The Houston Texans began the week with a trade.
They're sending Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a fifth-round pick, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, who added that Howard is signing a three-year, $63 million contract extension with the Browns.
It's only been a few years since the Browns acquired a different star from the Texans and signed him to an extension. The Deshaun Watson trade certainly didn't work out well for Cleveland.
The Browns needed an offensive tackle, though, and Howard is a solid one, albeit one with some injury history and inconsistency.
For the Texans, though, the deal is even more fascinating.
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Why did the Texans trade Tytus Howard?
Howard's trade is most about contracts for other players.
The Texans evidently didn't want to extend Howard for more than $20 million per season. That's because they've got better young players to pay.
Will Anderson and C.J. Stroud will both be due for extensions sooner rather than later. The Texans will need all the money they can get.
"With big extensions on the horizon for Houston, headlined by Will Anderson Jr., the Texans are getting ahead of the cap crunch," The Athletic's Dianna Russini wrote on X after the deal was reported.
Howard hadn't been good enough to be a guaranteed success story on a big long-term contract, and so the Texans will instead turn their attention to guys they must feel more confident about securing for the long haul.
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