The Houston Texans defense was spectacular throughout the 2024 season, finishing sixth in yards surrendered.
They stepped up the intensity as the year went along and were playing their best football in the postseason. That was evident when they intercepted four passes against Justin Herbert — who had just three picks all season.
While the secondary gets the credit for those turnovers, they're all quick to praise the defensive line for forcing the ball out in a hurry. Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. combined for 23 sacks while Tim Settle and Derek Barnett added 10.
One player who didn't contribute as much as expected was Denico Autry, who had 13 tackles and three sacks in 10 games. After signing a two-year deal with an average of $10 million per season, Houston thought he would give them more. That's why Mike Jones of The Athletic identified him as a potential cap casualty in 2025.
"Autry never lived up to the expectations the Texans had for him when he inked a two-year, $20 million deal last season. Autry, 34, wound up starting just two of the 10 games he appeared in and had 13 tackles and three sacks. Cutting him with a post-June 1 designation would translate into a savings of $9 million for the Texans, who are projected to have just more than $3 million in cap space entering the 2025 league year." — Mike Jones, The Athletic
An 11-year veteran, Autry started his career with the Oakland Raiders before breaking out in 2018 with the Indianapolis Colts. In three seasons with Indy, he recorded 102 tackles and 20 sacks before heading to the Tennessee Titans in 2021.
Autry was there for three years and never recorded fewer than eight sacks. In all, he had 108 tackles and 28.5 sacks.
That led to his new deal with the Texans, which got off to a rough start. Autry was suspended for the first six games of the year for violating the league's policy against performance-enhancing drugs. Perhaps Houston will let him play out the deal and see if a full season produces better results, but with his cap number being so high, they might decide to move on.