Texans cancel next week's mandatory minicamp

An interesting aspect of the saga involving disgruntled quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers is that the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player is subject to fines of roughly $93,000 total for skipping this week's mandatory minicamp sessions but could ultimately have his absences excused by the team. 

Similar to Rodgers, Houston Texans star signal-caller Deshaun Watson has also remained away from voluntary organized team activities amid reports he wishes to be traded. However, it appears Watson won't have to worry about any financial punishments later this month. 

According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, new Texans head coach David Culley told reporters Wednesday he's canceled mandatory minicamp scheduled from June 15-17 because his team has "accomplished what we wanted to get accomplished" during OTAs. 

"We felt like we needed to make sure that for at least a good four weeks during the offseason that we had as many players here as possible, this being voluntary," he explained. 

Barshop added Culley previously spoke with team leaders and agreed to cancel the mandatory minicamp if he was satisfied with attendance figures and player participation during OTAs. 

The Texans will likely struggle to win much of note during the upcoming season if journeyman Tyrod Taylor is QB1 instead of Watson come September, but give Culley credit for getting on the good side of players ahead of summer and less than six months into his Houston tenure.