Texans Restructure QB Davis Mills’ Contract

Mills, 27, signed a one-year, $7MM extension last year and is set to hit the open market after the 2026 season. The recent restructure, though, has nothing to do with his pending free agent status and is instead an accounting move to free up some money for the cap-strapped Texans.

Reporting on exact numbers varies. Per Wilson, the move was a maximum restructure, dropping Mills’ salary down to a veteran-minimum $1.2MM and converting the remaining $3.7MM into a signing bonus. The bonus was prorated across the next five years of the deal, which now includes four new void years. Mills’ 2026 cap hit drops from $8.1MM to $5.4MM.

Figures from OverTheCap slightly differ, indicating that Mills’ salary was only reduced to $2.8MM, albeit with a similar amount of savings. His new cap hit is $5.1MM with just under $3MM in dead money scheduled for 2027.

The Texans now have about $6.3MM in 2026 cap space. That might be enough for week-to-week expenses for the rest of the season, but Houston would probably need to create more room for a trade-deadline acquistion. There is just one problem: they are running out of restructure levers to pull. Almost all of their top-paid players already have veteran-minimum salaries, and only two (quarterback C.J. Stroud and tight end Dalton Schultz) has a deal that could yield more than $1MM in cap savings with a restructure.