Power play by King Bill nets too little
So this is why silent Cal McNair gave King Bill O’Brien all this unprecedented power.
So the Texans’ seventh-year head coach and first-year general manager could trade away franchise centerpieces DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney within a staggering six-month span and not receive a single first-round pick in return.
And so O’Brien could trade away two future first-round selections in exchange for Laremy Tunsil, with the Texans still having to hand the Pro Bowl left tackle a humongous multi-year payday and lacking all leverage in contract negotiations.
The stock market had a better day than Texans fans Monday.
The coronavirus-slammed market had one of its worst days in more than 30 years, which
tells you just how popular King O’Brien is in Houston right now.
O’Brien professionally soured on Hopkins and Clowney. The team’s de facto GM, then official GM, made it personal with both — they weren’t his “type” of players — and both were coldly shipped away. Which means the Texans’ dictator will have to become the NFL’s next Bill Belichick to make all this pay off.
Clowney was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft and O’Brien’s first draft selection. Under O’Brien’s guidance, the Texans publicly devalued Clowney, then finally traded him away at the wrong time and received little in return.
The Clowney trade currently looks like the work of a genius GM compared to the initial view of the Hopkins trade.
Then again, maybe this is just what happens in the NFL when internal checks and balances disappear.
Hopkins, 27, is on a Hall of
Fame pace and was set to replace Andre Johnson as the Texans’ all-time greatest wide receiver. Hopkins played through major injuries during the playoffs. He also put up huge annual numbers while O’Brien kept discarding quarterback after quarterback, despite the team’s future GM either wanting or signing off on all the QB names he eventually disposed of.
But Hopkins was Rick Smith’s draft pick way back in 2013, evolving into a late first-round steal at No. 27 overall. As the years stacked up and O’Brien gained more and more control on Kirby Drive — Smith lost a power struggle with the coach he helped hire; ex-GM Brian Gaine was forced out in a behindclosed-doors power coup — Hopkins fit less and less into O’Brien’s vision of what the Texans should be.
The obvious follow-up question: What does O’Brien believe the Texans should be?
The answer isn’t nearly as obvious.
Tough, smart and dependable have become the new code words on Kirby in the Jack Easterby-O’Brien era. Those words were used consistently during the 2019 season after Clowney was traded. And before the Texans blew a 24-0 playoff lead, eventually being outscored 51-7 after O’Brien’s on-field coaching decisions again got in his team’s way.
McNair still hasn’t spoken to the media or explained anything to the team’s long-frustrated fanbase in a public news conference. The three big moves made, thus far, after 51-7 Kansas City: Officially promoting O’Brien to general manager, naming Easterby executive vice president of football operations and trading away Hopkins, the team’s second-best player.
If running back David Johnson reclaims his 2016 All-Pro self (293 carries for 1,239 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns; 80 catches for 879 receiving yards and four TDs), the Texans might win the AFC South again. Right now, the 28-year-old Johnson is coming off two bad years during the past three seasons and is due $18.1 million through 2021.
The Texans are going to complain about Hopkins’ reported contract demands, but they’re going to take on Johnson’s overpriced deal?
Hopkins is clearly one of the premier receivers in the NFL. He also defined tough, smart and dependable within the lines, and was Deshaun Watson’s only consistent offensive weapon.
Hopkins' numbers fell off in 2019 and his 11.2 yards per catch were the lowest of his career. He's also only missed two games since his rookie season and caught 632 total passes for 8,602 yards and 54 touchdowns while playing with Matt Schaub, Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, Tom Savage and D4.
O’Brien utilized a classic Belichick move Monday: Trade away a key name before a potential decline.
The flip-side of the leaguewide stunner: Belichick doesn’t coach the Texans.
Every other GM in the NFL would have received a first-round pick in return for Hopkins. And the Texans must now hand Watson a franchise-record contract extension, pay Tunsil big-time and replace their undisputed No. 1 wide receiver.
In July 2018, when the Texans were holding training camp in the lush West Virginia mountains near The Greenbrier, Hopkins declared that he wanted to become a “lifetime Texan.” He also, again, stated that the sky was the limit when the Texans’ young Nos. 4 and 10 were paired together.
“The chemistry that we can have and the things we can do, man, I really don’t think anybody can sit here and put a limit on it,” Hopkins said.
The Texans were building a wall between themselves and Clowney then.
Gaine was fired. Clowney was traded.
O’Brien had considered trading Hopkins since last offseason.
Monday, the Texans’ HC/GM fulfilled another wish on his personal to-do list.