Texans, Owen Daniels Playing Contract Chicken

With Falcons offensive lineman Tyson Clabo signing his restricted free agency tender, only one unsigned restricted free agent remains: Texans tight end Owen Daniels. And if Daniels doesn’t accept his one-year, $2.792 million offer by June 15, things could get interesting. After that date, the Texans acquire the option to reduce the tender to the greater of the minimum salary for a player of Daniels’ experience level or 110 percent of his 2008 pay. Since he made $451,000 in 2008, the Texans would able to reduce the tender to the three-year veteran minimum of $535,000. The Texans applied the highest possible tender to Daniels, which would have entitled the team to a first-round and a third-round draft pick if he had signed an offer sheet that the Texans had then opted not to match. He received no interest before the April deadline for pilfering restricted free agents, likely due to the fact that no one would ever give up that much in trade for a tight end. Reducing the tender won’t be the best way to make their player happy, but it will be a good indication of how serious the Texans are about playing hardball with guys who want more money, like Daniels, cornerback Dunta Robinson, and linebacker DeMeco Ryans.