Earl Cochran appeared in 24 games in his three seasons with the Texans
The Texans have withdrawn their qualifying offer (restricted free agent tender) to defensive lineman Earl Cochran, meaning Cochran is a free agent.
Cochran received the offer on February 26 along with four other Texans restricted free agents (RFAs): Owen Daniels, Joel Dreessen, David Anderson, and Rashad Butler.
RFAs not tendered by that date would have become free agents the next day.
Dreessen and Anderson have since signed contracts with the Texans. Daniels and Butler are expected to sign their deals in coming weeks,
Although not confirmed, it is likely that Cochran had received the low RFA tender of $1.01 million. Under free agency rules, the Texans would have retained right of first refusal on offers he may have received from other teams.
I first saw a hint of this news on scout.com and after a little digging, I've learned that Cochran's qualifying offer was withdrawn by the Texans on March 5.
It's a bit of a head scratcher that the Texans would withdraw an offer made only a week earlier, but at this point I can only guess that Cochran was a victim of the Antonio Smith signing on February 28 -- meaning (speculating) that Cochran was insurance if they couldn't land Smith.
Cochran, who will be 28 in April, is a high intensity - high motor type that you like to have in the rotation, but he was slowed by a toe injury last season.
The Texans currently have Tim Bulman, Stanley McClover and Jesse Nading in the defensive end rotation behind Mario Williams and Smith.
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Comments
Thanks for the news Alan. McClain has been a slacker lately. This move surprises me because based on his play last year I would have rated Earl and Bulman as better than McClover and Nading. Perhaps his injury is lingering. This also indicates to me that we anticipate using one of our 1st 4 draft picks on a DE that is expected to crack the starting rotation.
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