Texans Veteran Wideout's Price Tag Draws National Criticism

As they say, the NFL is a business, which means every team’s business decisions are up for criticism. Year after year, the NFL’s free agency frenzy sees players across the league get grossly overpaid.

Bleacher Report recently highlighted the league’s most overpaid players at each position, and unfortunately, the Houston Texans found one of their players on that list: wide receiver Christian Kirk.

Of course, it’s not the Texans who signed Kirk to the deal he’s currently playing under. That was the rival Jacksonville Jaguars, who signed Arizona’s 2018 second-round pick in free agency in 2022 to a four-year, $72 million contract. At the time of the signing, it was a shock to the entire league, and it reset the market for wide receivers. Now the league’s top wideouts are commanding $30+ million salaries.

Kirk makes just $18 million per year, but he’s still an overpaid asset based on his production. While at first it did seem the Jaguars made a fine investment when Kirk logged a career-year in his first season in Duval, that quickly reverted when he played in just 17 games across the next two seasons.

Jacksonville unloaded Kirk and his contract on Houston this offseason, and in return, they got a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft. Kirk’s contract is void after this season, and he’ll carry an $11 million cap hit if Houston doesn’t let him walk into free agency. 

Still, if Kirk stays healthy this season, he can be a valuable asset. He may not be a 1,000-yard receiver for Houston, especially considering the wealth of talent the Texans have for C.J. Stroud, but he can still be productive when given opportunities. After all, over the last 17 games, he’s caught 71 passes for 991 yards and four touchdowns, which wouldn’t be a terrible single-season statline for a second or third option in the offense.

Nonetheless, regardless of how productive he is, he won’t create nearly the same type of ripple effect on the wide receiver market for his next NFL contract, whether that’s in Houston or elsewhere.