HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) -- Inside linebacker Zach Cunningham and the Houston Texans have agreed to a multi-year deal to keep the inside linebacker with the team for five more seasons.
The contract extension is worth $58 million over four years, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Cunningham is already under contract for the 2020 season.
Cunningham’s deal includes $23.5 million fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap, Wilson reported. The deal includes $32.5 million guaranteed for injury only.
Cunningham, who the Texans drafted in the second round of the draft in 2017, released a statement on social media Monday morning expressing his gratitude to the McNair family and head coach-general manager Bill O’Brien.
“I’m incredibly proud and excited to remain a Houston Texans for years to come,” Cunningham said. “I’d like to thank the McNair family, Coach O’Brien, and the entire Houston Texans organization for giving me the opportunity to continue to play the game I love for this incredible franchise. I’d like to thank my family for their unwavering love and support. I’d also like to thank the countless people who have helped me in my journey along the way from my hometown of Pinson, Alabama, to Vanderbilt University, to Houston, Texas. I am humbled and more motivated than ever to continue my journey with the Houston Texans and ingrain myself within the community.
“The best is yet to come. #GoTexans.”
O’Brien said earlier in the offseason that signing Cunningham was among the team’s priorities, along with locking up quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Besides J.J. Watt, Cunningham is arguably the best player on the Texans’ defense. He led the AFC in tackles last season and expects to be even better in his fourth season.
“We were very happy to be able to get something done,” O’Brien told media members during a Zoom conference call Monday morning. “Zach’s just a really good football player, a very important part of our team. When you look around the league, all of us talk about culture and what we’re trying to build within each one of our cultures. Culture is defined, in my opinion, by the behaviors of the people within the culture. That’s really how you build a good culture. We’ve got a lot of good guys here. We talk about dependable, tough and smart. That’s what Zach is. He’s a dependable player, tough player, smart player and a really good player. He does a lot for us. He’s obviously a three-down linebacker and he plays on the fourth down, too.
“So, we were happy to come to an agreement.”
Cunningham and ILB Benardrick McKinney combined for 238 total tackles in 2019, which made them the first pair of Texans to each go over 100 total tackles in consecutive seasons since 2006-07 and the first teammates in the NFL to accomplish the feat since 2016-17.
McKinney signed his multi-year extension in 2018, paying him $21 million in guarantees and up to $50 million.