Texans, you have the NFL'S 2nd highest paid center.

This is a horrendous take.

 

That the Texans are willing to play the holdout game. They’ve already already shown that they aren’t, or at least they’re not very good at it.

Honestly I said the exact same thing with a Clowney and I was dead wrong. We pointed at Le’Veon Bell as the prime example and say he’ll never get that money back, bad move. We said Clowney wouldn’t give up a $1M/week, he’s got nothing. At the end, the Steelers/Texans have a 3rd round pick and 2 backups combined to show for 2 of the best players in the league regardless of position.

Aaron Donald, Mack, Julio, Taylor Lewan, Ezekiel, Bell, Clowney, etc...These guys were/are gonna get paid, it’s just a question of who’s gonna pay them.

 

Well, to be fair, Clowney was an All Star Defensive End, capable of signficantly disrupting the opponents passing game. Who needs that type of player??

 

Well, I'm no expert, but it seemed we've had more consistent play from our centers that had more sand in their pants (Jones, Mancz, and Fulton). Martin just seems to get blown up too often. Rating wise he's never been in the Top 10 pivot men, but we're paying him like an elite player at the position. Doesn't make much business sense.

 

PFF graded Nick Martin as having a positive game on Monday night. Guess BoB sees that one good game as things to come and didn't look at all of last season. Hopefully it works out.

 

You're comparing apples to... well, bowling balls for a variety of reasons, most notably: they did not try to buy out Clowney's two potential franchise years (or his fifth year option). And then, as we know, everything they did this summer was handled so poorly, they eventually handed Clowney an incredible amount of leverage. If they're negotiating with Tunsil *now*, he won't have that leverage and will be motivated to strike a deal.

Also, Clowney signed a 4/$22.5MM deal as first overall pick; his fifth year option (which the team picked up) paid him an additional $13MM. Clowney earned $35.5MM his first five years with the Texans - I don't know where you got $13MM from - but it is wrong. Tunsil signed a 4/$12.5MM deal. So as of right now, he's earned $12.5 MM. His fifth year option - also a negotiating chip, BTW - has not yet been picked up, obviously.

So the Texans have leverage over the fifth year option (worth $10MM) and the two franchise seasons (worth ~$15MM/per). As is, he's slated to earn... ~ $40MM the next three years. But none of those years are yet guaranteed. If he blows out a knee this year, he's severely damaged his value. So there's incentive on his part to a) increase his earning potential these next three years; b) lock-in a longer-term, guaranteed deal.

I think he's obviously going to be paid quite well - but the Texans have ammunition to keep a lid on the cost... ammunition they'll undoubtedly find a well to waste, I'm sure. But they do have some.

 

The Clowney situation, which the Texans grossly mis-managed - has zero relevance here. The Texans have the ability to buy-out three years of Tunsil's career that, as of right now, has a hard cap on top of them - his 5th year option + two franchise tags. We don't know what the tag will be - but he can only make so much money those three years with no future guaranteed - and even those three years are not guanrateed - he will be year-to-year, which means a dip in performance or injury could impact his earning potential.

Essentially, this is like arbitration years in baseball, where players have an incentive to buy those years out in exchange for a more team-friendly deal.

 

Fans need to understand that the Texans royally - and rather uniquely - screwed themselves with the Clowney deal. They had a window in which they could've traded him and, for whatever reason, they did not act within that time frame. At that point, Clowney was set to come in and play on the franchise tag - and then the Texans tried to trade him. Because the window had closed, any Clowney trade became contingent on him signing a contract, which gave him control.

The Texans will absolutely use the franchise tag on Tunsil. And, as with most players, Tunsil will eventually sign it and report because, while he's made nice money, he's not going to walk away from ~$15+MM. Leveon Bell is the exception; not the standard. The vast majority of players - like, 99% - sign the franchise tender. They don't like it (which is why the Texans have some negotiating leverage) - but they all eventually cave.

 

There were 9 franchise tag candidates this year. Only 1 is playing under the tag and that’s Clowney playing for another team. The rest got new deals either from their team or from someone else.

Yes the Texans have that franchise tag in their back pocket and as it almost always does, it comes down to a game of chicken. If you’re Tunsil and you know what you mean to that team, I’m not budging knowing they can’t afford to have him at home.

 

So, basically, the front office has no idea about basic contract management and financial operations.

Yay!

I have to believe they knew the basics, such as you describe (if they truly don't....wtf???), so that raises the question: what did actually drive this? One would have to think something happened between the trade window and when they dumped him. What was it?

 

The Texans are an overall incompetent group on the football operations side of the equation.

 

When Rick Smith is the best GM your franchise has ever had over a 20yr history, that's a sign that ownership is the problem.

 

My theory is... They fired Gaine - who it seems had a different (higher) opinion of Clowney - in, IIRC, late June - so right in the middle of what was probably a busy period for BO'B and as a consequence, they dropped the ball because it was dumb to fire the GM, and even dumber to do it at the end of June, and dumber still that they didn't replace him.

 

Right; so... no holdouts and 8 of 9 signed new deals. IOW, the tag is a bargaining chip that lets the team hold a certain degree of leverage.

But, as you noted: that simply doesn't happen. These guys do not want to burn a year *and* walk away from ~$15+MM. Especially considering the team can simply do it again the next year, burning a second year while you don't cash ~$30+MM is checks.

 

SMH....

Someone tell me Martin is poised to become an elite Center on the field, not just at the bank! He has got to have a new technique which the Texans are mesmerized... (tell me something, and that’s why the Texans bid against themselves for Martin)

 

Honestly think you’re looking at this a little backwards.
5 of the 9 are on new teams and Demarcus Lawrence is now the highest paid DE in the league. I see where you’re coming from but no way can you say that they all eventually cave. In fact, it seems that it’s quite the opposite. Teams aren’t willing to pay them so they’re finding someone that will and making a deal. Like I said, these guys are getting paid now, it’s just a matter of who.

You understand that teams have that same type of leverage over every player under contract right? Not just tagged players. But surely you don’t look at the deals Mack, Donald, Elliott, and Julio got recently and say they are the ones that caved.

 

It so Texans to sign a middling often injured center top flight money.

 

Works hard, good teammate.

 

https://m.chron.com/sports/texans/a...xans-center-Nick-Martin-contract-14437377.php

Texans center Nick Martin's $34.01 million contract extension includes a $5 million signing bonus, according to NFL Players Association records.

Martin's deal, which averages $11 million for the second highest average per year in the NFL among centers behind the Buffalo Bills' Mitch Morse, got $18.351 million guaranteed.

The contract, negotiated by Texans senior vice president of football administration Chris Olsen and agent Tom Condon Jr. of Creative Artists Agency, includes a $7.776 million salary-cap figure for 2019 and an $11.108 million payout in the first year.

Martin is due a $6.101 million fully guaranteed base salary this year and a $7,285 signing bonus.

Martin has a $7.25 million fully guaranteed base salary in 2020 and an $8.75 million salary-cap figure. He can make up to $250,000 more if he's active for every game.

Martin is due a $7.25 million nonguaranteed base salary in 2021 along with the annual $250,000 roster bonus total. He has a $8.75 million salary-cap figure.

In 2022, Martin is due a $7.75 million nonguaranteed base salary, the annual $250,000 roster bonus total and has a $9.25 million salary-cap figure.

 

I'm actually not. The player only has leverage if they're willing to legitimately walk away from tens of millions of dollars. Thus far, only one player - under the franchise tag - has done that; the rest have caved. Clowney was, by all reports, going to report because the alternative was to pass on $14MM, and he was never going to do that.

You're talking about value not leverage - if a team doesn't deem you worthy of a new contract, what leverage does the player have?

We're talking about the franchise tag here; specifically, whether players can leverage it for more money. They can - to a certain point. But once the negotiation deadline passes, players are faced with two options: 1) sign the one-year tender and get paid handsomely, albeit for one year; 2) holdout & receive no money - that's where the cave comes in - until Bell, and every instance since, the players have accepted the one-year tender.