Even with left tackle Duane Brown skipping offseason workouts and holding out from the start of training camp in West Virginia, Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith doesn’t feel he has anything to discuss with the former Pro Bowler.
According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, Smith’s stance is that Brown is under contract and that’s that.
“I have talked to Duane,” Smith said. “There is no contract dispute. Duane is under contract for two more years. That’s our position.
“We’re here to get our team ready for the season. He should be a part of it. Duane and I have a really good relationship. He’s our longest-tenured player. He’s an important member of our team, and he ought to be here. He needs to be here.”
NFL teams can be hesitant to issue contract extensions to players with more than one year remaining on their current contracts. That doesn’t mean they never happen though. The Texans themselves have broken that mold for Andre Johnson and J.J. Watt in the past. However, DeAndre Hopkins was unsuccessful in leveraging a contract with two years left on his deal a season ago.
Brown was placed on the reserve/did not report list by the Texans on Tuesday. Brown already has skipped the full offseason program, including a mandatory mini-camp that exposed him to roughly $80,000 in fines. Because Brown is under contract, each day missed of training camp carries a potential $40,000 fine as well.
He is scheduled to make $9.4 million this season and $9.75 million in 2018.