The Texans traded one of their best players for draft picks and David Johnson
Report: Texans trade DeAndre Hopkins
Mar 16, 2020, 12:26 pm
DeAndre Hopkins and the Texans were oh, so close. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
The Texans trade DeAndre Hopkins or pennies on the dollar.
The trade
DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth round pick go to Cards for David Johnson and a second round pick this year and a fourth round pick next year.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) March 16, 2020
What an absolutely brutal return for what could be the best wideout in football.
The Texans added into the deal a fourth round pick as well making it an absolutely atrocious return.
David Johnson has been a disappoitment since his All-Pro season.
Hopkins didn't even warrant a first? Brutal.
Hopkins first tweet
Mood🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/H25PryMKzE
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) March 16, 2020
Sensational was Hopkins' message. He seems happy to be headed out. Why wouldn't he? He is likely getting a new deal and at the very least he is getting to a team thrilled to have him.
The offense now
Will Fuller and Kenny Stills are now the top pass catchers on the Texans. The team also still has DeAndre Carter and Keke Coutee who are both slot wideout types.
The team will have to replace one of the best players in the history of the franchise. Hopkins almost never missed games. Stills and Fuller both have missed time recently. Stills missed three games this past season and left others with injury. Fuller has played 42 of the 64 possible regular season games in his career. In the past three years, he has missed 20 of the past 48 possible regular season games.
The direction of the offense is hard to figure out right now. They still have a speedster in Fuller but he isn't reliable. They have an abundance of tight ends and two pass-catching running backs named Johnson.
Congratulations to new play caller Tim Kelly. You have one of the hardest jobs in the world now: figuring out the Texans offense post-Hopkins.
O'Brien with full power has become reckless
The amount of recklessness shown by O'Brien and the lack of a filter has been incredible to watch.
The trade for Tunsil was paying above sticker price. The Texans didn't sign him to an extension and will make him the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history now.
This is the worst move in Texans history though. This takes the cake. Unless there is some medical or mental issue the Texans know about that nobody else does this takes the cake for worst move in franchise history.
Tunsil and Clowney give their thoughts
A lot of #Texans players sharing how they feel on Instagram
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) March 16, 2020
Clowney: “Damn OB 😂😂😂”
Tunsil: “🤦🏾♂️” pic.twitter.com/QFMzmwkpK2
Laremy Tunsil and former Texans pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney weighed in on Instagram.
Apparently it was about money
Texans didn’t want to re-do Hopkins contract with three years left.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) March 16, 2020
This is horrible by the Texans. They could have stood pat. Hopkins wasn't going to sit with the new rules hurting veteran holdouts.
Per the new CBA from Dan Graziano: A "player playing under a contract signed as a veteran who fails to report to his club's preseason training camp on time or reports and leaves the club for more than five days" cannot have his fines waived by the team upon return and will not earn an accrued season for that season. Harsh, but note that it specifies "a contract signed as a veteran."
Also, even if he wanted new money, why wouldn't you take care of him? He was one of the best players at his position! He is better at wideout than Tunsil is at tackle and yet Tunsil is about to cash in. Goodness.
Watt Weighs In
This tweet was ahead of it’s time. https://t.co/CGs10yDJKj
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 16, 2020
Former Texans cornerback Kareem Jackson said he believes Watt might get traded.
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