2018 NFL Free Agency: Texans Reportedly Interested In Signing Richard Sherman

In very quick fashion, the Seattle Seahawks have become a completely different football team. Michael Bennett was traded. Earl Thomas may be traded. Cliff Avril may be released or could retire; the same rumors about retirement are floating around about Kam Chancellor as well. Richard Sherman was released yesterday at age 29 to clear $11 million in cap space after tearing his Achilles last season. One of the greatest defenses of all time is being ripped apart and picked off the ground by the rest of football now that the best players have become older, injured, expensive, and/or mediocre.

Seattle is doing this to create cap space and to change how their team is constructed. With the salary cap, you can only invest so much in certain positions. Seattle was able to pay to keep their defense together and ignore their offensive line because of the ability of Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and Thomas Rawls (for one season, anyway) to break tackles, play under pressure, and create yards from nothing. With Wilson now 29 years old, the Seahawks will build their offensive line and entire team around their quarterback instead of their defense.

Adam Schefter reported—and by “report,” I mean he typed out something on his phone and hit a blue button—that the Titans, Lions, Raiders, Texans, Buccaneers, Packers, and 49ers are interested in signing Sherman to play cornerback for them.

If Sherman is able to fully recover from last year’s Achilles tear, he’d be worth giving a contract to, especially for those teams that play a lot of Cover Three. He was great last year before he got hurt. He was targeted 46 times in 9 games, gave up 6 yards a pass attempt, had a success rate of 61%, and allowed 1.3 yards after the catch according to Football Outsiders’ premium charting data. If Sherman stays in the same scheme, with his pedigree, he would be worth giving a multi-year contract.

The Houston Texans are supposedly interested. Just as they should be. They should be interested in any cornerback out there. But it’s not all just football in Houston right now. There’s the added layer of the speaking out Sherman has done throughout his career, the reports/rumors about the Texans not being interested in signing free agents who protested last season, and Bob McNair’s past comments that add a level of off-the-field consideration to the idea of signing Sherman.

It’s possible Sherman signs with the 49ers today since doing so would allow him to stay out on the west coast, to swim out past the breakers, and to play in the same area he went to college. But if he doesn’t sign with the Niners, it will be interesting and important to see if Sherman visits with Houston or not and whether or not the cloud will actually have any impact on the Texans’ ability to sign free agents.

UPDATE: After being a free agent for less than 24 hours, Richard Sherman has agreed to terms with the Hous—hahahahahahahahahahahaha, like there was ever a chance the Texans would actually sign him.

But seriously, after being cut by the Seahawks last night, Richard Sherman has agreed to a three-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers, per Adam Schefter.

Not only is he a good fit for the Niners, who get a boost in their secondary, but it will give him two games a year to show his previous employers why they shouldn’t have released him.

Josina Anderson, also of the Four Lettered Network, states that his contract is for three years and $39.15 million.

Will you remember what you were doing when the great Richard Sherman chase of 2018 came to an end? I know I will.

Ugh...did it have to be the Niners, though?