It has been an active and aggressive free agency period for the Houston Texans. Following a second straight divisional-round exit, GM Nick Caserio and the front office made the decision to revamp the roster radically. As a result, Houston moved on from offensive linemen Shaq Mason, Laremy Tunsil, and Kenyon Green and replaced them with Laken Tomlinson. Most of their resources, however, were invested in other positions.
One of the areas that the Texans bolstered in the offseason is the wide receiver room. Houston sent a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to the Jaguars in exchange for WR Christian Kirk. On Friday, they restructured his deal to save them over $12 million in 2025 cap space, per Texans insider Aaron Wilson.
The Houston Texans have restructured wide receiver Christian Kirk’s contract to free up more salary cap space. https://t.co/rJ1iMG0Izt
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) March 14, 2025
Texans Create Over $12 Million in Cap Space by Restructuring Christian Kirk's Contract
Kirk was entering the final season of his four-year, $72 million deal. He was due a base salary of $15.5 million for next season. Many were wondering whether the Texans would give him a contract extension before the season. Instead, they decided to restructure his deal to give themselves more financial wiggle room.
Kirk's 2025 salary has been converted into a $14 million signing bonus while lowering his salary to the league minimum of $1.17 million. He has become the third Texans player after Nico Collins and Azeez Al-Shaair to have his contract reworked to give the team more cap space.
This move adds void years at the end of Kirk's contract, meaning that the Texans will now have $11.4 million of dead cap on their books in 2026 and three more years of cap hit after that.
The Texans now have a chance to continue using cap space to add to the roster. With a completely revamped offensive line and a hopefully better WR room, the Texans hope to give CJ Stroud a better offensive ecosystem to thrive in his third season. How they will use this newfound additional cap room remains to be seen.