ALL IS FORGIVEN
How latest Texans violations point to changing tide in football
Dec 8, 2020, 12:49 pm
Things will work out just fine for Will Fuller.Composite photo by Brandon Strange
Texans wide receiver and soon-to-be free agent Will Fuller got popped for performance enhancing drugs and is suspended for the rest of this season and the first game of the 2021 campaign.
One NFL "insider" – these days there are more media types professing to be insiders than outsiders – said Fuller's suspension "certainly will hinder his value in the open market." Tough luck, Will Fuller.
You've heard about Emmanuel Duron, the Edinburg High School defensive lineman who ran back onto the field and clobbered a referee after being ejected from a game last week against Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Early College High School (does that even fit on a jersey?) Duron was arrested, hauled off to jail, and his team was booted from the Texas state playoffs.
Duron's football career is surely over, no college in its right mind or even remotely concerned about its image would ever let him on its team now. Actions have consequences, Emmanuel Duron.
Seriously? Fuller is coming off his career season in his contract year, 57 catches and eight touchdowns. For the first time in his five years with the Texans, he was injury-free and started every game before his early dismissal. Fuller is a deep-threat, touchdown-making, supremely gifted and super-fast receiver.
Fuller, only 26, will get every dollar he would have gotten if his urine had been clean – and probably more.
Duron's collegiate future depends on how many quarterback sacks he's worth, not past transgressions.
The thing about football is, a player's criminal record, lapses in judgment and poor behavior have little bearing on future earnings. In Fuller's case, the suspension might even be a plus - that's six games he won't get injured.
It was only last year when Cleveland Browns' lineman Myles Garrett tore the helmet off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and used it as a weapon to whack Rudolph in the head. Garrett was suspended for the rest of the season.
This year Garrett signed a $125 million contract with the Browns, making him one of the highest-paid defensive players in NFL history.
Quarterback Michael Vick went to prison for two years in 2007 after being convicted on dog fighting and animal cruelty charges. You can't get more despicable than that. When he got out of jail, his skills in steep decline, the Eagles signed him to a $100 million contract. After he crapped out in Philadelphia, two more teams, the Jets and Steelers, paid him millions to keep playing.
Someone leaked a video of Ole Miss offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil wearing a gas mask and smoking something from a bong, mind you, on NFL draft day in 2016. This year our Houston Texans signed Tunsil to a $66 million contract extension. The real price of the contract was multiple early-round draft picks. That deal helped put the "former" in former Texans general manager and head coach Bill O'Brien's time in Houston.
Tampa Bay Buccaneer receiver Antonio Brown is fresh off an 8-game suspension for felony burglary with battery charges. Over the years, he's been accused of multiple sexual assaults. He is one of the all-time bad teammates in NFL history. Possibly his biggest crime was appearing on the Masked Singer. With incentives, he could make $2.5 million this season.
Fuller paying the price for his PED suspension? He's closer to being named NFL's Man of the Year. Two years ago, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was suspended for PEDs and named Super Bowl MVP in the same season. In 2018, 34 players were facing suspension for performance enhancing drugs heading into Week One. Ten players have been suspended for PEDs already this season.
The NFL is hardly a crime-free zone. In just the past five years, 195 NFL players have been arrested or charged with everything from drunk driving, strangulation, felony intimidation, armed robbery, public intoxication, insider trading, discharge of a weapon, illegal drugs and injury to the elderly. If the U.S. prison system had a football team, it would be 5-point favorites over the Houston Texans.
So don't be concerned about Will Fuller getting less money next year because of his PED suspension. The bidding will start around $85 million and reach $100 million. He's at the top of the list of free agent receivers.
As for Emmanuel Duron, the high schooler who physically attacked a referee, no worries there, either. In fact, by the time Duron is ready for the NFL, the Texans may have a first-round draft pick.
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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
*ChatGPT assisted.
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