Texans sign LB Zach Cunningham to four-year, $58M extension

The Texans and linebacker Zach Cunningham have agreed to a four-year, $58M extension, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. The new portion of the deal gives Cunningham an average annual salary of $14.5M per year and keeps him under club control through 2024.

When the Texans moved up from No. 25 to land Deshaun Watson in the 2017 draft, they figured that Cunningham would land elsewhere. The Giants were particularly interested in the Vanderbilt product, but luckily for Houston, they chose Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram instead at No. 23 and passed on Cunningham again at No. 55, allowing them to grab the ‘backer at No. 57 overall.

Since then, Cunningham has been a fixture in the Texans’ front seven. He took another giant leap forward last year, logging 142 stops, two sacks, and two passes defensed in 16 games (all starts). Cunningham led the league in run stops, posted a career-best run-defense grade of 84.8 (per Pro Football Focus), and routinely flustered quarterbacks with his 82-inch wingspan.

Cunningham has been knocked for his inconsistent coverage, but he’s one of the league’s better inside linebackers on the whole. Meanwhile, he’s still shy of his 26th birthday in December. The contract positions Cunningham as the league’s 10th-highest-paid ILB, sandwiched between Shaquil Barrett of the Buccaneers and Deion Jones of the Falcons.