For Texans’ first star, ‘my career ends here’
Former All-Pro receiver Johnson returns to Kirby Drive to retire with franchise he helped build
This is how it was always supposed to end.
Andre Johnson walking down an aisle to a standing ovation. Texans stars DeAndre Hopkins, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and coach Bill O’Brien sitting in front-row seats, with all eyes on famous No. 80. General manager Rick Smith behind a podium, proudly handing the team’s greatest player a pen. A silent room watching and waiting as Johnson signed his name on a oneday contract to become a Texan again.
The real Dre Day is still to come. The organization’s all-time leading wide receiver and 2003 first-round pick — who lifted an expansion franchise up for 12 often grueling years while rarely having the right quarterback — will be honored before a stadium filled with fans at some point this season, Smith said Wednesday.
But the contract signing and official retirement on Wednesday were critical steps in returning Johnson to the Texans, fully healing the wounds that in 2015 sent a frustrated No. 80 fleeing to Indianapolis.
“I’d like to thank the McNair family for drafting me in 2003. What you guys have done for me and my family has completely changed our lives,” Johnson said before a packed room at NRG Stadium.
In a retirement ceremony filled with powerful recollections and chill-inducing memories, nothing matched the tears in Johnson’s eyes when he tried to thank his mother, Karen.
Johnson broke down and cried — true, hard, strong tears — before he opened up about the life he fought so hard to leave behind.
“Everything that I did on that field was because of you (Mom),”
Johnson said. “A lot of people don’t know, but I played the game of football very angry. And the reason I played that way was just because of where I grew up. I just never wanted to go back to living that lifestyle again.”
As a child, Johnson was raised by his mother in a small, crowded house in Miami. He barely knew his biological father, who was fatally shot nine months before Johnson was drafted by the Texans. Johnson’s uncle, Andre Melton, helped raise him and served as a mentor, becoming known as “Uncle Dre.”
Near the end of 2014, the Texans were still changing in their first year under O’Brien, and everyone — Johnson’s friends and family, reporters, fans — knew it likely would be Johnson’s final season in Houston.
He knew it, too, but wouldn’t say it publicly.
“That’s the dream. That’s what I hope for,” said Johnson, referring to playing his entire career with the Texans. “When you’ve spent a lot of time somewhere, you hope that you can finish your career there and walk off into the sunset in that one place.”
Three years later, the circle became complete.
That weird 2015 season with the Colts was forgotten. Eight 2016 games with the Tennessee Titans were erased. Johnson’s end-of-career tour across the AFC South is now just a fading memory that won’t be remembered a decade from now.
What will be remembered are his 12 seasons with the Texans: 1,062 catches, including five seasons with more than 100; 14,185 receiving yards, including three seasons in which he topped 1,500; two first-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowl invitations.
The Texans released Johnson on March 9, 2015. He became a Texan again 772 days later.
“The only regret I have is not helping this organization win a world championship,” Johnson said.
For an organization short on history and still reaching for its biggest dreams, Johnson’s returning to Kirby Drive and officially retiring as a blue-and-red No. 80 was a landmark event.
“My career ends here,” Johnson said. “I’m very excited I was able to come back home to Houston.”