Daniels signs tender, will re-join Texans Monday

Owen Daniels is a vital cog in the Texans offense

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Texans tight end Owen Daniels has signed his one-year restricted free agent tender.

Here's what that means:

• It means Daniels now has a one year, $2.79 million contract.
• It means that Daniels is required to report to mandatory minicamp tomorrow or face fines.  Daniels filed a mini-protest last week by skipping the last voluntary OTA session, but don't worry, he'll be at minicamp.
• It means the Texans won't have the option to pull the tender off the table tomorrow and reduce Daniels' salary by over two million this year (they weren't going to do that anyway but they could under the rules).
• It could mean, as McClain is reporting, that negotiations are still underway on a long term deal - unless this is true.  It could also mean there's a more basic strategy afoot with the Texans and other teams around the league to limit long term spending because of the uncertainty in whether a new Collective Bargaining Agreement will be in place by March.  I think if Bob McNair was confident that a new CBA would be in place next year with similar free agent rules, then he wouldn't hesitate to lock up Daniels long term.  But then again, Daniels' agent could simply be holding out for money that McNair doesn't consider reasonable.  As it stands now, the Texans can go year to year on Daniels until 2011 if there isn't a new CBA because like the salary cap and floor, free agent rules go the way of the dodo bird in nine months without a new agreement.  Like a prominent Texans player's agent recently told me, 'this is business.'
• Last but not least, it means that the Texans now have 79 players under contract. The current NFL roster maximum is 80 and the Texans still have to sign six draft choices and one tendered free agent currently not counting against the roster limit, meaning they only have one more 'free' signing before they have to start releasing a player for every one they sign.

I hear a lot of talk about James Casey being a plug-and-play for Daniels, but Casey is a rookie and if he's capable of becoming OD 2.0, it will still take him a couple years to get up to speed.  The Texans need Daniels this year for sure, but with Owen signing his tender, that need is satisfied.

McClain points out the three most important things in a contract:  guaranteed money, income over the first three years and average per year.

Of those three, guaranteed money and early earning power are by fay the two most important.  Average per year can be a very misleading number, especially when a contract is backloaded with base salary that is not guaranteed and has a good chance of never being realized.