2009 Cap

[Keith]

Shadowy capologist AdamJT13 posted at KFFL what teams used the Philly Loophole to increase their 2009 cap space and by how much. Take the link to read it in full detail (27 of the 32 teams took advantage of the loophole this year).

Pertinent to the Texans is this:

Houston -- $2,032,327
...
Houston -- Mike Brisiel $2,032,327

So, this is interesting for a couple reasons.
(1) The Texans finished the 2008 season somwhere shy of $3 million in available space (last credible figure I seem to remember having was around $2.41 million, yes the ItB.com page is a little out of date in that regard). The # above forwarded to 2009 shows a minimum of available space left in 2008.
(2) It obviously reflects some additional purchasing power in 2009, but it ranks around 21st if I counted down correctly, so please hold your cartwheels.
(3) In order to forward this sum, the Texans had to of renegotiated a contract with Brisiel... something which not surprisingly eluded our local media. Basically the team inserted a junk incentive very late in the season into Brisiel's contract; the extent to which the rest of his contract was altered is at this time unknown.

Brisiel had been scheduled to become a ERFA this offseason. The NFLPA currently shows him under contract for 2009 at a minimum base salary ($460k) for someone with his # of years. Other similarly situated players, like Earl Cochran, don't appear to have been tendered yet.