Texans Salary Cap Tracker: Cap Space, Dead Money and New Contracts

The Houston Texans have spent this NFL offseason staying busy in getting this roster better suited and more well-rounded from where they stood last season. Between several signings, releases, and many trades, it's placed this team as one of the more active across the league for this time of year.

And with those roster changes, there have also come some big adjustments in how the Texans' salary cap has shaken out with it.

Let's take a peek at where the Texans' salary cap situation stands between their space that's still available, dead money, and how exactly they've spent their cash through the initial portion of the offseason thus far.

Cap Space: $14.9M

Aug 16, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio stands on the field before the game against the Carolina Panthers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

According to OverTheCap, the Texans are currently sitting right under $15 million in terms of cap space, and at $9.2 million in effective cap space, giving a better baseline of how much money Houston has left to spend for any further acquisitions.

The number realistically puts Houston out of range of any splash acquisitions without making notable changes on the books. Re-structuring Nico Collins' contract still remains on the table as a route for the Texans to add more monetary flexibility, but it remains to be seen if Nick Caserio will pull that out of his toolbox.

Dead Money: $66.3M

Oct 20, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Houston Texans offensive tackle Tytus Howard (71) warms up before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Texans have a good chunk of dead money to note on the books coming out to a total of over $66 million (per OverTheCap); a lot of which stems from roster turnover across this offseason, but also a few lingering moves from beyond the past couple of months:

Tytus Howard, OL: $23.6M
Christian Kirk, WR: $11.3M
Shaquille Mason, OL: $7,3M
Cam Robinson, OL: $7.0M
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Jr., S: $5.6M
Denico Autry, DL: $5.0M
Joe Mixon, RB: $2.0M
Sheldon Rankins, DL: $2.0M
Mario Edwards Jr., DL: $1.0M
Nick Niemann, LB: $750K
Juice Scruggs, OL: $358K

The biggest number stems from Tytus Howard's $23.6 million, coming as a result of Houston's offseason trade to ship him to the Cleveland Browns that ultimately saved money in the long-term by not signing him to a new extension, but brings a big dead money hit in the short-term.

New Contracts

Oct 26, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship (32) against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Houston's not only been busy by bringing in veterans on new contracts via the free agent market, but they've also hashed out a handful of new deals and extensions to retain their own talent as well.

Free Agency Pickups

Reed Blankenship, S: three-year, $24.6M
Braden Smith, OT: two-year, $20M
Logan Hall, DL: two-year, $13.7M
Foster Moreau, TE: two-year, $6.3M
Jake Hummel, LB: two-year, $4.75M
Dominique Robinson, DL: one-year, $3M
Evan Brown, OL: one-year, $2.5M

Re-Signing/Extensions

Danielle Hunter, DL: one-year extension, $40.1M
Ed Ingram, OL: three-year, $37.5M
Sheldon Rankins, DL: two-year, $17M
Ka'imi Fairbairn, K: two-year extension, $13M
Dalton Schultz, TE: one-year extension, $12.1M
EJ Speed, LB: two-year, $10M
Trent Brown, T: one-year, $5.5M
M.J. Stewart, S: one-year, $2.7M
Naquan Jones, DL: one-year, $2M
Kaevon Merriweather, S: one-year, $1.1M
Jarrett Kingston, OT: one-year, $1.1M
Jamarcus Ingram, CB: one-year, $1M

In all, it's seven new free agency additions and a dozen names from last year's roster either re-signed upon their previous contract expiring, or an extension in the case of Hunter, Schultz and Fairbairn.

Perhaps the Texans might not be just yet when it comes to adding new faces via free agency. However, expect most of that action to quiet down until getting on the other side of the draft later this month, where they may then try to patch any remaining holes with another affordable veteran pickup.

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