Carr’s deal reportedly approved by NFL

? The NFL Management Council has approved the seven-year deal between the expansion Houston Texans and quarterback David Carr, the Houston Chronicle reported Friday on its Web site.

The Texans announced on April 3 that they would take the Fresno State quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in Saturday’s draft in New York.

Following his selection at the draft, Carr will return to Houston to sign the seven-year contract worth $46.2 million.

Carr agreed to the deal last week, but the Chronicle reported that the management council didn’t approve the language in the contract until Friday.

Texans spokesman Tony Wyllie could not immediately be reached for comment by the Associated Press on Friday night.

The deal calls for a signing bonus of $10.92 million and a $3.08 million bonus to be paid March 1, 2003. Carr’s base salary this season will be $1.04 million, decreases to $550,000 in 2003, then rises to $660,000 in 2004.

Carr would be paid $16 million over the first three years of the deal, the most in NFL history for a player over the first three years of a contract. The deal could be worth $60 million if he reaches incentives that would make him the most productive quarterback in NFL history.

“(Thursday) afternoon the Texans told me they were on the final details of the contract with the league,” Carr’s agent, Mike Sullivan, told Houston television station KRIV. “They expected it to be approved (Friday). The Texans said they would call me in if there were any problems and they haven’t called me.”

Sullivan negotiated the contract for last year’s No. 1 pick in the draft, Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick.

Last summer, the former Virginia Tech standout received a $62 million, six-year deal from the Falcons that guaranteed him $15.3 million through the first three years, including a signing bonus of $3 million.