With the Houston Texans on their bye week, let’s take a peek ahead to the 2025 offseason and what their salary cap situation might look like entering Year 3 of the DeMeco Ryans era.
According to Over the Cap, the Texans are set to have $12.9 million in cap space at the current moment. That places Houston at 26th overall in space.
There are ways for the Texans to create space to bolster additional room in the budget. They could release multiple veterans that would take a minimal cap hit compared to larger than their dead cap hit if it remained on staff.
An example of this would be Shaq Mason, who if were to remain on the team, has a cap hit of $14.6 million. If released, his dead cap hit–or money that stays on the books even if cut–is $12.4 million, which feels ample but is minor compared to Laremy Tunsil or Tytus Howard.
Two other avenues of creating cap space can come via contract restructures or sometimes even extensions.
With a restructure, the team is essentially kicking the salary cap can down the road, by taking current year’s cap charges and pushing them into future contract years.
In an extension, with new years added to a current deal, that gives the team an avenue–somewhat like a restructure–to push cap charges to future years, thus helping to lower the current year’s cap hit.
In addition to all of that, any unused cap space from the current year is rolled over to the following year. As of now, the Texans have $5.73 million in unused cap space that could be added to their 2025 total.
Some money must be allocated to draft picks, but sights would turn to free agency soon after. Would Nick Caserio be willing to spend?
Last offseason, Caserio prioritized upgrading from the outside. While Houston extended tight end Dalton Schultz and receiver Nico Collins on three-year deals, it also brought in names like defensive lineman Denico Autry, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, and defensive end Danielle Hunter.
Houston also traded for All-Pro receiver Stefon Diggs and Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon for draft picks. Mixon was extended on a three-year deal while Diggs’ previous extension was voided by Caserio before the start of OTAs.
Everything is built around C.J. Stroud. The Texans must improve their offensive line if they play to be competitive in 2025. Next offseason will be important in helping the Texans go from being a fringe division leader to a legitimate playoff force.
