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In what might be considered a flurry of news, Aaron Wilson let some cats out of the proverbial bag with one swift tweet yesterday:
Texans will do what they can to keep their free agents, especially Bradley Roby. Running back Carlos Hyde has declined contract offer from team and is expected to go to free agency, according to sources Lamar Miller, coming off torn ACL, heads to FA too https://t.co/RJrH3kzw8a
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 11, 2020
The Texans met with the representatives for their own pending unrestricted free agents in late February, exchanging information and getting a feel for the players’ financial expectations.
The goal for coach/general manager Bill O’Brien, executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby, football administration coordinator and primary contract negotiator Kevin Krajcovic, along with director of player personnel Matt Bazirgan and director of pro personnel Rob Kisiel was to get a handle on the marketplace in advance of a free-agent signing period that officially begins March 18.
Carlos Hyde and Lamar Miller will hit free agency, while Houston could look to spend a few nickels on Derrick Henry or Melvin Gordon, as discussed yesterday. However, there’s also a solid chance Hyde won’t find what he’s looking for on the open market and will return to the Texans once the initial flurry of free agency and next month’s draft has settled—if there is a draft next month.
In other news, the Texans re-signed wideout/return man DeAndre Carter to a new deal. Carter did quite well when given the chance last season, if you ignore the whole fumble against the Chiefs in the NFL Playoffs.
The #Texans have signed WR @DCarter_2 to a contract extension.
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 11, 2020
Texans signed wide receiver DeAndre Carter to contract extension, team announced. He was an exclusive-rights free agent. Team has made retaining core special-teams guys a priority
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 11, 2020
Pro Football Focus:
Although used sparingly as a receiver, Carter has caught an eye-popping 89.2% of his 37 career targets, and his 9.7 yards per punt return was 3rd among players with 20 attempts.
The “legal tampering” period for NFL free agency begins on Monday, March 16th - just a few short days from now. It appears newly minted general manager Bill O’Brien is working hard to take care of the deals he can in advance of Monday’s impending storm of activity. With little draft capital and many holes to fill, O’Brien will have to go against his inner voice and take a swing at several free agents.
With names like Yannick Ngakoue, Brandon Scherff, Chris Jones, Amari Cooper, Byron Jones, Chris Harris Jr., Gordon, Henry, Jack Conklin, Shaquil Barrett, Arik Armstead, Logan Ryan and others about to hit the open market, the Texans figure to have their eyes on a few of these players, plus many more utility level guys.
No matter what happens, you can rest assured it’s going to be an interesting news cycle for the next seven days.