Owen Daniels Contract Negotiations

[NBT]

OD just needs to be patient awhile longer. The Texans have to get all the draft picks signed and in to TC before they can begin to address Daniels and Robinson, IMOG.

[Keith]

Rick Smith's comments:

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get a deal done because that’s something that's important to me," Smith said about Daniels. "We’re going to build this team through the draft, and that means that we’ve got to get our good players under contract long term. That was a big goal of ours this offseason that we didn’t accomplish.

"He’s under contract this year, and we’re not discussing his contract at this time. But we’ll have another opportunity to sit down and try to get him under contract long term. I'm not putting a timetable on it. He and I had a long conversation last night, and I expressed our feelings to him, and he expressed his feelings to us. We walked out of that meeting with an understanding about where we each sit. I will say again that he is a vital part of our team and our future, and we certainly intend to keep him around here for a long time.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...t/6556278.html

[cland]

I wonder if the Texans' haven't decided to go with a Lightening-Thunder combination after viewing film, or maybe the idea came from Alex Gibbs. That concept explains the drafting of James Casey and Antonio Hill, and maybe the reluctance to sign Daniels.

Let Daniels play while the new guys learn, and shift to the L/T scheme fully next year, and netting some cap savings.

[Nconroe]

1560 radio had a nice interview with OD while ago. This is what I think he said. He said he had a nice talk with Kubiak and Smith yesterday. He said he liked Houston, Texans and wanted to be here his whole career. He said when he's at practice he only thinks of being a good player and the team winning, or something like that. Then he said he was scared his plans for a long career here might not happen.

My thought is for OD to stop negotiating in public, don't critique your bosses in public unless all positive, and then good things will come in due time, like pretty soon. Spouting off in public probably makes things more difficult for your bosses. And be reasonable- big, big pay days take more than one good year, you're still a young man. if not right away, always play your hardest, be very positive, your payday will come. and btw, your current contract ain't that bad, almost 3 mil a year. I guess Smith will get to this after Cushing is done.

From first day of camp quotes, looks like Demeco and Owen both ready to play and leave new contracts as a separate business issue, more positive than I thought perhaps.

[superbowlbound]

I really don't see any negatives to locking up OD long-term, especially in the neighborhood of 12.5 guaranteed. Even if Casey turns out to be a savior, a pro-bowl tight end certainly has value on the trade market. 2nd round picks can turn into pretty damn effective players, and OD would certainly demand at least 1 of those. Besides, aside from his expressing his disappointment in not having a long-term deal (which is pretty nit-picky, imo), the guy has done absolutely everything right. he didn't even miss a day of OTA's, when a holdout would have been standard operating procedure for a player in his position. He's been uber-effective, at a very low cost, since he got here. He's earned a reasonable payday. I still think we have a new deal for OD before they put on the pads for real.

[kravix]

Originally Posted by superbowlbound

He's earned a reasonable payday. I still think we have a new deal for OD before they put on the pads for real.

I agree, but top 4 is slightly above reasonable for me, and number one, if even for a year, is over the top. Smith has said they offered a reasonable deal to him, no one knows what that was for sure but it what McClain reported was true then OD has become unreasonable and doesnt really want to play here.

[dadmg]

Originally Posted by superbowlbound

I really don't see any negatives to locking up OD long-term, especially in the neighborhood of 12.5 guaranteed. Even if Casey turns out to be a savior, a pro-bowl tight end certainly has value on the trade market.

A pro bowl TE does have trade value, but, its unlikely we will have any interest in trading him because guaranteed money would likely make it prohibitive early in the contract.