The Texans have salary cap concerns and a lot of key players to take care of.
Arian Foster is a restricted free agent. Pro Bowl center Chris Myers is a free agent. Starting guard Mike Brisiel is a free agent.
Add it all up, and it will be very difficult to keep Mario Williams. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle writes that Williams would have to take a “hometown discount” to stay in Houston.
If that’s true, Williams is very likely to leave. What top players truly take hometown discounts? Williams has a good shot at becoming he highest paid defensive player in league history as a free agent. There is a reasonable debate if Houston’s defense is even the best fit for Williams’ skill set and the Texans defense did great without him.
The Texans can’t afford to use the franchise tag on Williams. On Tuesday’s NBC SportsTalk, Tom Curran and I looked ahead to some possible tags around the league. It makes more sense for the Texans to focus on deals for Foster, Myers, and next year’s free agents Duane Brown and Connor Barwin.
Williams sounds likely to play elsewhere in 2012.
