Bill O'Brien Somehow Managed to Blow it by Paying Texans Star Laremy Tunsil
By Thomas Carannante
After all Bill O'Brien has done, the Houston Texans head coach/general manager finally got some credit for making his franchise left tackle happy. Laremy Tunsil was given a three-year, $66 million deal to remain with the team and to avoid further headaches entering his contract season.
Despite the move looking good on the surface considering Deshaun Watson will be protected without issue for a while, O'Brien massively overpaid for Tunsil, which is especially concerning given the expected troubles coming with the 2021 salary cap.
Top 5 paid NFL left tackles, per @Spotrac:
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) May 12, 2020
1️⃣Laremy Tunsil: $22M/year⁰2️⃣Anthony Castonzo: $16.5M⁰3️⃣Taylor Lewan: $16M⁰4️⃣Nate Solder: $15.5M
5️⃣DJ Humphries: $14.6M
Leave it to Houston to blow up the market ... right in the middle of the Ravens negotiating with Ronnie Stanley.
A cool $5.5 million more than the previously highest-paid left tackle, Indianapolis Colts star Anthony Castonzo. This, by the way, comes after the team gave up a TON of assets for Tunsil. O'Brien absolutely shattered the market here and left the Texans with less spending power in subsequent offseasons. Remember, this came AFTER he gave a sizable contract to Randall Cobb and took on the onerous deals of Brandin Cooks and David Johnson.
Instead of just giving DeAndre Hopkins the money he deserves, O'Brien went out and got three underachieving offensive players and then blew past the previous fiscal benchmark for offensive linemen.
Did the Packers' offseason moves put Aaron Rodgers and Co. in a bad spot? Are Bill O'Brien's Texans in trouble? @Gil_Brandt ranks the most vulnerable division winners heading into the 2020 season. https://t.co/wxKeriH2lS pic.twitter.com/MPaaKiPr53
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) May 10, 2020
We truly apologize to Texans fans who looked at the Tunsil deal as the silver lining in an otherwise disastrous offseason.