds on the Texans retaining these key free agents:
Jonathan Greenard, DE, Age 26
Odds of return: 33 percentDevin Singletary, RB, Age 26
Odds of return: 80 percentSteven Nelson, CB, Age 31
Odds of return: 45 percent
Sheldon Rankins, DT, Age 29 Odds of return: 25 percentCameron Johnston, P, Age 32
Odds of return: 60 percentBlake Cashman, LB, Age 27
Odds of return: 33 percent
It should be noted, the Texans did retain some lower level free agents over the weekend, signing DT Khalil Davis, CB Kris Boyd, CB Desmond King, and S Eric Murray to modest, “roster filler” level deals.
Who are some former Texans we might see return?
The two biggest former Texan names out there available this round of free agency are Bengals defensive tackle D.J. Reader and Ravens defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Both would be good fits in Ryans’ defense. Reader is coming off a second quad tear of his career, so that’s a red flag, but when he is on the field, he is an impactful run stuffer, who would come much cheaper than Wilkins. Clowney has settled into a phase of his career where he’s kind of a year to year mercenary. If Greenard ends up leaving in free agency, You could do a lot worse than Clowney on one year deal.
What happens with the QB carousel?
Thankfully, the quarterback position is something the Texans no longer have to worry about, hopefully for many, many years, as we all watch C.J. Stroud win multiple Super Bowls. That said, it’s an intriguing QB carousel this offseason, and the biggest domino the QB needy teams are waiting to see fall is Kirk Cousins. Does he stay in Minnesota, or does he sign elsewhere? For what it’s worth, here the odds on various QB openings around the league, courtesy of Bet Online:
DENVER: Jarrett Stidham +200, Any rookie +300, Sam Howell +500
ATLANTA: Kirk Cousins -250, Any rookie +200, Justin Fields +500
LAS VEGAS: Aidan O’Connell +100, Any rookie +300, Justin Fields +400
MINNESOTA: Justin Fields +300, Trey Lance +400, Joshua Dobbs +450
PITTSBURGH: Russell Wilson +100, Kenny Pickett +300, Justin Fields +400
Let the games begin!
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
