STOOTS ON TEXANS

11 observations you must know about from Houston Texans final offseason workout

11 observations you must know about from Houston Texans final offseason workout
Davis Mills was a bright spot for Houston. Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans had their last official workout before the summer break. Here are 11 observations from the practice.

1. The final day of workouts for the offseason possessed the best throws from Davis Mills of the open practices. Mills was crisp and showcased touch, power, and accuracy. Mills is by far the best quarterback in camp.

2. The highlight of the day was a strike down the middle of the field by Mills to an outstretched Chris Conley. The reception was fantastic from Conley and the ball from Mills was only where his wideout could catch it. The catch was about a 50-yard play.

3. Mills and Nico Collins have good chemistry. There was again a front-of-the-endzone touchdown catch from Collins today. Collins showcased body control and hands on the catch as he took it to the ground for a score.

 


4. Brandin Cooks is a tough cover for the defense. Steven Nelson didn't have a chance of stopping Cooks in the red zone. There was a sideline connection to gain a chunk of yards later in practice. Cooks should be in line for similar numbers to last year, but maybe with more efficiency if the other pass catchers can step up.

5. Pharaoh Brown shook loose in a red zone rep for a score. The big-bodied tight end hauled in a strike from Mills for a score. The tight end position is wide open for all contributors to step up and take over spots for the team.

6. A few hiccups for the running backs today. Marlon Mack had a drop on an easy pass. Rex Burkhead fumbled the ball on an inside toss from Davis Mills. It was a so-so day from a running back perspective.

7. Ross Blacklock made a big play on a rushing play that would have resulted in a huge loss for the offense. There is a lot of competition along the defensive line and that could be a tough spot to cut down in training camp.

8. Speaking of the defensive line, there were a couple of wins for those guys today. Laremy Tunsil saw on a couple of plays the reason why Jerry Hughes has been in the NFL for so long. Hughes won a rep that would have resulted in a crushing blow on a quarterback in a live rep.

9. Kenyon Green did a bit more than he had in previous open workouts. Derek Stingley did a bit less. Stingley has yet to widely participate in what coaches call "competitive" reps such as 1-on-1, 7-on-7, and team situations.

10. I hope I don't have to talk about him, well, ever, but the Texans might have a top-five player at one position. Punter Cameron Johnston can BOOM the ball. He spends time on a side field trying out new types of punts. It is remarkable to watch. That hopefully is the last punt update of the 2022 season.

11. This concludes the offseason portion for the Texans. The team now has a break of about six weeks until training camp begins in late July, and thus the 2022 season really begins. The current win projection for the Texans at most sportsbooks is 4.5 wins.

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A lockout appears unavoidable! Photo via: Wiki Commons.

Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.

“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.

Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.

After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.

“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”

Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.

“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”

The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.

“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”

A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.

Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”

“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”

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