Houston Texans likely to end up with no tagged players

With just a little over 24 hours to go before the franchise tag deadline, all is quiet in Houston’s front office.

In a not-so-surprising event, the Houston Texans haven’t really stirred in terms of tagging one of their many free agents. Quieter than a mouse on Christmas eve, for that matter. The Houston Texans do have some key players set to hit free agency, so it will be a bold move by not using a tag and an interesting 24-ish hours.

Top performers from last season include the embattled yet humble Justin Reid, Maliek Collins, and Kamu Grugier-Hill. Ironically those are the best three players from the defensive side of the ball that could all leave come March 16th.

If Reid stays due to Lovie Smith getting the job, that would be a massive win for the Texans. When you consider how Kayvon Thibodeaux openly expressed his desire to play in Smith’s system, there could just be a culture shift in Houston. One that is genuinely and sorely needed after the past two seasons.

Houston Texans are making the right move once again by not tagging players

Players and Texans brass know that a 4-13 team isn’t going to have a ton of desire for returners- especially if the players can help it. At this point, the last thing the team needs is another disgruntled player (aka Deshaun Watson).

Only holding $17M in cap space doesn’t give Houston the biggest amount of breathing room either, as there are so many free agents to re-sign. Given their situation, Houston could make one, maybe two big splashes in free agency.

Now, something can still happen between the publishing of this article and the deadline at 4 P.M. eastern time tomorrow. There just haven’t been any rumblings at all, so it’s not likely anything will happen in that category. But this is the NFL for a reason, and anything can happen. Stay tuned.