Houston Texans re-signing Brandon Dunn offers a peculiar signal

The Houston Texans recently re-signed DE Brandon Dunn, which offers a peculiar signal in terms of the team’s direction. What’s going on? Let’s look.

The Houston Texans are in the midst of the offseason and it’s early as things materialize in regard to the latest on the update the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. It’s tough to tell if both the owners and players meet in the middle in terms of principles but at least from preliminary opinions, this could be drawn out for a bit.

The current CBA is good through this season and expires in 2021, which would after this upcoming season. The NFL owners are eager to get a deal done with the biggest highlights of the new CBA being that the schedule would be extended one week to 17 games and an expanded version of the playoffs.

That may sound good to the fan on paper but the players, who actually have to participate in those games my balk at the extra workload. And possibly not. There may be specific work rules that have been embedded into the contract language that the players don’t like that has to be worked out so it’s anyone’s guess on how this goes for the rest of the way.

J.J. Watt, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers have already expressed their displeasure with the proposal so I’m sure a sound majority will fall in line with them as those veterans know what’s best for not only themselves but for their brethren as well.

Talking about the CBA is important because it’s ultimately slowing down team’s move-making because they’re not sure what things will look like even if the contract is approved. I’m positive this is the reason why the Houston Texans haven’t made much moves since the end of their season.

The Houston Texans recently re-signed defensive end Brandon Dunn, 27, who has played a lot of nose tackle as of late has a healthy contract extension headed his way. He has been with the organization since 2015.

It’s going to be a three-year, $12 million extension with $4 million guaranteed. He’ll receive a $1.5 million signing bonus and $2.5M will be guaranteed for this upcoming season.

With the terms being disclosed, this was a rather easy deal to do because of it being cap-friendly and should have no effect on their spending whatsoever.

But the peculiar thing is that D.J. Reader still remains a free agent and it’s prudent that they re-sign him because although Dunn has some talent, he does not have the pedigree and power of Reader.

Reader can be extremely explosive as a pass-rusher and run-stopper and with him being an understudy to Vince Wilfork back during the 2015 season helped him grow into the NT role.

Pro Football Rumors’ Zach Links thinks that he could land a deal that is equivalent to Brandon Williams’ five-year, $52.5 million pact back in 2017.

Let me tell you — Reader will be worth every penny and the Houston Texans need to make strides to ensure he’s a part of the Houston Texans for a long time.

But with Deshaun Watson‘s massive contract extension getting ever closer, they may want to take care of the franchise quarterback now and worry about everybody else later.

Links thinks that Reader could receive the franchise tag, something that’s a rarity in terms of the

More from House of Houston

decision-making in the front office.

Only two men have that distinction — Dunta Robinson back in 2009 and Jadeveon Clowney this past offseason before he was eventually traded to the Seattle Seahawks.

Will Reader be the third? I doubt it and I’m positive that they’ll get a contract done for Reader that will pay him around $10-$12M over the next five seasons.

But Dunn is a nice insurance policy to have because he can admirably fill-in but Reader is an obvious choice to anchor the defensive line.

It will be interesting to see where general manager Bill O’Brien decides to go with this but he’ll have the consultation of his right-hand man Jack Easterby, executive vice president of football operations at his side to help.

Next. Texans: Bill O'Brien finally makes an important decision. dark

Let’s keep up with this amazing saga!

Dunn accumulated 25 tackles — 11 solos — along with 1.0 sack, four quarterback hits and one tackle-for-loss through all 16 games — six starts — last season.

Home/Houston Texans