The Houston Texans re-signed productive tight end Dalton Schultz on a three-year, $36 million deal. The contract included $23.5 million in guaranteed money as well.
On its surface, the deal made Schultz the 12th-highest-paid tight end with a $12 million average annual salary and the seventh-highest-paid in guaranteed money. We now have a better breakdown of where that money is going over the length of Schultz’s three-year deal, according to Spotrac.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- Overall value: three years, $36 million
- Guaranteed money: $23.5 million
- Signing bonus: $7.5 million
- 2024 base salary: $5 million
- 2024 cap hit: $7.94 million
- 2025 base salary: $11 million
- 2025 cap hit: $14 million
- 2026 base salary: $11 million
- 2026 cap hit: $14 million
Those are, for all intents an purposes, relatively solid terms for a quality pass-catching tight end. The $7.94 million cap hit in 2024 gives the team more flexibility to add to the roster in free agency or through trades and the base salaries over the final two years aren’t outrageous if Schultz remains a staple of the offense.
Houston can also get out of the deal pretty easily after the 2025 season. While Schultz’s dead cap hit is $16 million if he’s released before the 2025 season, that number shrinks to just $2.5 million (the remaining signing bonus money due) before the 2026 season.
By that point, the Texans will know what they have both in Schultz and the team as a whole and can make a better decision on the future of the roster.
This deal, meanwhile, locks down one of the better players on the team’s offense in a pivotal season for the young Texans. Schultz caught 59 balls for 635 yards and five touchdowns in 2023 as one of the Texans’ most important offensive weapons.
