The Texans have reached agreement on a one-year extension with guard Senio Kelemete, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The new deal will keep the veteran under contract through the 2021 season.
Kelemete, 30, has spent the last two years with the Texans, though the 2019 season was basically wiped out by a wrist injury. He joined Houston in 2018 on a three-year free agent deal and served as the team’s go-t0 left guard that year.
Kelemete won’t necessarily be in the starting lineup this year – he may wind up supporting Max Scharping on the left side and Zach Fulton on the right side.
The move created a bit of cap space for the Texans, as Wilson reports in a full-length piece that Kelemete’s cap number dropped from $3.5MM to $2.3MM. He agreed to reduce his 2020 base salary from $2.75MM to $1.3MM, though he did receive a $500K signing bonus and can earn up to $200K in per-game active roster bonuses, so his 2020 pay will max out at $2MM. It sounds as if Houston may have been prepared to cut him, so he elected for a bit of a decrease in exchange for some security.
In 2021, he is scheduled to earn a base salary of $1.3MM, though he can rack up $4.2MM in per-game active roster bonuses.
Best names in football are both in Houston: Senio Kelemete and the venerable Whitney Mercilus.