Kris Brown - extended
 

Texans have extended kicker Kris Brown. Here is the link to the article.
He has been a really good kicker here. He is not the typical kicker, he will stick his nose in the play, even recovered a fumble last year.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6484593.html

From the link in the OP:
Brown, 32, was in the final year of his contract extension that had paid him a $1.9 million signing bonus and $1.35 million in base this year.

Kickers can kick a long time, so Brown seems like a safe investment at an inflation-adjusted rate (NFL's verison at least) at first glance. I think there's always a fear that any kicker will get the shanks or yips or something, but this still makes sense to get done.

Brown has nailed 7-8 FGAs from 50+ the last two seasons, and his FG% has been 86%+ and his PATs have been 100% over that span as well.

Some of out best wins were on last second FG's by Brown. The Packer game last year, the Dolphins game two years ago, the Indy game at Home. He has been very, very good for us. I feel good when he is lining up to make a kick.

Brown had one year that was a little scetchy...but he's been solid since then. I'm interested in how hard the UDFA Aggie can push Turk for the punting job.

Good signing IMO. Kris is pretty deadly from 50+, but a kind of curious thing is, IIRC his 30-40 numbers aren't as good as his 50+ are. Not a big deal, just sort of interesting from a "Huh?" standpoint.

It might seem that way, but I quickly glanced at his stats and his percentage is significantly higher from 30-40 yards than it is 50+. You probably get more agitated about misses from the shorter range and therefore they stick out in our minds a little more. Conversely, the misses from 50+ are more acceptable so maybe they don't create such a lasting impression.

On a side note he's only 78.6% on FG's for his career. I don't look at kicker stats much, but I thought he would've been better than that.

Huh, didn't know that. I was just going off of something Texans Chick putout a year or so ago, but your probably right, it just seems more upsetting when one of the shorter ones are missed than the 50+ ones. To me, they are kind of a coin toss item and just extra icing so to speak when they are hit. The 30-40 on the other hand are kind of in the expected category and make my stomach drop when he misses, which fortunately isn't very often.

He had a really off year a few seasons ago. Maybe for that year he was better from fifty plus.

Are you referring to 2004? I don't have any links handy, but that off year he had was caused by an injury Brown played through, I think to his hip (and maybe a related one to his groin). We as fans weren't keenly aware of it at the time, but I seem to recall details of the injury coming out after the season was over.

that would be about right

Thought his foot was hurt, and he had a hard time practicing...

I used to hang out with his publicist, and she told me Kris and his wife where two of the nicest people in the world.

Brown does wonderful work with children stricken with cancer, he is just the type person McNair tries to surround himself with.

Congratulations to him on another extension.

Plus, I seem to remember when the Texans signed him away from Pittsburgh a lot of people were claiming that his lower percentage there was due to the nasty winds that Pitt kickers have to deal with and that in Houston he would be much better. I don't know what his stats in Pitt were, but they might be dragging down his career numbers some.

His percentages in pittsburgh had to have had a pretty adverse effect on his career percentage. According to Matt Jackson, he's 83% and change, I want to say 83.6 since coming to houston.

I'm glad Kris got his deal. He's a great player and community contributor.
So, overall, FG% is 78.6, with Texans it is 79%.
The last two were Kris's best. stat's from Houston Texan's website

Year Team G GS xpm xpa xp% fgm fga fg%
1999 PIT 16 0 30 31 96.8 25 29 86.2
2000 PIT 16 0 32 33 97.0 25 30 83.3
2001 PIT 16 0 34 37 91.9 30 44 68.2
2002 HOU 16 0 20 20 100.0 17 24 70.8
2003 HOU 16 0 27 27 100.0 18 22 81.8
2004 HOU 16 0 34 34 100.0 17 24 70.8
2005 HOU 16 0 24 24 100.0 26 34 76.5
2006 HOU 16 0 26 27 96.3 19 25 76.0
2007 HOU 16 0 40 40 100.0 25 29 86.2
2008 HOU 16 0 37 37 100.0 29 33 87.9
Totals 160 0 304 310 98.1 231 294 78.6

If the new guarantee is correct as reported at $2.5 million, then the total four-year extension is worth $10.2 million.

Interestingly, Brown's 2009 base is unchanged per the NFLPA. Given the new signing bonus (esp. since part of it is now allocated into the current cap year), it is common for the current year base to be reduced, usually to the vet min. Also, note anything unusual about his new base salaries?

2010 - $1.95 million
2011 - $1.75 million
2012 - $2.00 million
2013 - $2.00 million

Base salaries are structured in negotiations like this sometimes to get more money sooner in the deal, but in light of 2010 being potentially uncapped, I wonder if that had anything to do with the 2010 base being higher than 2011. Probably not, but curious anyway.

btw - updated cap page has been loaded to the site. FINALLY resolved my issues by getting new software for the laptop, an expense I avoided for too long. Should be easier for me to update the site now though.

Keith,

Could it be that he has a bigger roster bonus in 2011 than 2010, or possibly less money as incentives and more almost garanteed and easier to attain?

I'm not sure how the $2.5 million is guaranteed. My first guess is that it's a straight up signing bonus with no roster bonuses (though maybe his standard workout bonuses are guaranteed again), but the bottom line at the moment is that I'm not sure yet.

Plus, pro-rated over five years, $2.5 million divdes very nicely into a nice half million per. With a legit vet kicker like Brown, on a fair $10M contract extension like this one, there probably isn't much funny business going on.