Texans cut center Nick Martin; save $6.25 million in salary cap space
The Houston Texans announced Friday they have released starting center Nick Martin.
The move will cost the Texans $2.5 million in dead money against the salary cap, but saves the team $6.25 million.
Martin was due $8.75 million in 2021. The former 2016 second-round pick from Notre Dame missed only two games in his four seasons with the Texans.
The 27-year-old had a down year in 2020 as his bad snaps in December may have cost the Texans some games, although it is unfair to pin Houston’s disastrous 4-12 season entirely on those snaps. However, they were part of the mosaic of failure and missed opportunity that comprised Houston’s disappointing finish.
Martin was hoping to use the bad season in 2020 as motivation to turn the Texans around in 2021.
“There’s no doubt it’s motivation,” Martin told reporters on Jan. 4. “We’ve made the playoffs and we know we have the taste of playoffs and that’s the goal is to get back there and continue to win games. Not making it, it hurts. But it’s been, as everyone knows out there, an incredibly tough year. A year of, when you reflect, you learn a lot about yourself, about your teammates.
“One thing I’m so proud of this team is the way we fought. We easily could have packed it in weeks ago. We didn’t. We fought every game. We scratched, we clawed and obviously we didn’t get the outcome we wanted because at the end of the day people chalk it up wins and losses and that’s how you’re measured. But we definitely fought, and that’s just a testament to the guys in this locker room and on this team.”
Martin will have to continue the fight in another NFL city as the Texans continue to reshuffle their roster in attempt to have a fresh, optimistic start with general manager Nick Caserio and coach David Culley.
