The Texans have historically eschewed using the franchise tag.
They've used it only once in the history of the franchise, assigning it to cornerback Dunta Robinson in 2009 at a cost of a one-year, $9.957 million tender.
Robinson was upset about the restrictive nature of the tag and skipped training camp before ultimately signing the tender the week before the regular season. Robinson wound up leaving the Texans as a free agent the following year, signing a six-year, $54 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons that included $22.5 million guaranteed.
Tuesday marks the first day that NFL teams can apply franchise or transition tags with a deadline of March 1 to use it.