Cliff Avril Doesn't Want Franchise Tag Either............

Actually, that seems feasible since we'll have some cuts (who doesn't). It just all depends on what happens with out own free agents.

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Originally Posted by soulman

Love to get either of them but Zelezo makes a real good point. Here's Mario's rookie deal and even though he's coming off IR I doubt he'd sign for less than this. Considering what we have tied up in Peppers this may be out of reach.

http://www.spotrac.com/assets/images/thumb/houston.png
Houston Texans Mario Williams

Defensive End
Players: Drafted:Round 1 (#1 overall), 2006
College: NC State

Current Salary Information

Contract: 6 yr(s) / $54,000,000 Signing Bonus - Average Salary $9,000,000 End Year: 2011 Free Agent: 2012 / Unrestricted

Base Salary S. Bonus Misc. Bonus Cap Hit 2006 275,000 - 1,350,000 1,625,000 2007 975,000 - 1,350,000 2,325,000 2008 2,350,000 - 1,350,000 3,700,000 2009 2,875,000 - 1,350,000 4,225,000 2010 3,025,000 - 1,350,000 4,375,000 2011 13,800,000 - 1,350,000 15,150,000 2012

He was damn cheap until last year so if you could structure his deal over 5 years with the big money at the end (yrs 4 and 5) when we can probably assume Pep will have retired then we could probably get it done but with a higher guarantee. Not impossible if they do let him hit FA.

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I would imagine that Houston is starting to peak out at the salary cap, soul. WHen you consider that they're still paying for Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, and Mario Williams big money and that eventually Arian Foster is going to command a big payday, you have to figure that one of those guys is going to be expendable. Most likely, it's going to be Williams, because the Texans defense had a solid year and because Kubiak has always predicated his preference of his team on a very offensive approach more so than defense (though like I said, last year they had a very good defense). With the way the league is going (offense), Also, Mario Williams will be coming back to play in a 3-4 defense set rather than the old 4-3, so he may not want to play ROLB instead of the old RE he played; there is a major difference in the five-technique play between 3-4 and 4-3. So those are some things to consider.

Could be Dags. Never say never. I didn't think there was anyway we'd ante up for Pep either but we did.Be nice to get him especially after taking Okoye off their hands last year. Like I said if we could structure a deal where he got his big money in years 4 and 5 it could work. Pep is in the last year of his deal in 2015 with a cap hit of $18.8 mil but his cap costs start rising in 2013 = $15.3 mil then 2014 = $16.3 mil. Gotta come up with a way to slide some money around to make it happen if the cap doesn't rise significantly soon.

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Originally Posted by soulman

Could be Dags. Never say never. I didn't think there was anyway we'd ante up for Pep either but we did.Be nice to get him especially after taking Okoye off their hands last year. Like I said if we could structure a deal where he got his big money in years 4 and 5 it could work. Pep is in the last year of his deal in 2015 with a cap hit of $18.8 mil but his cap costs start rising in 2013 = $15.3 mil then 2014 = $16.3 mil. Gotta come up with a way to slide some money around to make it happen if the cap doesn't rise significantly soon.

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It could be one of a couple of scenarios, soul. One is what you said and that Cliff Stein back loads the contract to come to into its full life after Pepper's contract is up. Then there is this idea: maybe Williams' asking price isn't as high as it used to be because of being on IR. You never know. I would love to have him, and I bet he would come at a little more than Cliff Avril, and would be far more accomplished to boot.