It all started with Hopkins trade
Giveaway outraged fans and set stage for 4-12 season that left team in turmoil
On Tuesday, Texans fans will bemoan the one-year anniversary of the worst trade in franchise history.
Where were you when you learned receiver DeAndre Hopkins had been traded to Arizona?
The plunge from the divisional round of the playoffs after the 2019 season to a 4-12 record last season can be traced to Bill O’Brien’s controversial trade that rocked the Texans and reverberated through the NFL.
O’Brien, the head coach and general manager who had earned a reputation as Trader Bill, was bombarded with widespread criticism after he packaged Hopkins and a 2020 fourthround draft choice to the Cardinals for running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round selection.
Based on what’s happened to the two franchises since the trade, Hopkins should have a champagne celebration to commemorate the anniversary — a monumental moment in his magnificent career. The Texans should have a moment of silence.
The Texans shouldn’t have been surprised when Hopkins went from being Deshaun Watson’s favorite target to Kyler Murray’s go-to receiver. He helped the Cardinals improve from 5-10-1 to 8-8 by catching 115 passes for 1,407 yards and six touchdowns.
Hopkins earned All-Pro recognition for the fifth time in his eight-year career, was voted to his fifth Pro Bowl, and made the most spectacular catch in the league — the “Hail Murray” in a 32-30 victory over Buffalo.
Fans were accustomed to Hopkins making extraordinary catches for the Texans, but the one he pulled off against Buffalo was the best of his career.
With the Cardinals at the Buffalo 43 and time running out, Murray scrambled to buy time. Finally, he threw for the end zone. Hopkins was surrounded by three Bills. They all went up at the same time in a sea of hands, but Hopkins came down with the ball for the game-winning touchdown with one second remaining.
Hail Hopkins!
Hopkins will get a chance next season to make fantastic catches against his former team. The Texans play at Arizona, where Hopkins and defensive end J.J. Watt will be licking their chops at the opportunity to play against the team that drafted them in the first round.
Besides Hopkins, the Cardinals got nose tackle Rashard Lawrence with the fourth-round pick obtained in the trade. He appeared in nine games, including one start, and was in on nine tackles.
O’Brien wanted Johnson included in the trade, and the Cardinals were happy to do it.
Johnson replaced Carlos Hyde, who rushed for a career-high 1,070 yards in his only season with the Texans. Johnson missed four games became of injuries and rushed for a team-best 691 yards (averaging 4.7 yards per carry) and six touchdowns. He also caught 33 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns.
O’Brien used the secondround pick from the Cardinals on defensive lineman Ross Blacklock, who had a disappointing rookie season. He played in 15 games, including one start, and participated in just 23 percent of the snaps.
Blacklock was in on 14 tackles, had no sacks, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. He’ll need to show a lot of improvement in his first season in new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith’s 4-3 scheme.
The trade will be completed when general manager Nick Caserio selects a prospect with the fourth-round pick from the Cardinals or deals it to another team.
If you follow the Texans, you’ve scratched your head at the trade and wondered what might have been if O’Brien hadn’t shipped Hopkins to Arizona.
Even though Watson had the best season of his career by every metric, would Hopkins have made a difference in four- and five-game losing streaks that began and ended the season? Would he have been the difference in a 2-8 record in one-score games?
The genesis of the trade came in 2018 when the Texans finished 11-5, won the AFC South, and lost to Indianapolis at NRG Stadium in the wild card round of the playoffs. There were rumblings that Hopkins wasn’t happy with earning a base salary of $12.5 million in 2018 and 2019. He had outplayed his contract and watched receivers across the league make millions more.
O’Brien, who won four AFC South titles in five years before being fired after an 0-4 start last season, didn’t want to extend Hopkins’ contract with three years left on the five-year, $81 million deal he signed in 2017.
It was no secret around NRG Stadium that O’Brien didn’t think Hopkins was the kind of culture fit he wanted on his team. He questioned Hopkins’ lifestyle, according to the receiver, who later admitted he wanted to be traded but never made an official request.
O’Brien often complained about Hopkins seldom practicing because of injuries. But Hopkins missed only one game because of an injury during his seven seasons with the Texans and established himself among the league’s most elite receivers.
After O’Brien made the trade, he tried to justify it to the Texans’ angry fan base.
“I'd say with three years left on his contract, his representatives, himself, myself and our team of people, we spoke,” he said. “We felt like relative to what I said earlier — salary cap, future, our team, being able to provide our team with more and more role players, layers of players — it was in the best interest of our team to move DeAndre to Arizona.”
In a subsequent interview, O’Brien reiterated, “It was in the best interest of our team. DeAndre Hopkins was a great football player. We loved DeAndre Hopkins. He had three years left on his deal, and he wanted a raise. David Johnson is going to be a great addition to our team."
Statistically, Johnson wasn’t a great addition to the team, but he’s getting another season to contribute since the Texans restructured his contract this month.
When it came to Hopkins wanting an extension, O’Brien reasoned there were only so many millions to go around because of the salary cap, and priorities were to extend Watson and left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
Watson signed a four-year extension for $156 million and Tunsil a three-year extension for $66 million. Watson became the second highest-paid quarterback in NFL history behind Patrick Mahomes and Tunsil the highestpaid offensive lineman.
Still, if O’Brien really had wanted to keep Hopkins, he could have found a way to get a deal done. The week before last season began, Hopkins signed a two-year, $54.5 million extension with the Cardinals.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the trade, O’Brien is out of the NFL and working as an assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama. Hopkins is ecstatic to be playing for the Cardinals, and Watson is demanding to be traded.
The Cardinals should be a playoff contender in coach Kliff Kingsbury’s third season.
As for the Texans and the remnants of Houston’s worst trade since the Oilers sent Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon to Minnesota after the 1993 season, they should contend for the first pick in the 2022 draft.