Houston Texans Day One of Football Business Lands Jones & Butler
By Joe Owens
It has been quite a first twenty-four hours of the first official day of NFL business. The NFL Lockout out is officially over and Football is back and the first day has been a phenomenal ride. By in large the absence of football with no offseason transactions has left everyone, fans and people in the business alike starved for anything football related.
A flurry of teams like the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys who let major contributors, on their respected teams last year, know that the players services would no longer be needed. Then teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers who came out swinging for the fences when attempting to sign potential free agent additions. Unlike the aforementioned teams the Houston Texans, your Houston Texans were fairly quiet during the first day of official football business.
The Texans did manage to sign an undrafted free agent rookie class consisting of 18 players from the teams $5.6M rookie pool. While other teams were making it known on who would be cut come Friday morning the Texans were not among those teams. No one from the Houston Texans who is currently under contract was informed that their services would no longer be needed. Not to say it can’t still happen, we’re just stating that it didn’t happen yesterday.
Along with the 18 undrafted free agent rookies the Texans did come to terms with defensive linemen Damione Lewis who played in ten games for the Texans last year. Lewis agreed one a one deal worth $910,000. The Lewis deal happens to be the minimum for players with ten plus years in the league.
The Texans biggest splash during the first day, in which teams could sign undrafted rookie free agents and negotiate with their own free agent players, would be considered by most the re-signing of offensive tackle Rashad Butler and wide receiver Jacoby Jones.
Rashad Butler’s re-signing came as a surprise to most as many expected a team in need of a tackle to make Butler an offer that would have landed him into a starting role some where. Apparently Butler opted to stay with the Texans by signing a two year $3.8M deal, with $1.25M guaranteed. If the Texans would have lost Butler to another team they would have been forced to go out and find a fill-in swing tackle that could play at a moments notice in case of injury during the season. Having that security with a player familiar with the zone blocking scheme is well worth the money paid to Butler.
Having little doubt that he himself would be back at home with the Texans. Taking almost no one by surprise Jacoby Jones agreed to stay in Houston for another 3 years while the Texans pay the young wide receiver $10.5M, with $3.5 of that guaranteed. Many speculated that Jones would bolt for starter money with another team in another city other than Houston but with the truncated season it seemed beneficial for Jacoby Jones to stay with the Texans for the time being.
Well done by the Texans to address some of the needs on offense while maintaining continuity by bringing back familiar faces and fan favorites. Now let’s see if Rick Smith follows suit in regards to fullback Vonta Leach.
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