The Texans agreed on a new contract early this morning with No. 1 pick Brian Cushing, the outside linebacker from Southern California. Cushing was in Los Angeles. As soon as he gets back to Houston, where he worked out at Reliant St;adium until this week, he’ll sign and be on the practice field.

When Cushing signs, it means all the draft choices will be under contract. Cushing will have missed only one day of practice, which isn’t a big deal because he participated in every OTA as well as the minicamp. Plus, the coaches love the guy.

General manager Rick Smith and director of football administration Chris Olsen deserve a lot of credit for jobs well done. They did the negotiations for the eight draft choices. A lot of teams still have rookies who haven’t signed.