The big picture here: what the Texans are trying to do is put their own spin on a favorable team-building approach spawned by the 2011 NFL collective bargaining agreement's slashing of draft class' salaries, particularly for first-round selections.

Several teams have since parlayed the "surplus value" of a top-10 young QB on his first NFL contract into no less than a Super Bowl appearance.

Think of the Seahawks on the first contract to Russell Wilson (two NFC titles, one Super Bowl trophy), the Chiefs likewise before they issued a second contract to Patrick Mahomes (two AFC titles, one Super Bowl trophy) and the Bengals with 2020 draftee Joe Burrow (one Super Bowl appearance).

The Charlie Brown in this drama? The Los Angeles Chargers.

Like the character who gets rocks while trick-or-treating, the Bolts never got close to the Super Bowl in the four-year "ultra bargain" phase of Justin Herbert's career that ended this past winter.

(Happily for the thousands of San Diegans who invest time and emotion in Team Spanos, the inability of Tom Telesco and John Spanos to capitalize on the Herbert golden ticket ultimately led to this winter's franchise-changing hire of coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz. Also, even under his second, much-heftier contract, Herbert will takes up less cap space than several other QBs this year and in 2025.)

Can Stroud maintain his top-10 standard, now that NFL opponents understand him?

However this works out, the Texans are applying a sound approach that improves their chances of dethroning the Chiefs' AFC dynasty and fending off the rising "JH Chargers" — Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert and Joe Hortiz — among other AFC franchises in the months and years ahead.

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