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Mercilus restructures his contract

welsh texan said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1374726688135909381
Interesting contract reworking for #Texans LB Whitney Mercilus. Not just a simple restructure of base salary to bonus. Biggest change: 2022-23 converted to voidable years. So the longtime Texan is now slated to be a free agent after this season. Team gets $4m cap space.


Team first move, thankyou Whitney.
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I am sure he had a little selfishness in this too lol. He's looking at next year becoming a free agent.
 
amazing80 said:
I am sure he had a little selfishness in this too lol. He's looking at next year becoming a free agent.
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I doubt he was interested in becoming a FA when he had a better contract in place than anything he'll see in FA.

I can't imagine what the Texans said to him. Worst case scenario he was going to be a June 1st cut, receiving a hefty paycheck from the Texans & whatever one year deal he could find before the season starts.
 
thunderkyss said:
I doubt he was interested in becoming a FA when he had a better contract in place than anything he'll see in FA.

I can't imagine what the Texans said to him. Worst case scenario he was going to be a June 1st cut, receiving a hefty paycheck from the Texans & whatever one year deal he could find before the season starts.
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He could see the team as being a trainwreck and wanting to start fresh. The guy has made a boatload of money already. Not everyone cares about every single dollar.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Nick putting in work View attachment 8437
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There's nothing great about this move, just temporarily cap relief.

Mercilus now gets $6M in his pocket instead of having to wait for his weekly game checks (which may not arrive if he gets cut - due to lack of performance, for example).

Now if the Texans trade Mercilus, they're gonna eat that bonus while the new team will only have to pay him $4.5M (for the entire 2021 season).

If he remains with the Texans, it will be only for this year. He will be an UFA when the season ends.
 
This is wrong on so many levels. For starters Mercilus would have been $15MM cap relief in 2022. Now he is $7MM in Dead Cap and is a free agent. Also as the weakest roster in the NFL Caserio thinks it's a brilliant idea to now borrow $35MM from future seasons salary cap. SMH:hankpalm:
 
Caserio is really making the most of a shitty-shitty situation. He's signing and re-working contracts of damm near everyone on the roster. 90% of this roster has become bridge players who can possibly have 2-3 solid years with the Texans if they secure their position.....but even these guys will eventually be replaced by draft picks who earn their starting assignments. I think there's maybe 10-15% of the current roster that might earn a 2022 season. No matter what, Caserio doesn't have to keep dead weight (talent or contract) going forward which means he'll have roster flexibility while building his vision of a team through the draft.
 
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michaelm said:
Caserio probably said, we're obviously blowing this thing up after the 2021 season, you don't want to be part of that.
It's up to like 41 or 42 total contracts that expire after this season.
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Yeah, buddy. It's a four win team, even with an elite QB. Nobody should be sacred on this roster.

It's going to be a long process, but undoing the damage of O'Brien is going to take some time. Just getting some first round talent could take years.

Time will tell on Caserio, but judging him just a couple of months into his tenure speaks to preconceived agendas.
 
thunderkyss said:
As opposed to what?

That's the only reason any of us would want to restructure Whitney's contract. He was severely overpaid. Now he's not.

Edit: I know he's still overpaid, only his cap number changed
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When you borrow money, it has to serve a real purpose; otherwise, you'd just be paying interest.
 
Mr teX said:
"Some men just want to watch the world burn..." The Texans organization aren't burning enough for y'all yet lol?
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It's exactly because I don't want to see the team burn that I criticize some of these moves.

In lean time, reduce your spending.
Wait for the better time.
Spending more now brings no desireable result.
 
76Texan said:
It's exactly because I don't want to see the team burn that I criticize some of these moves.

In lean time, reduce your spending.
Wait for the better time.
Spending more now brings no desireable result.
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Have the Texans replaced anyone on this roster with someone you view as a lessor talent? Watson is a moot point b/c he's effectively forced a replacement.
 
76Texan said:
When you borrow money, it has to serve a real purpose; otherwise, you'd just be paying interest.
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Not the point.

76Texan said:
It's exactly because I don't want to see the team burn that I criticize some of these moves.

In lean time, reduce your spending.
Wait for the better time.
Spending more now brings no desireable result.
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I agree with you. Nick is not approaching this offseason with "rebuild" in my mind. At least not the way we've seen in the past, where maximizing cap space & stockpiling draft picks is job 1.

Nick is approaching it as some kind of retooling in my mind.

The cap is operational this year & next. Not so much that we'll be major players in FA... but operational. There are a couple moves he can make next year that would allow us to be involved in FA next year.

But 2023's cap so far is looking good.
 
OptimisticTexan said:
Have the Texans replaced anyone on this roster with someone you view as a lessor talent? Watson is a moot point b/c he's effectively forced a replacement.
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NC added talents to the roster, but I seriously doubt that it's enough to compete for a spot in the playoffs, let alone making a run at the SB.
I'm good with bringing in young players with potential to see if they have something.
 
76Texan said:
It's exactly because I don't want to see the team burn that I criticize some of these moves.

In lean time, reduce your spending.
Wait for the better time.
Spending more now brings no desireable result.
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The Texans have been effectively "burning" since BoB took over as Gm and made all the bad deals he made that NC is now dealing with. So in that regard, there's no "better time" than now to do what NC is & has been doing since he assumed the role of GM.


76Texan said:
In lean time, reduce your spending.
Wait for the better time.
Spending more now brings no desireable result.
Click to expand...

That philosophy might work well for your household budget when you're just trying to keep your head afloat & survive pay off some debt, but it is decidedly not a good strategy in the NFL when you're trying to win as many games as possible...which is what NC's job actually is and what he's is aiming to do..win as much as you can NOW. Just b/c its not a complete tear down that you guys can visually see & have traditionally seen from teams doesn't mean that the same thing isn't being accomplished more or less. The bottom 2/3 of the roster has pretty much been turned over already with all these 1 year deals & the 2022 cap is unaffected at this point except for the major deals we already had in place. Further, hoarding cap space to spend at a later date or "better time" isn't exactly a full proof strategy either.....If i were to guess, that strategy more often actually leads to overpaying guys in FA and overvaluing your own guys.

The bottom line is this move can only be viewed as a positive considering that Mercy was gone in 2022 anyway & his restructure allows for this team to do something for this upcoming season..b/c believe it or not, there are fans that want to see what this team will be able to do with real coaching and new faces next year. Not everyone is as gloom and doom as you and a few others.
 
Double Barrel said:
Yeah, buddy. It's a four win team, even with an elite QB. Nobody should be sacred on this roster.

It's going to be a long process, but undoing the damage of O'Brien is going to take some time. Just getting some first round talent could take years.

Time will tell on Caserio, but judging him just a couple of months into his tenure speaks to preconceived agendas.
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What I haven't seen mentioned, football is a team sport. It's possible, with good coaching and chemistry, for the total to be greater than the sum of its parts.

Cully is an unknown. Lovie Smith has a good track record. What most intrigues me is James Camden and what he can produce from our OL.

If our acquisitions are mid tier JAGS, we have yet to see what will be put on the field. This year should be taken as a transition year. With the strength of our schedule, it is reasonable to expect we'll be in a good draft position in 2022. The Watson mess should be behind us. If he manages to stay out of prison, and if we don't flat out release him this year, we'll get something in trade. Next year should be the year to draft a QB with our #1 pick.

I really see no reason to be so negative. This year is to viewed from a perspective of curiosity and intrigue as to what is to looked forward to in 2022 and beyond.
 
Number19 said:
What I haven't seen mentioned, football is a team sport. It's possible, with good coaching and chemistry, for the total to be greater than the sum of its parts.

Cully is an unknown. Lovie Smith has a good track record. What most intrigues me is James Camden and what he can produce from our OL.

If our acquisitions are mid tier JAGS, we have yet to see what will be put on the field. This year should be taken as a transition year. With the strength of our schedule, it is reasonable to expect we'll be in a good draft position in 2022. The Watson mess should be behind us. If he manages to stay out of prison, and if we don't flat out release him this year, we'll get something in trade. Next year should be the year to draft a QB with our #1 pick.

I really see no reason to be so negative. This year is to viewed from a perspective of curiosity and intrigue as to what is to looked forward to in 2022 and beyond.
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That's the thing. With good teams, the sum is ALWAYS better than the individual parts. For most folks here, if they don't know their name, they can't possibly be guys that can turn into or be something. There are lots of guys that NC has brought in that can turn into starters or high level contributors beyond 2021.


There is absolutely no reason to be negative. Lets see what this team looks like next year with 2/3 of the roster brand new and new coaching. Certainly can't be any worse than what we had on the field in 2020.
 
thunderkyss said:
Not the point.



I agree with you. Nick is not approaching this offseason with "rebuild" in my mind. At least not the way we've seen in the past, where maximizing cap space & stockpiling draft picks is job 1.

Nick is approaching it as some kind of retooling in my mind.

The cap is operational this year & next. Not so much that we'll be major players in FA... but operational. There are a couple moves he can make next year that would allow us to be involved in FA next year.

But 2023's cap so far is looking good.
Click to expand...

I think that might be the key right there, we all looked at 2021 as a rebuild year but maybe Caserio sees it as a "just get through it" year. in 22 he will have all the draft picks and odds are the cap will go back up to levels teams are use to because what we are forgetting is that almost all the teams are in bad cap situations because nobody wrote contracts thinking the cap would go down. I'm leaning more and more to the idea that these are all meant to be just bridge guys that maybe you find a few diamonds that can still shine and go on to be vets for incoming rookies but mostly they are just to field a team. Even some of the contracts they may seem high but A: they are not stupid levels and B: most vets on one year contracts won't play for the vet minimal because they know they may not get any more money.
 
Mr teX said:
The Texans have been effectively "burning" since BoB took over as Gm and made all the bad deals he made that NC is now dealing with. So in that regard, there's no "better time" than now to do what NC is & has been doing since he assumed the role of GM.




That philosophy might work well for your household budget when you're just trying to keep your head afloat & survive pay off some debt, but it is decidedly not a good strategy in the NFL when you're trying to win as many games as possible...which is what NC's job actually is and what he's is aiming to do..win as much as you can NOW. Just b/c its not a complete tear down that you guys can visually see & have traditionally seen from teams doesn't mean that the same thing isn't being accomplished more or less. The bottom 2/3 of the roster has pretty much been turned over already with all these 1 year deals & the 2022 cap is unaffected at this point except for the major deals we already had in place. Further, hoarding cap space to spend at a later date or "better time" isn't exactly a full proof strategy either.....If i were to guess, that strategy more often actually leads to overpaying guys in FA and overvaluing your own guys.

The bottom line is this move can only be viewed as a positive considering that Mercy was gone in 2022 anyway & his restructure allows for this team to do something for this upcoming season..b/c believe it or not, there are fans that want to see what this team will be able to do with real coaching and new faces next year. Not everyone is as gloom and doom as you and a few others.
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There are things NC can do without incurring more cost.
For example: RBs
Signing Lindsay, a younger guy. Good to very good.

Signing Ingram, a veteran with low mileage and low cost. Good to quite good.
...
But restructuring David Johnson, giving him more money (bonus up front).
Not good.

Two guys are enough.
Let a couple of young guys (maybe even an UDFA) and veterans at minimum pay duke it out for the third spot.

That's a more sound strategy, don't you think?
 
Not a caserio fan or confident in him as a GM yet. He was saddled with this mess and he’s trying to fix the situation so I’ll give him benefit of the doubt on this move.
 
76Texan said:
NC added talents to the roster, but I seriously doubt that it's enough to compete for a spot in the playoffs, let alone making a run at the SB.
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76Texan said:
NC added talents to the roster, but I seriously doubt that it's enough to compete for a spot in the playoffs, let alone making a run at the SB.
I'm good with bringing in young players with potential to see if they have something.
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NC came over from the Patriots that had the average drafts and in the last 5 years and still managed to go to 3 super bowls and win 2 in the same 5 year period.

Trust the process.
 
Mr teX said:
That's the thing. With good teams, the sum is ALWAYS better than the individual parts. For most folks here, if they don't know their name, they can't possibly be guys that can turn into or be something. There are lots of guys that NC has brought in that can turn into starters or high level contributors beyond 2021.


There is absolutely no reason to be negative. Lets see what this team looks like next year with 2/3 of the roster brand new and new coaching. Certainly can't be any worse than what we had on the field in 2020.
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Remember, I'm not all or mostly negative like Texian or Lucky.
 
thunderkyss said:
Not the point.



I agree with you. Nick is not approaching this offseason with "rebuild" in my mind. At least not the way we've seen in the past, where maximizing cap space & stockpiling draft picks is job 1.

Nick is approaching it as some kind of retooling in my mind.

The cap is operational this year & next. Not so much that we'll be major players in FA... but operational. There are a couple moves he can make next year that would allow us to be involved in FA next year.

But 2023's cap so far is looking good.
Click to expand...

I see NC getting a spreadsheet and explaining to Cal that in order to make things work in the future you have to blow it up and money will be wasted in order to have money on 22 and 23.

2021 is a wasted year. Look at the Watson fiasco. If you don’t have a top QB you ain’t doing much of anything. Especially when you don’t have any draft picks. Turnover all players that can be turned over to reset the culture.

2022. We have draft picks again. The cap is more manageable to get free agents. Watson’s future should be known. Expect to draft QB 1.1. If everyone who was in the Texans in 2020 aren’t gone by now they will be.

2023. Again more drafts and more money for free agency to spend like New England has this year. (Don’t be surprised by a head coaching change here if it hasn’t happened sooner.)

Looks like a 3 year plan.

Makes sense.
 
76Texan said:
There are things NC can do without incurring more cost.
For example: RBs
Signing Lindsay, a younger guy. Good to very good.

Signing Ingram, a veteran with low mileage and low cost. Good to quite good.
...
But restructuring David Johnson, giving him more money (bonus up front).
Not good.

Two guys are enough.
Let a couple of young guys (maybe even an UDFA) and veterans at minimum pay duke it out for the third spot.

That's a more sound strategy, don't you think?
Click to expand...

Take in all the angles, not just those that you don’t agree with.

it’s only more sound if you believe none of these guys will get hurt throughout the year. That strategy Might be ok in a year where you have all your picks and you can scoop up a younger guy late in the draft to develop. But as you know, we don’t have all our picks and all 3 have relatively recent histories of injury...at a position where Attrition is high and a position where you’re most likely going to be running a high amount of your offense out of next year. In addition to that, all 3 of these guys have different skill sets.

When you factor in that we were GOD AWFUL running the ball last year and there’s been a clear effort to improve upon that for next year, it’s clear why NC wants a platoon of veteran guys at the RB position.
 
maverick512000 said:
Were you seriously basing this on if we could get in the playoffs or make a SB run? :confused:
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OK, Just making sure I know where you come from.
As I had answered Mr. Tex, and also I had previously stated in other threads, re-up David Johnson makes zero sense when pairing with the signing of Ingram and Lindsay.

I'm not sure signing Tyrod makes sense either, but I refrain as we don't exactly know what his contract entails.

texanswire.usatoday.com

A look into QB Tyrod Taylor's contract with the Texans

The Houston Texans addressed one of their most significant needs on Tuesday with the signing of free-agent quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The 31-year-old quarterback signed a one-year deal that could make Taylor up to $12.5 million by the end of the 2021 NFL season.…
texanswire.usatoday.com

Would he get paid $12.5M if he simply play all 16 games?
If he does, what would that accomplish?

What about Mariota who resigned for a mere $3.5M total?
Could the Texans swung a deal for him with a 6th or a 7th?
He's younger and more durable.
 
76Texan said:
OK, Just making sure I know where you come from.
As I had answered Mr. Tex, and also I had previously stated in other threads, re-up David Johnson makes zero sense when pairing with the signing of Ingram and Lindsay.

I'm not sure signing Tyrod makes sense either, but I refrain as we don't exactly know what his contract entails.

texanswire.usatoday.com

A look into QB Tyrod Taylor's contract with the Texans

The Houston Texans addressed one of their most significant needs on Tuesday with the signing of free-agent quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The 31-year-old quarterback signed a one-year deal that could make Taylor up to $12.5 million by the end of the 2021 NFL season.…
texanswire.usatoday.com

Would he get paid $12.5M if he simply play all 16 games?
If he does, what would that accomplish?

What about Mariota who resigned for a mere $3.5M total?
Could the Texans swung a deal for him with a 6th or a 7th?
He's younger and more durable.
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Taylor is more of a Watson style QB, I think, particularly at the time of signing him, Texans were very serious about not trading Watson and expected him to play at some point. If/when that happened they wanted as little friction going from QB to QB as possible. From what I understand his contract is mostly based on amount played which makes sense if you look at it from the idea of they don't know how many games he would game but they didn't expect it to be all 17. As far as Mariota goes he restructured to drop his pay to 3.5M so if Texans had traded for him it would have been under the old contract and there is no guarantee he would have done the same for the Texans. Players usually restructure because they want to stay on a team, they want to free money up for the team or they think its their only chance of still playing. Mariota could have been a backup on a lot of teams so we know he didn't think it was his only chance and the first two wouldn't apply to the Texans.
 
michaelm said:
Caserio probably said, we're obviously blowing this thing up after the 2021 season, you don't want to be part of that.
It's up to like 41 or 42 total contracts that expire after this season.
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If you're blowing up 2022 then why dump so much dead money and added salary cap into 2022?

OptimisticTexan said:
Caserio is really making the most of a shitty-shitty situation. He's signing and re-working contracts of damm near everyone on the roster. 90% of this roster has become bridge players who can possibly have 2-3 solid years with the Texans if they secure their position.....but even these guys will eventually be replaced by draft picks who earn their starting assignments. I think there's maybe 10-15% of the current roster that might earn a 2022 season. No matter what, Caserio doesn't have to keep dead weight (talent or contract) going forward which means he'll have roster flexibility while building his vision of a team through the draft.
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Caserio is illustrating that he has no clue in what he is doing.
 
Mr teX said:
Take in all the angles, not just those that you don’t agree with.

it’s only more sound if you believe none of these guys will get hurt throughout the year. That strategy Might be ok in a year where you have all your picks and you can scoop up a younger guy late in the draft to develop. But as you know, we don’t have all our picks and all 3 have relatively recent histories of injury...at a position where Attrition is high and a position where you’re most likely going to be running a high amount of your offense out of next year. In addition to that, all 3 of these guys have different skill sets.

When you factor in that we were GOD AWFUL running the ball last year and there’s been a clear effort to improve upon that for next year, it’s clear why NC wants a platoon of veteran guys at the RB position.
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Give the third chance to a young UDFA.
Who knows one might be a Lindsay or a Foster?
Why all 3 guys with certain injury history as you said.
 
Texian said:
If you're blowing up 2022 then why dump so much dead money and added salary cap into 2022?


Caserio is illustrating that he has no clue in what he is doing.
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I agree with the first statement. We should be looking to roll over as much cap money as we can.

Far as the second statement, if anything it shows we don't know what Caserio is doing.
 
thunderkyss said:
I agree with the first statement. We should be looking to roll over as much cap money as we can.

Far as the second statement, if anything it shows we don't know what Caserio is doing.
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If we don’t know what he is doing we should assume we are the genius and he is the idiot right?

I mean - that’s the guy who has the qualification over us- arm chair GMs.

Because that is the only logical assumption.

He idiot. Me am smart.
 
TexansBull said:
If we don’t know what he is doing we should assume we are the genius and he is the idiot right?

I mean - that’s the guy who has the qualification over us- arm chair GMs.

Because that is the only logical assumption.

He idiot. Me am smart.
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It’s quite possibly the funniest thing on this board I’ve seen in a while. The same folks in here talking about NC not knowing what he’s doing and that he should be doing it my way, the arm chair GM with no experience in an NFL FO whatsoever...................are the same folks who continue to be up in arms about Easterby being in a VP of football role ........with no experience.
 
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