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Zach Cunningham will no longer be a part of the Houston Texans rebuild going forward. The 27-year-old Cunningham was a surprise roster cut by the Texans on Wednesday.
He played in ten games for the Texans this season, totaling 63 tackles.
But with the release of Zach Cunningham comes a lot of dead money the Texans owe. With the NFL's salary cap projected to increase to $208 million in 2022, the blow will be softened.
Nonetheless, this is an unexpected release by a team that will need to start spending money to compete going forward.
Zach Cunningham contract: How much dead cap hit will Texans take in 2022?
As a result of releasing the former second-round pick, the Texans will eat $12.8 million in dead cap in 2022. The Texans are eating $35 million in dead cap money next season but are projected to have $44.4 million in available cap room.
One of the biggest dominos left to fall in the early stages of the Texans rebuild is the status of Deshaun Watson. His legal situation is still unresolved, and no team was willing to trade for him this season as a result.
Once he's no longer looming over the team, the Texans can more easily focus on their future.
As for Zach Cunningham, the once-promising linebacker will now look to land on his feet somewhere else. Head coach David Culley deemed Cunningham a healthy scratch in Week 13 due to disciplinary reasons.
After the release occurred, Culley told the media that he spoke with Cunningham about his disciplinary issues beforehand. At the end of the day, it sounds like this was a classic example of a player not buying into his coach's message.
Zach Cunningham is an inside linebacker whose skills weren't as sharp this year. Cunningham is a good tackler and is a valuable asset to a team looking to beef up its run defense.
But it's in pass coverage that Cunningham gets picked on, which is a problem when you're an inside linebacker. Pro Football Focus graded Cunningham the worst coverage grade of his career thus far.
Despite his struggles in 2021, there will likely be a team that's willing to take a chance on him. He's still young and had 164 combined tackles a year ago.
The Texans will rely on Eric Wilson to fill his shoes for the remainder of the 2021 campaign.
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