Raiders Acquire Matt Schaub From Texans

MARCH 23rd, 8:00pm: Schaub has restructured his deal with Oakland, lowering his base salary and cap number for this year, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN. The veteran can still earn $15-20MM over the next couple of seasons.

MARCH 21st, 3:48pm: The Raiders have officially acquired Schaub, the team announced (via Twitter). The Texans will receive a sixth-round pick in the deal, says Ian Rapoport (via Twitter).

9:09am: Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter link) confirms that the two sides have agreed to terms, meaning the deal is just pending a physical. Of course, considering this is the Raiders, that’s not necessarily a given.

9:00am: A source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) that Schaub is flying to Oakland right now to take a physical. Assuming there are no snags, the deal could be officially completed later today.

7:45am: The Raiders are expected to trade a 2014 late-round pick to the Texans in exchange for Matt Schaub, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). According to Schefter (via Twitter), the Browns also expressed interest in Schaub, but Oakland has made a stronger push to get a deal done.

Schaub, the Texans’ longtime signal-caller, lost his starting job in Houston in 2013, and the team was expected to make a move with him this offseason, whether it was a trade or release. The 32-year-old’s fate looked particularly sealed when the Texans agreed to terms with Ryan Fitzpatrick yesterday. With Fitzpatrick in the fold and the club likely to draft another quarterback early in May’s draft, there isn’t much room to keep Schaub around.

As for the Raiders, they’ve been linked to Schaub throughout the offseason, with a report last Friday suggesting he and Mark Sanchez were Oakland targets. A separate story on Sunday suggested the Raiders and Texans were engaged in “serious” trade talks, though the Browns were also in the mix. As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports notes (via Twitter), acquiring Schaub wouldn’t necessarily stop the Raiders from drafting a QB early in the draft, but it would give the franchise some options.

Although he struggled with performance and health in 2013, Schaub is only two years removed from a Pro Bowl season in which he threw for more than 4,000 yards, completing 64.3% of his passes and recording a 22-12 TD-INT ratio. Even during his down year, he completed 61.2% of his passes and averaged 231 passing yards per game, numbers that compare favorably to the ones compiled by Raiders starter Terrelle Pryor.

Assuming his contract remains untouched, Schaub would count for $10.5MM in dead money on the Texans’ books this season if he’s traded, creating nearly $4MM in cap savings. Meanwhile, the Raiders, with their excess cap space, would take on his $10MM base salary, plus a a little under $1MM in per-game bonuses. Schaub’s contract runs through 2016, though he’s extremely unlikely to play out that entire deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.