NFL and Texans Miss Key Contract Error: How a $399,781 Mistake Slipped Through the Cracks
The NFL Management Council and Houston Texans missed a detail on the Ka’imi Fairbairn contract extension signed back in March. Yesterday, on September 23, the league office found the error and worked with the Houston Texans on correcting it.
In today’s post, I will break down what the error was and what it means.
This morning (September 24), I received a message from a trusted source that something was happening with the Houston Texans regarding the Ka’imi Fairbairn contract.
Simultaneously, I requested confirmation from the Houston Texans on the matter. The Texans Public Relations team confirmed the error, and the team would receive a salary cap adjustment for the 2024 league year.
A few hours later the news broke with some scant details from Mike Florio at ProFootball Talk.
Full disclosure: I was already aware of the error. I found the mistake on March 17th when I received the contract details. I contacted Jason Fitzgerald (owner of OverTheCap), who confirmed what I discovered. I reached out to another contact, who confirmed the numbers were the same with the NFL Management Council as compared to the numbers I had. However, I couldn’t prove the mistake definitively at the time with another source, so I moved on with my work.
Before today’s news, I had applied the correction to Fairbairn’s 2024 salary cap figure both on my tracking spreadsheet and what is posted on Overthecap.com.
So what happened? To answer that, we need to go back in time.
October 5, 2023
Houston Texans and Ka’imi Fairbairn complete a basic restructure contract renegotiation by converting base salary to signing bonus. The new contract also included four (4) void years for salary cap purposes.
For salary cap purposes, void years are used to spread out the converted bonus money over multiple years (up to five). The contract was set to void on March 13, 2024. Ka’imi Fairbairn was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at 3 PM CST on March 13, 2024.
March 11, 2024
Houston Texans and Ka’imi Fairbairn agree to a three (3) year contract extension, running through the 2026 season. The initial details received are as follows (which were incorrect) and omitted a key element:
I quickly noticed that $399,781 from the 2027 void year wasn’t reflected in the new salary cap figures for 2023 or 2024. Salary cap dollars for cash already spent can’t disappear—those cap dollars should have been applied to the current league year.
Since the contract was signed before the start of the 2024 league year, the $399,781 (from the 2027 void year) should accelerate and be applied to Fairbairn’s 2023 salary cap charge.
Ka’imi Fairbairn’s salary cap charge for 2023 should have increased from $4,067,533 to $4,467,314 as a result of the 2027 pro-rated salary cap dollars accelerating forward to the 2023 league year.
However, when the contract was submitted, neither the NFL Management Council nor the Texans caught the mistake.
NFL Management Council
The NFL Management Council, located at the league office, oversees player contracts, NFL rosters, and team operations. Its duties include ensuring that contracts comply with the NFL By-Laws and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and that teams have sufficient salary cap space to accommodate new deals.
In this case, both the Texans and the Management Council missed the error. The contract should have been rejected and sent back to the team for correction.
The NFL Management Council should act as a double check on what the NFL team is submitting. The team should also ensure all of the above compliance items are checked before contract submittal.
Were the Houston Texans Over the Salary Cap?
No. The Texans had approximately $931,555 in cap space for the 2023 league year before completing the Fairbairn extension. Contrary to the ProFootball Talk report, which suggested the team exceeded the cap for two days, the Texans remained in compliance throughout the 2023 league year. The team had more than enough space to cover the $399,781 acceleration, which the Texans PR team confirmed to me today.
What Happens Now?
With the league office admitting their mistake, the Houston Texans will not receive a penalty for the error. The team will receive a salary cap debit adjustment of $399,781 for the 2024 league year to net out the missing amount from the 2023 league year.
Fortunately, the corrected figures for Fairbairn were already reflected in my work.
This incident highlights the importance of NFL teams and their football administration departments paying close attention to the paperwork they submit to the league. The NFL Management Council is also there to help teams avoid such errors before submitting contracts.
This situation was an honest mistake by both the team and the league office, with minimal consequences.
Other Examples
In December 2019 the Houston Texans attempted to sign punter Bryan Anger to a contract extension before the regular season was complete. The NFL Management Council received the contract and disallowed it as the contract extension did not comply with NFL By-Laws. Anger’s current contract was a veteran salary benefit one-year contract. An extension cannot be signed on top of that type of contract until the regular season is over.
Another example, a few years back the New Orleans Saints were completing future reserve contract signings after the regular season was complete. The league office had to disallow several contracts because the total roster count would have exceeded 90 players, despite future reserve contracts not kicking in until the new league year.
I hope everyone has a great day! Week 4 is here, and I hope your favorite team finishes with a win (except if you are a Jacksonville Jaguars fan).
-TC