http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/47872/my-plan-for-the-houston-texans Lock if already posted..
Not sure what you're getting at. The first thing he does is free up $14-$15 million in cap room. Pretty much every thing he said about keeping Quin, letting go of Barwin and Cody, focusing on WR and ILB in the early rounds, is right in line with what most fans have been saying.
I think the point is that it's not necessarily the smart thing to just reduce AJ and JJo's contracts like that...by doing that, you could be putting yourself into hell in future years. If it was that easy to reduce massive contracts to 6 figure cap hits, then every team would do that every year. It's not only difficult to do, but could be devastating a couple years down the line. Releasing KW and restructuring Antonio is probably the most reasonable of all the scenarios.
Teams actually DO exactly that every year. It works like this: You sign a contract that has bonus money and a base salary. Normally in the years after the third year there is no bonus money left (already paid up front) but there is a high base salary. Teams can renegotiate the remaining years to to give you bonus money up front instead of base salary. It's good for the player because they get the money up front (money now higher value than equal money later) and it's good for the team because it reduces the cap hit. Here's the downside and why a team like the Texans might be reluctant to do it with Antonio or Andre. Converting base salary to bonus guarantees that money and spreads the cap hit out. What if you want to cut Antonio next year? The way it is now, with a high base salary, he can be cut and you don't owe him the money and it frees up the cap. When you convert it to bonus money you are guaranteeing X dollars to be on your cap for Y years.
restructuring of contracts is nothing new, but to the extend and ease of which the article refers is not very realistic. I agree Smith needs to be restructured and walter released. Manning and joseph probably need to be reconstructed and extended but that's more likely a move for next year...as is a restructuring of AJ. Watt is coming.
We always assume what position they will draft in the 1st round, but it always ends up being something else. But honestly, he should have added that the team needs OT help. Derek Newton and Ben Jones got killed at times especially Ben when he had to face Vince Wilfork. They have to address that somehow.
I'm just shocked still to read something from an ESPN writer that sounds like he actually watches/knows something going on with the Texans.
