The Houston Texans announced Monday they were trading three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for All-Pro running back David Johnson along with swapping draft choices.
The move baffled ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who graded the trade for the Texans and Cardinals. Beyond the acquisition of Johnson, which unto itself was a puzzling move in the eyes of Barnwell, the dealing of Hopkins was what really triggered the F grade.
Hopkins is a franchise wide receiver in a league in which teams like the Jets, Colts, Raiders and Dolphins all have significant cap space and a need for a star wide receiver. The Ravens got a better deal for Hayden Hurst on Monday than the Texans got for Hopkins. Bill Belichick has moved on from star wide receivers like Deion Branch, Terry Glenn and Randy Moss in the past, but none was at the height of his powers like Hopkins, and Belichick was able to extract better deals for both Branch and Moss. Even if Hopkins falls flat on his face in Arizona and Johnson returns to form in Houston, this would be a disastrous trade for the Texans in terms of failing to maximize or remotely comprehend player value, which has repeatedly been a problem for O’Brien.
In addition to trading player for player, the Texans sent their 2020 fourth-round pick to the Cardinals, who sent to Houston their 2020 second-round pick and 2021 fourth-round selection. In the swapping of such draft choices, Barnwell also praised Cardinals general manager Steve Keim for having the audacity to ask for a swapping of fourth-rounders.
Sometimes, the experts are wrong. Last year, the Texans failed to trade up for tackle Andre Dillard in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and subsequently “reached” for Alabama State’s Tytus Howard. However, the Texans are winning that debate, and O’Brien hopes to similarly be proven correct in the Hopkins trade.