Texans To Extend TE Dalton Schultz

Less than 24 hours after agreeing to a one-year extension with Danielle Hunter, the Texans have a deal in place with Dalton Schultz. Like Hunter, it is a one-year bump.

Schultz is extending his contract through 2027 at a rate of $12.6MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Between the 2026 and ’27 seasons, Schultz is now due $17.6MM guaranteed. Schultz is heading into his fourth Texans season, and this extension positions the former Cowboys draftee to play a fifth in Houston. This move comes hours after the Texans created $8MM in cap space by releasing Joe Mixon.

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Initially joining the Texans on a midlevel deal (one year, $6.25MM), Schultz impressed in C.J. Stroud‘s rookie season and reupped on an upper-crust pact (3/36). That came shortly before free agency in 2024. Two years later, Schultz became a Texans priority again after another strong season.

Catching a career-high 82 passes, Schultz totaled 777 yards and three touchdowns last season. While the former fourth-rounder’s yards-per-reception number dropped to 9.5 — his first such season since 2020 — Schultz operated as Stroud’s No. 2 target behind Nico Collins during a season in which Houston again featured a subaverage ground attack.

Schultz, 30 in July, was set to carry a $15.9MM cap number in 2026. That will drop thanks to this extension. Should Schultz play out this deal, he will have split his career into five-year runs with Dallas and Houston. The Cowboys turned to Schultz after their Blake Jarwin extension did not pan out, with the former ultimately becoming the team’s Jason Witten successor. The Cowboys prioritized Schultz via a franchise tag in 2022, but like Mike Gesicki in Miami, no extension came to pass before that July’s deadline. A disagreement on term length between Schultz and the Cowboys led him to the market in 2023, and he has not tested it since.

While Schultz’s career-best yardage season remains his 808-yard 2021 in Dallas, he put up 635 yards in his Houston debut to help Stroud to Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. After a 535-yard 2024, the pass-catching tight end bounced back to help the team return to the divisional round in 2025. The Texans are a defense-powered operation, but they now have Schultz and Collins signed beyond 2026. Those deals pair with the team’s pair of Iowa State-developed wideouts — Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel; both players are tied to rookie contracts through 2028.