Houston Texans

The Texans have revised the contract of running back David Montgomery, who they traded for at the start of the league year.

He will receive a raise, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC, now due $16.5 million over the next two seasons on a deal that includes a $6.5 million signing bonus.

Montgomery, 28, will have a fully guaranteed $1.5 million base salary this year and can earn a total of $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. His first-year payout is up to $8.5 million.

In 2027, Montgomery is scheduled to have a $7.5 million salary, $2 million of which is guaranteed, and a total of $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses.

He was previously due a non-guaranteed $5.49 million base salary this year and $7.49 million in 2027 with void years in 2028 and 2029.

Montgomery totaled 158 carries for 716 yards and eight touchdowns for the Lions last season, playing behind Jahmyr Gibbs. He requested a trade for an expanded role elsewhere, and the Lions sent him to Houston for offensive guard Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round selection and a seventh-round pick.

“Houston was definitely the place that I wanted to go,” Montgomery said Friday, via Wilson. “I was in Detroit, a very successful organization, and I practiced against Houston a couple of times and they’ve always been the hardest team to practice against.”

A day before Seahawks G.M. John Schneider addressed the potential impact of Washington’s looming “millionaire tax” on the defending Super Bowl champions, Simms and I stumbled into a conversation about state income taxes during PFT Live.

The spark came from the trade that has sent defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa from the Cowboys (and Texas) to the 49ers (and California). In his last stop, there was no state income tax. At his new team, he’ll lose 13.3 percent, off the top.

It’s not as clean and simple as every penny of compensation being taxed, or not, by the state where the team plays. For road trips, the game check is taxed by the state in which the game happens. It gets more complicated as to per-game roster bonuses. As we hear it, some states try to tax the visiting player based also on a percentage of the full-year roster bonuses and/or the prorated portion of the signing bonus for the season in which the game is played.

And, yes, the lack of state income tax becomes a selling point in free agency, which explains Schneider’s concerns about Washington’s tax rate for millionaires increasing from 0.0 percent to 9.9. But, as Odighizuwa will learn the hard way, that doesn’t matter if the free-agent contract also doesn’t include a no-trade clause.

Regardless, the variations in state income tax create an imbalance as it relates to the most important aspect of anyone’s pay — how much they take home.

Simms mentioned on Thursday’s PFT Live that he heard something interesting from someone in the league who saw the tax discussion from the day before. (And, yes, plenty of people in the league watch PFT Live — probably because it features no phony debates, no false praise, no reckless hype, no minced words, and no performative antics.) There’s an argument to be made that the salary cap should take state income taxes into account.

It would be complicated, given that taxes depend on where games are played. Still, every team has eight or nine home games per year. That’s roughly half of the compensation, taxed based on where the team is located.

The real question is whether teams should get more to spend, given that more of what is paid will end up being taken off the top by the state government. Some teams may not want to do it, since having a higher cap means having a higher floor means spending more money that otherwise would be siphoned away as pure profit.

And the numbers would be significant. At a 2026 salary cap of $301.2 million, providing the Rams, Chargers, and 49ers with a 13.3-percent bump would push the cap to $341.2 million for those teams.

The deeper question is whether state income taxes make a competitive difference. As noted the other day, most of the teams in the no-tax states haven’t been to a Super Bowl this century. (The Seahawks and Buccaneers are the exception; the Titans, Cowboys, Dolphins, Jaguars, and Texans are not.)

Part of the problem is that most players don’t fret about state income taxes, even if they should. Players focus mainly on annual average, the true locker-room measuring stick that determines the pecking order among the most and least valuable players.

Although it would indeed be difficult to come up with the right way to determine cap credits, since the total tax burden depends on where games are played, that would be doable. The bigger challenge would be to get all teams in states with income tax to agree to a higher cap in order to account for it.

News flash: Not every team is as obsessed with winning as they pretend to be. For many owners, it’s about profit. Having more money to spend means having less to buy giant yachts or that much-needed tenth home. Especially since the owners of the teams in the high-tax states are also paying those increased rates, too.

Just kidding. The ultra-rich have seemingly cracked the code on eating nearly every ounce of what they kill. Which is another reason why the owners of the teams in the high-tax states won’t want to have more to spend — even if they have to say they do.

Veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson signed this week with the Bills. In his introductory press conference, he addressed one of the biggest issues hovering around him — a reputation for being a not-ideal teammate.

Gardner-Johnson said he’s not concerned about perceptions.

“I look at it like this,” Gardner-Johnson said, “if — and I don’t throw shade. I don’t throw — because locker rooms that I’ve been in, we’ve won. But the situation I got traded to, like, it’s hard to go into something where you’re not really familiar. Like, it’s like spurts. . . . That’s like going to McDonald’s. You can eat McDonald’s, but you don’t know how to make the fries. So, it’s like, I’m not saying you didn’t know how to play football, it’s just like, you have to gather that relationship while trying to get better while trying — and the season comes quick and all. Once the moves, the draft picks get in, it’s on you.”

He was traded to Houston last year. After the deal was done, Gardner-Johnson said the Eagles shipped him out because they were “scared of a competitor.”

The Texans abruptly cut him after an 0-3 start, without trying to trade him. After a short stint with the Ravens, he landed in Chicago.

With the Bears, he had 10 regular-season appearances with seven starts. He also started the divisional-round playoff game against the Rams.

“For me, I look at, like, every place I’ve been with, I won,” Gardner-Johnson said. “If it was a locker room problem, I just result back to whatever came out. Why now? Like, why now? If I was a locker room problem, like why now? What was the news flashes when we were winning, going 14-3? When we were on the top of the mountain. . . . When I was catching six [interceptions], but where was those like — but why now? So I just take it with a grain of salt . . . it is what it is.”

Gardner-Johnson, 28, has played for the Saints, Eagles, Lions, Eagles again, Texans, Ravens, and Bears. He has appeared in 87 regular-season games with 71 starts, and he was a member of the Super Bowl LIX championship team in Philadelphia.

The Texans announced a series of moves on Friday. Most of them were re-signings or signings of free agents, but two were cuts.

The team released defensive tackles Kurt Hinish and Mario Edwards Jr.

Hinish, who turns 27 in April, appeared in 42 games with four starts from 2022-24. He went on reserve/physically unable to perform with an undisclosed injury before the 2025 season and did not play a down.

In his career, Hinish has totaled 57 tackles, 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits.

Edwards, 32, spent the past two seasons with the Texans, playing 27 games with 12 starts. He totaled 44 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 12 quarterback hits.

The Raiders made him a second-round pick in 2015, and he has also played for Giants, Saints, Bears, Titans and Seahawks.

The moves come as the Texans re-signed defensive tackles Naquan Jones and Sheldon Rankins.

The Texans also announced they signed safety Reed Blankenship, defensive end Logan Hall, linebacker Jake Hummel, defensive end Dominique Robinson and offensive tackle Braden Smith.

David Montgomery had a career-low 716 rushing yards last season, but he says he isn’t slowing down.

Montgomery, who was traded from the Lions to the Texans this week, told reporters in Houston today that he thinks he’s as good as he’s ever been.

“I honestly feel like I’m in my prime. Am I able to handle the work load? Yes, because I work hard in the offseason to be able to do something like that,” Montgomery said, via Jonathan M Alexander of the Houston Chronicle.

Montgomery said he’s eager to play a big role in the offense and work with quarterback C.J. Stroud. He also said the Texans have been a tough team when he’s played them in the past, and he always thought Texans head coach like DeMeco Ryans was the kind of coach he’d love to play for.

The Texans knew heading into the offseason that running the football better was a priority. They think they can make that happen after trading for Montgomery, who at age 28 is eager to show what he has left.

Free agent tight end Foster Moreau has agreed to terms with the Texans, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports.

Moreau, who turns 29 in May, will join a tight ends room that has Dalton Schultz as the starter.

The Saints added Noah Fant to the position to replace Moreau.

Moreau played 11 games for the Saints in 2025 after missing time at the beginning of the season on the physically unable to perform list and at the end of the season with an ankle injury. He caught seven passes for 59 yards.

He spent the past three seasons in New Orleans after signing as a free agent in 2023.

Moreau was with the Raiders for his first four seasons.

He has appeared in 104 games in his seven seasons, making 151 receptions for 1,722 yards and 18 touchdowns.

The Titans are signing veteran punter Tommy Townsend to a two-year deal worth up to $6 million, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Townsend, 29, spent the past two seasons in Houston. The Texans traded for Saints punter Kai Kroeger earlier Tuesday.

Townsend had an up-and-down 2025 season but finished with a 47.6-yard average on 72 punts with a 41.6-yard net.

He spent his first four seasons in Kansas City and made the Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro in 2022.

In his career, Townsend has averaged 47.6 yards on 349 punts with a 42.8-yard net.

Johnny Hekker was the Titans’ punter last season, averaging 46.8 yards on 78 punts, with a 40.3-yard net.

The Texans have agreed to terms with free agent defensive lineman Logan Hall on a two-year, $7 million deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.

Hall, who turns 26 next month, entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2022. He spent his first four seasons in Tampa.

Hall has played all but two games in his career.

In 2025, he appeared in all 17 games, with 16 starts, and totaled 39 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

He has recorded 101 tackles, 10 sacks, 23 quarterback hits and four passes defensed in his career.

The Texans are trading for Saints punter Kai Kroeger, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. The teams will swap late-round picks, with the Saints receiving Houston’s sixth-rounder in 2028 and the Texans receiving New Orleans’ seventh-rounder that same year.

Kroeger, 23, signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina last year.

He finished his rookie season averaging 44.8 yards on 56 punts, with a 37.3-yard net. Kroeger landed 18 punts inside the 20, while getting two punts blocked.

The Texans are replacing veteran Tommy Townsend, who had an up-and-down season. He averaged 47.6 yards per punt with a net of 41.6.

Houston also extended the contract of kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on Tuesday.

The i’s are dotted; the t’s are crossed; and apparently, all of the Texans’ contract extensions have been approved by the NFL.

The team made the signings of defensive end Danielle Hunter, offensive guard Ed Ingram, tight end Dalton Schultz, offensive tackle Trent Brown, safety M.J. Stewart and linebacker E.J. Speed official by announcing the extensions.

All the extensions were previously reported.

A report on Tuesday morning indicated the contracts given to Hunter and Schultz were disapproved by the league official. The Texans, according to the report, considered the issue minor and a matter of semantics.

Hunter got one year and $40 million added to his deal, while Schultz will see another year and $12.6 million on his.

The Texans re-signed kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on Tuesday, but that was not among the signings announced by the team.