Monday’s internal salary cap report raised eyebrows in some league circles regarding a potential cap violation committed by the Texans. While an error indeed occurred in connection with the March 2024 restructuring of kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s contract, the Texans will face no punishment for it.
A new contract signed by Fairbairn on March 11, 2024, changed the final year of the deal from 2027 to 2026. This should have triggered a $399,781 acceleration at the time. It didn’t.
That’s significant because, as of March 11 and March 12, 2024, the Texans had no cap room. If the acceleration had occurred at the time, they would have been over the cap, for two days.
Per the league, it’s not a problem because it was missed by the NFL when the Fairbairn contract was signed.
“The contract was properly submitted and reported by the Club but recorded incorrectly by the Management Council,” the NFL said in an email to PFT. “Yesterday’s adjustment to the Club’s Salary Cap corrected the league’s error. At no point was there an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Given that the Club acted properly, there will be no discipline.”
Basically, if the NFL had spotted the issue, the NFL would have required the Texans to fix it. The Fairbairn contract would not have been approved.
Earlier this year, the 49ers lost a fifth-round pick and had a fourth-round pick downgraded over a clerical error that resulted in a player being overpaid by $75,000. It’s unclear how the 49ers’ case is different from this one.
We’ve asked the league to explain it. We’ll update the story if/when we get an answer.