Texans Lose Mario Williams To Bills In Free Agency

This news comes courtesy of a “source close with the situation,” too, considering it was Ward himself that tweeted the news Monday night.

Yours truly is unaware of a statistic for “special teams demon,” but NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus gave some other reasons Ward might no longer be wanted by the Texans.

NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora can’t confirm but hears Williams will average $16 million per season and $50 million guaranteed. That would put the total value around $96 million.

For more on Williams’ blockbuster deal with the Bills, check out Buffalo Rumblings.

That the Bills would be interested, though, should not surprising. Williams has averaged about .65 sacks per game over the course of his six-year career, which translates to more than 10 sacks in a 16-game season. The Bills were tied for 27th in the NFL with just 29 sacks last season.

For more on Williams potentially signing with the Bills, check out Buffalo Rumblings.

Why the Bears would make signing Williams a priority should not come as a big shock. Despite playing in just five games after suffering a torn pectoral muscle and being placed on injured reserve for the second straight season, Williams is an absolute beast.

The former No. 1 overall draft pick has produced 53.0 sacks during his six-year NFL career. That’s basically .65 sacks per game or more than 10 sacks per 16 games. In his best years, he’s produced as much as 14.0 sacks and 59 tackles, although that was in 2007 and offenses have clearly figured out ways to limit his production.

Vickers now hits free agency, which starts at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday afternoon.

The Texans running game will look different next year with the release of Vickers and, on Monday night, the surprise release of right tackle Eric Winston. Houston was one of the top running games in the league last year. The Texans will probably find someone younger and cheaper to block for Arian Foster next year. Vickers’ loss shouldn’t be a significant one.

For more free agency updates, go to SB Nations Texans blog, Battle Red Blog.

The 2012 NFL free agency period will be starting on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET. The moment the clock strikes 4 p.m., players without a contract will be eligible to talk with and sign with any team. The NFL draft is the best way to build your team, but sometimes those players need to develop and you don’t get an instant impact. Free agency allows you to bring in veteran players who have proven themselves in the league.

For more free agency updates, go to SB Nations Texans blog, Battle Red Blog.

Winston can expect to have multiple suitors in free agency.

For more on the Houston Texans offseason, keep up with Battle Red Blog. And for more on Houston sports, visit SB Nation Houston.

For more on the Houston Texans offseason, keep up with Battle Red Blog. And for more on Houston sports, visit SB Nation Houston.

Foster likely would have been tendered at the first-round level had the Texans not signed him. As Foster was a restricted free agent, another team could have stepped in and offered him a contract that, if the Texans chose not to match it, would have cost a first round pick in exchange for the rights to Foster. That won’t be happening now.

Foster is one of the great undrafted free agent stories in recent memory. He wasn’t picked in the 2009 NFL draft, but in his second year he rushed for more than 1,600 yards. In his last two seasons with the Texans, he has rushed for more than 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns. He’ll be in Houston for a long time.

“News to me, man,” Myers told HoustonTexans.com. “I don’t know what was going on. I’m just like anyone else reading that type of stuff, but it is what it is. In the long run, I want to be here in Houston, so that’s what I’ve been telling everybody when everyone asks me stuff, and that’s what it sums up to be. I want to be here. I want to see things through, and that’s the way it is. So that’s kind of the bottom line of my thinking.”

For more on the Houston Texans offseason, keep up with Battle Red Blog.

Now given this report, the Packers could very likely face tampering charges should the Houston Texans pursue them.

Under the CBA, teams are not allowed to discuss, publicly or privately, pending free agents. Until the start of the new league year, the players are still considered part of their current team.

In a live blog on Tuesday, John McClain of Ultimate Texans had this to say about Williams:

McClain considers Williams to be a top priority for the Texans in the offseason. The team will certainly make him an offer, but will likely not be able to break the bank in order to retain his services.

John McClain at The Houston Chronicle’s Ultimate Texans blog reports that Williams is aware of the deep market for a talented linebacker this offseason, as well as the fact that he might be at the top of many teams’ wish lists for their roster in 2012.

Williams went on to say that he loves being in Houston, but his final decision will ultimately come down to what makes the most sense, business-wise. For their part, the Texans will hope to free up enough cap room to make Williams a competitive offer. They will not be able to afford a franchise tag for Williams, which would run them about $22.9 million.

In hindsight, Houston’s decision to hire Wade Phillips as their defensive coordinator in 2011, and move to the 3-4 defense, was one of the better moves of the year. Many still had their doubts about the move in August, mostly because of the decision to remove Williams’ hand from the dirt. Pundits continued on and on about Williams’ struggles throughout the NFL preseason.

The Case For Staying In Houston