The Houston Texans have agreed to send starting RT Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 5th round draft pick. The Browns and Howard also agreed to terms on a three year, $63 million contract extension which will be officially finalized once the start of the new league year happens on March 11th and the league officially processes trades. For the time being we have moved Howard off of the Texans roster and placed him on the Browns roster at his current salary cap charge.

Howard was in the final year of a three year extension that he signed back in 2023. Howard only played in 7 games that year, but has started 32 games in the last two years and is considered an above average starter at the position. Howard was set to count for $27.9 million on the Texans salary cap and will now count for $23.689 million in dead money. This marks the second major offensive tackle trade made by the Texans who traded LT Laremy Tunsil to the Commanders last year rather than dealing with an extension for another veteran tackle.

The Browns entire offensive line was pretty much all free agents this year so this will lock down at least one of the starting spots for them. While they will need the $17.98 million in cap space to execute the trade, expect Howard’s cap number to fall significantly once they sign the extension and put all his salary for the year in a signing bonus.