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Daniels briefly considered skipping camp. He signed his restricted free agent tender in June but sat out a mandatory minicamp unhappy that no long-term deal was reached.
"What happened before, early in the offseason and minicamp, I felt like I was being treated unfairly," Daniels said. "So I had to do some certain things, but I'm here now, ready to work."
He's a key piece of an offense that ranked third in the league last season. He finished with 70 receptions for 862 yards in 2008.
"This team knows they can count on him and he's all business," coach Gary Kubiak said. "He told me a few weeks ago: 'I'll be there and you'll get everything I've got.' He didn't have to tell me that, I know that."
Texans general manager Rick Smith said he was disappointed that they couldn't agree to a long-term contract with Daniels.
"We've got to get our good players under contract long term, and that was a big goal of ours this offseason that we didn't accomplish," Smith said.
Cushing, the linebacker taken with the 15th overall pick, remains unsigned. But Smith says he's having productive talks with Cushing's agent and hopes to have him signed soon.
The Texans want the former USC start to start at linebacker this season and missing too much time in camp will make that difficult.
"I know they're working on it, and I know Brian wants to be here as quick as possible," Kubiak said.
Robinson remains disgruntled that the Texans used the franchise tag on him and has threatened to sit out all of training camp.
He suffered severe knee and hamstring injuries in 2007 that kept him out of the last seven games of that season and the first five games in 2008. He returned to finish with 38 tackles and two interceptions last year.
The Texans don't seem to be making any progress on getting Robinson back with the team.
"I don't know," Smith said when asked about Robinson's status. "I think Dunta needs to be in camp, and that's my opinion. I think he needs to be here with his teammates and when he's coming in, that's a decision he's going to have to make."
Second-round pick Connor Barwin joined practice about 30 minutes late on Friday after finishing paperwork and his physical. He agreed to a deal early Friday.
Barwin, a defensive end, was relieved to get his deal done and report to camp on the first day.
"It was important for me to be here," he said. "To be able to come out here and start fresh with everybody and not be too late felt good. I don't feel behind at all."
