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I can't believe this guy got signed as a rookie for 54million. Dang!
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Defensive end Mario Williams, not Reggie Bush, is headed to Houston to become the first draft choice of new Texans head coach Gary Kubiak. The draft's biggest upset came before the event even kicked off.
Williams and the Texans reached agreement Friday night on a six-year, $54 million deal that includes $26.5 million worth of guaranteed money, according to a source close to the contract. Should Williams finish in the top five in the league in sacks or get 12 sacks in any one season, the value of the deal balloons to $62 million.
The deal -- which is not yet signed and will be finalized in writing over the next few days -- represents a 10.5 percent increase over the six-year, $49.5 million contract that the San Francisco 49ers awarded last year's No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Alex Smith.
One of the best aspects of Williams' deal is that he will count only $2.9 million against Houston's salary cap this season.
These are numbers that Bush is going to wish he would see, but will be hard pressed to duplicate. Throughout the past week, Bush held firm on his contract demands with the Texans and ultimately, in the end, Houston decided not to meet them. They opted to work with a more signable player who they decided could be the cornerstone of their defense, a player that Texans general manager Charley Casserly thinks has the potential to be better than Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers.
Passing up Houston's deal now looks like it is going to evolve into a mistake for Bush. For starters, New Orleans was not his first choice of cities to play in. Additionally, any team that drafts Bush is going to balk at paying him what Williams landed from Houston. The strategy of Bush's agent, Joel Segal, is going to be roundly questioned around the league.
How this upset evolved is the first fascinating story of the 2006 draft.
The Texans entered into serious negotiations with Williams on Friday afternoon, while at the same time, negotiations with Bush broke off. Texans owner Bob McNair talked about how his team had laid out two scenarios.
One featured drafting Bush and then the best pass-rushing defensive end in the second round. The other plan featured drafting Williams and then another running back with a high pick. The second plan was the one the Texans opted to pursue.
Now, the Saints have hit an early windfall. They are enamored with Bush, even though they didn't visit with him in person before the draft. Bush could go anywhere from No. 2 to the Saints or No. 4 to the New York Jets. The Saints said Friday they would entertain trade offers for their No. 2 spot and the right to draft Bush, though no team approached the Texans with an offer to trade up for Bush at No. 1, so it might be hard to envision a team trading up to No. 2 to get Bush there.
Whichever way it goes, almost every mock draft turned out to be wrong. And the most unpredictable draft in recent memory is, as of Friday night, almost underway.
WALK ON
The New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers are going to have an extraordinarily busy draft day. And not just with draft prospects.
Each of the three teams is discussing a draft-day deal with the Packers to land the wide receiver coming off a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Javon Walker spent Friday visiting with the Broncos, who tried keeping him in Denver. But somehow, the Patriots wrestled him away, and now, New England and Philadelphia's trainers will administer physicals to Walker in the Boston area.
But Walker's medical reports already checked out in other cities he visited.
MANNY AMONG BOYS
Saturday is going to be a gi-normous day for North Carolina State's defensive line. Williams is now expected to go No. 1 and his other end counterpart, Manny Lawson, could sneak into the draft's top 15 picks, higher than many mock drafts are expecting.
Lawson probably has this figured out by now -- he scored a remarkable 43 on the Wonderlic test that measures a person's intelligence. But it was not just Lawson's Wonderlic that stood out. So do some of his other numbers:
Lawson is 6-foot-6, 249 pounds. He runs the 40 in 4.41 seconds. He bench pressed 225 pounds 25 times. He vertical jumped 39 ½ inches. He long jumped 10.6 feet. Lawson is an engineering major, captain of his football team, ran track at North Carolina State and never has been injured.
Don't be surprised to see his name called shortly after Williams'.
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