Cunningham Future: Low-Key About A Big Payday

Houston Texans Camp: LB Zach Cunningham Future? He's Low-Key Now About A Big Payday Later

For Houston Texans fourth-year inside linebacker Zach Cunningham, it's all about "compartmentalization'' - a big word with a simple meaning. 

“Being the person that I am, it’s pretty easy for me," Cunningham said of the things a pro football player deals with - oh, like upcoming contract negotiations a year ahead of his free agency. "I’m pretty low-key. I keep a lot of stuff out of my head and just focus on what I have right in front of me.”

The Texans, who made the 6-4, 238-pound Cunningham a second-round pick in 2017, right behind their selection of QB Deshaun Watson, believe they'd struck gold twice - and have prioritized that pair with a "Texans For Life'' sort of approach.

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“We want Zach on our team," coach/GM Bill O'Brien said Friday. "We want Zach to be a Texan for a long time, no doubt about it. He’s just a really good player. He’s very instinctive. He’s got good speed. He can do a lot of different things within our scheme. He plays on special teams. He’s on the punt team. Really good guy.''

Cunningham's present base salary on his rookie deal this season is about $1 million. That's a fraction of what is coming his way as the standout who led the AFC in tackles in 2019 prepares for a big payday. ... but more, he said, prepares for a big year.

“My approach,'' Cunningham said Friday, "is just letting my agent handle all the talks and stuff and the dealings behind the scenes. I’m really just more focused on the season, trying to play the season out, doing my best I can for the season.”

Big paycheck. But low-key about it. That's the Cunningham plan, and it fits O'Brien's Cunningham description.

Cunningham, OB said, is the "same guy every day. We think that it would be great if he was with us for a long time.”