Tag: DeAndre Hopkins trade

Chiefs acquire former All Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins ahead of Week 8 matchup with Raiders

The Chiefs have added another weapon to their arsenal in former All Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins who they acquired in trade with the Titans

It was not long ago that DeAndre Hopkins was the best receiver in football. While those days are probably over, the 32-year-old will get a shot at a late career revival with the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

Hopkins was traded to Kansas City from the Titans in exchange for a conditional fifth round pick according to Ian Rapoport.

The trade itself comes a week after the Raiders traded away their own former All Pro receiver Davante Adams for a conditional third round pick. Adams played the same week with his new team the New York Jets.

As it happens, Hopkins joins the Chiefs as they are set to face the Raiders this coming Sunday in Las Vegas.

The Chiefs were in need of some help at wide receiver with injuries to Maquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown and Rashee Rice.

While it’s not been a great year for Hopkins with just 173 yards receiving on  15 catches, he is coming off his best season in years, catching 75 passes for 1057 yards (14.1 yards per catch). So, he can still produce.

Former Texans All-Pro WR gets chance to chase Super Bowl ring with AFC West contender

The former Houston Texans All-Pro receiver is getting a chance to play with Patrick Mahomes.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

The Houston Texans will still face former All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, but he won’t be returning to NRG Stadium in 2024.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Kansas City Chiefs are working to finalize a trade that would send the Tennessee Titans wide receiver to Arrowhead Stadium in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick.

That draft pick will become a fourth-round selection if the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl and the former start plays 60% of the snaps with Kansas City.

Hopkins, 32, is expected to suit up for the AFC West front-runners against the Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday.

With Hopkins out of the AFC South, the Texans won’t face him on Nov. 24 or Jan. 6. Instead, Houston must slow him down on Saturday, Dec. 21, when the team travels to Kansas City for a potential playoff preview.

Hopkins being moved is far from a surprise. Sitting at 1-5, the Titans are looking to continue their rebuild under first-year coach Brian Callahan. Outside of Calvin Ridley and J.C. Latham, several offensive players could be on the move before the Nov. 5 deadline.

The Chiefs, who remain the last undefeated team in the league, have needed a receiver for weeks. Second-year star Rashee Rice suffered a right knee injury in Week 4 that required season-ending surgery. Kansas City also Marquise Brown to a shoulder injury in the preseason that was expected to be season-ending.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, the team’s No. 3 option, suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s win over the San Francisco 49ers and has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Hopkins, who inked a two-year deal last offseason with the Titans, is in the final year of his contract and looking to secure a Super Bowl title. He’s at full strength after suffering a torn MCL during the offseason and hasn’t missed a beat as Tennessee’s No. 2 option.

Through six games, Hopkins has caught 15 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown. He’s now the third receiver to be traded in the past week, joining Davante Adams (New York Jets) and Amari Cooper (Buffalo Bills).

While Hopkins is no longer the All-Pro that made headlines in Houston, he’s a serviceable No. 1 option as Rice’s place replacement and opposite rookie Xavier Worthy and tight end Travis Kelce. The addition gives quarterback Patrick Mahomes another target as Kansas City looks to secure a third consecutive Lombardi Trophy.

At one point, the hope was to have Hopkins in Houston when winning its first title. The Texans must now slow down their former go-to guy if they plan on making it to New Orleans in February.

The Texans return to NRG Stadium this week to take on the Indianapolis Colts.

Bill O’Brien shares biggest regrets from tenure as Texans GM

Former Houston Texans head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien on “Next Up with Adam Breneman” said he regrets becoming the team’s GM.

It seems like an eternity at this point following last season’s rapid turnaround, but four years ago, the Houston Texans were the NFL’s laughing stock.

They had just finished 4-12, had no first or second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, and their franchise quarterback had over two dozen sexual assault cases stacking on top of already requesting a trade.

The architect behind the dumpster fire was former head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien, who on Next Up with Adam Breneman said he regrets his time in the front office in 2019-2020.

“I didn’t really enjoy being the GM,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t enjoy negotiating contracts. In some respects, I lost relationships with some of the guys that I was coaching. In my opinion, very few guys in the history of football can ever (be a coach and GM simultaneously), and they’re the greatest of the greats.”

 

As a coach, O’Brien had a proven track record. Houston won the AFC South four times and went 52-48 in six seasons under his watch, yet still couldn’t advance past Round 2.

O’Brien went 2-4 in the postseason and never made it past the divisional round. Fans also heavily criticized his handling of the playbook in the 2020 playoff matchup against Kansas City after blowing a 24-0 lead and thought change was inevitable.

O’Brien admitted he was in full control of Houston’s front office during the 2019 season after former general manager Brian Gaine was fired in the offseason. He also said the Texans struggled to find a full-time general manager, which did factor into the title being placed on the head coach.

“I feel like I’m a good coach, but those things I’m not great at. … I can evaluate talent, I know how to evaluate talent, but I shouldn’t be negotiating contracts and things like that,” O’Brien said. “In the end, that was a mistake by me. I wish I really didn’t do that to be really honest with you.”

Not every move made by O’Brien was terrible. Prior to the start of the 2019 season, the Texans traded multiple first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins for left tackle Laremy Tunsil. He’s been one of the league’s top pass protectors and has made the Pro Bowl in four of his five seasons in the franchise.

While the Tunstil trade hit, the DeAndre Hopkins one backfired and likely led to O’Brien’s dismissal four games into the season. David Johnson never regained his 2016 form, while Hopkins remained a star for the Arizona Cardinals en route to a postseason berth.

On top of not receiving a first-round pick for arguably the NFL’s top weapon, O’Brien figured he only needed one second-round pick and traded the Texans’ pick to Los Angeles for Brandin Cooks.

 

Throw in the Jadevon Clowney trade and the disastrous moves make D.J. Reader’s departure in free agency a footnote. Three years and two offensive coordinator stops later, O’Brien doesn’t appear bitter about his time with the franchise.

Now back as a head coach with Boston College, O’Brien feels he learned ample from his time leading a team in assets and looks to establish that with his new team in the ACC.

As for the Texans, they seemed to have picked up the pieces with Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans from O’Brien’s mess left behind.

Former Texans RB David Johnson retires

On Sunday former All-Pro running back David Johnson announced his retirement. He played eight seasons with three teams, including the Texans

Former Houston Texans running back David Johnson is calling it a career.

Johnson, who spent two seasons with the Texans, announced his retirement on Sunday after eight seasons. He last appeared in 2022 as a member of the New Orleans Saints.

“I’m looking forward to my next career path in life,” Johnson wrote in his post to Instagram. “I don’t know exactly what that will be, but I hope it will bring me the same passion, excitement, and love as football did!”

A third-round pick out of Northern Iowa in 2015, Johnson amassed 6,876 yards from scrimmage and 58 touchdowns. He’s best known for his time with the Arizona Cardinals, whom he earned All-Pro status in 2016. 

It took two games for Johnson to prove he belonged as an FCS talent, becoming the first player in NFL history to score a rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, and kickoff return touchdown in the first two games of a career.

As the full-time starter in 2016, Johnson led the league in total scrimmage yards (2,118) and touchdowns (20). He rushed for 1,239 yards and averaged 4.2 yards per play. Johnson was a first-team All-Pro selection and finished third in voting for AP Offensive Player of the Year.

“I am blessed and very appreciative of the Cardinals drafting me in the 3rd round and I started my NFL career hitting the ground running (literally)! 2 games in, getting my uniform and cleats put in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton,” he wrote in his post.

Johnson tore his ACL in the first game of 2017, starting a series of nagging injuries that limited him to playing in 30 of 48 games in the final three years with Arizona. 

In 2020, the running back became the centerpiece of what many consider to be the worst trade in recent NFL history. The Texans added Johnson, along with a second and fourth-rounder in exchange for All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth-round pick. 

In 2020, Johnson served as the primary starter for the Texans’ rushing attack appearing in 12 games and totaling a team-leading 691 rushing yards. He averaged 4.7 yards per play.

In Johnson’s second year, he was more of a complementary backing, starting just four games. His Houston tenure resulted in 1,458 yards from scrimmage and nine total touchdowns.

 

“When it’s all said and done, I really hope I impacted at least 1 person on and off the field in a positive way,” Johnson wrote. “I hope I was able to pay it forward, from the countless people who guided and taught me the right way to go about business, and giving back with integrity and a humble demeanor!”

The average length of a career in the NFL is 3.3 years, according to Statista. Running backs have the shortest shelf life, averaging a career of 2.5 years. Johnson lasted eight and made nearly $40 million as a former third-round pick. 

3 potential Patriots trade packages for All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins

Here are three possible trade packages the Patriots could offer up for DeAndre Hopkins

The New England Patriots have spent much of the 2023 offseason filling glaring holes on offense and retaining key members of an above average defense.

Sure, the Patriots signing Juju Smith-Schuster, James Robinson, and Mike Gesicki helps form an upgraded pass-catching group from last year on paper, but the team has still failed to address the elephant in the room.

They desperately need a true wide receiver No. 1. The offense currently is much better as constructed, but it would likely still only be in the middle of the league with offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and the new weapons.

The Patriots need someone that can dictate coverages, be the topic of opponents’ gameplans, and take the burden off the rest of the unit. Getting a true No. 1 receiver unlocks the rest of the offense and will get the most production out of each offensive skill position.

DeAndre Hopkins is that guy.

He’s an elite No. 1 wide receiver that Belichick adores, and fortunately for the Patriots, he’s actually available on the trade market. With Brandin Cooks being shipped off to the Dallas Cowboys and the high asking price for Denver Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy, the Patriots could pivot to the better of the three in Hopkins.

Let’s take a look at some trade packages that could see the Patriots adding the elite playmaking receiver.

How Bill O’Brien wrecked the Texans over an 8-month span

Bill O’Brien did a number on the Houston Texans in just eight months as he doubled up as coach and shadow general manager.

The Houston Texans have been clawing their way out of a rebuild, and they may finally be out of it with the hiring of coach DeMeco Ryans.

While it can be argued that the conflicts with the franchise quarterback beginning in January 2021 were a huge setback for the organization, there were decisions made by Bill O’Brien over an eight-month span that were far more injurious to the team than just the problems at quarterback.

According to Michael Renner from Pro Football Focus, there were six mistakes that O’Brien made from August 2019 to March 2020 while coach and moonlighting general manager that set the Texans up for failure over the 2020-22 seasons.

The Texans gave O’Brien general manager control in the summer of 2019, and he reacted like a kid in a candy store. Here’s a highlight reel:

Tunsil turned out to be a three-time Pro Bowler. However, the capital given up to acquire him was detrimental to the Texans’ ability to assemble good drafts, especially in general manager Nick Caserio’s first draft in 2021.

The Texans clearly lost on the Hopkins trade, but the worst parts of O’Brien’s wheeling and dealing was giving up third-rounders for role players such as Johnson and Conley.

O’Brien was part of the Texans’ five-man general manager council following the firing of Brian Gaine in early June 2019. Chris Olsen was the interim general manager, but the moves were more like what a coach would make to shore up his roster.

The Texans fired O’Brien after an 0-4 start in 2020. Executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby was named the interim general manager until Caserio was hired in January 2021.

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Tyreek Hill trade to Dolphins reminds Texans how abominable Bill O’Brien was as a general manager

The Kansas City Chiefs’ haul in trading Tyreek Hill underscores how terrible Bill O’Brien was as the Houston Texans’ general manager.

The Kansas City Chiefs completed a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins, sending receiver Tyreek Hill to the AFC East club for a 2022 first-round, second-round, fourth-round, and 2023 fourth-round and sixth-round picks.

It makes sense. Hill is a six-time Pro Bowler who has 1,000-yard receiving seasons in four of his six seasons in the NFL. The 5-10, 185-pound speedy wideout is a Super Bowl champion and a key factor in taking the top off opposing defenses.

All the Hill trade highlights is how horrendous Bill O’Brien was as the general manager for the Houston Texans.

In the 2020 offseason, the Texans traded three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a 2020 fourth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2020 second-round pick, a 2021 fourth-round pick, and former All-Pro running back David Johnson.

Hopkins had comparable production to Hill in that he produced five seasons of 1,000-plus yards receiving in his first seven seasons with Houston. The former 2013 first-round pick didn’t have as many accolades with four Pro Bowl selections, but he had as many first-team All-Pros as Hill.

The poor return in the Hopkins trade may have been what set the Texans back the most; it may be the biggest mess current general manager Nick Caserio has had to clean up.

It is one thing to give up two first-round picks and a second-rounder for a left tackle, as was the case at the end of the 2019 preseason when Houston acquired Laremy Tunsil.

It is another to not even match that lost compensation when dealing a proven multi-first-team All-Pro and wideout who was ascendent even before Deshaun Watson arrived.

If the Texans could have netted a first-round pick as part of their compensation package for Hopkins, it could have offset the hole the franchise was in due to the Tunsil trade. In some ways, it made the chasm expand.

According to O’Brien on April 16, 2020, the Texans had to find a trade partner willing to give Hopkins the pay raise he desired.

“Any time you make a trade, each trade is unique unto itself,” O’Brien said. “So, when you’re trading a player like DeAndre Hopkins who has three years left on his deal and you’re trying to find a trade partner, you’re not talking to 31 other teams. I’m not going to get into all the details of this, but you’re finding a trade partner, No. 1, that’s going to be able to pay DeAndre Hopkins. That was a big part of it. Once we found that team that could afford DeAndre Hopkins in the future, now we then began to negotiate what the value of the trade was.”

Compare that to Caserio, who was willing to hold on to Watson for a year and remained committed to the baseline of three first-round picks. O’Brien caved quickly and it cost the Texans.

Some of the blame for O’Brien’s bad decisions as general manager fall upon chairman and CEO Cal McNair, who should have kept O’Brien sequestered in his role as coach and not expanding into a front office role. McNair appears to have learned that lesson, which is why the Texans have made the commitment they have to Caserio and his vision.

Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins says facing the Texans ‘was just another game’

Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins didn’t have any strong feelings after the 31-5 win about facing his old team, the Houston Texans.

HOUSTON — After the trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for running back David Johnson in March of 2020, the All-Pro wide receiver played against the Houston Texans as an opponent for the first time in his career.

Hopkins recorded a touchdown and seven receptions for 53 yards against his former team, as the Cardinals took a 31-5 victory over the Texans, Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium.

As abrupt as the Pro-Bowl receiver has been since the deal, it’s a tad surprising that Hopkins did not do or say anything to mock one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history. In fact, Hopkins stayed focused on helping the Cardinals sustain their winning ways against the Texans, as Arizona improved to 7-0 on the season following the win.

Hopkins scored the first of four touchdowns for the Cardinals, connecting with quarterback Kyler Murray for a 1-yard reception.

“It was just another game for me,” Hopkins said during his post-game press conference. “This team, we have bigger goals. We knew we had to handle business today, and we know what kind of team we have in this locker room. I did not what to make it [about myself.] Just go out there and play my game.”

Then-general manager and coach Bill O’Brien said the decision to trade Hopkins was due to money, not based on his on-field production. Hopkins was seeking a contract extension with a raise in pay after helping the Texans reach the AFC Divisional Round amid a 10-6 record in 2019.

A conflict of financial interest is a reason Chairman and CEO Cal McNair further rationalize by stating the upcoming contracts for quarterback Deshaun Watson and left tackle Laremy Tunsil played a part in Hopkins’ jettison.

Following the trade, Hopkins signed a two-year $54.5 million extension six months later with the Cardinals. The Cardinals are now 15-8 since trading for Hopkins, while the Texans have posted a record of 5-18 since departing Houston.

“That’s Houston, and this is Phoenix,” he said when asked about the differences between the two organizations. “Nothing really stands out as far as a negative and a positive. But I wouldn’t say sticks out between the two teams.”

Hopkins, 29, was a first-round pick by the Texans during the 2013 NFL draft out of Clemson. Hopkins ended his eight-year tenure ranked second all-time for most receiving yards (8,602), receptions (632) and touchdowns (54) — trailing only Andre Johnson in all categories.

How much was money a factor in the Texans’ trading WR DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals?

DeAndre Hopkins’ contract requests were a motivating factor for the Houston Texans trading the receiver. How big were they actually?

Bill O’Brien told the world on April 16, 2020, over a month after the Houston Texans traded receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals that they just didn’t have the salary cap space to keep him.

It was the first time since the trade that anyone had heard from the organization about the shipping of the three-time All-Pro to the Cardinals for a 2020 second-round pick and former All-Pro running David Johnson.

“I would say, again, going back to what I talked about originally relative to contracts, injuries, the salary cap as a part of the game as we know it right now relative to the future of our team, next year, two years, three years down the road,” O’Brien said. “It was going to be very, very difficult to have an elite quarterback [Deshaun Watson], an elite defensive end [J.J. Watt], an elite left tackle [Laremy Tunsil] and other players and be able to do that. So, we felt like, again, after research and layers of research, that the best decision for our team was to move him to Arizona. That’s what we decided to do.”

2020 was the first year with O’Brien doubling up as both coach and general manager. After an 0-4 start, O’Brien was fired, and the subject of the Hopkins trade came up again. Was the Texans’ 0-4 start preventable if the club had decided to keep quarterback Deshaun Watson’s biggest target?

Chairman and CEO Cal McNair told Texans Radio play-by-play Marc Vandermeer on Oct. 7, 2020, that having to negotiate extensions for Watson and Tunsil in the offseason led to the departure of Hopkins.

“We have the franchise left tackle is a huge piece of the puzzle,” McNair said. “We have a franchise quarterback, which is what we’ve been looking for for years, and what every team is looking for and trying to get. And we have him, and we have a very firm belief that Deshaun is our guy. And, so, we had those two major contracts. If you look across the league, we are paying more than anyone, and it’s not really close, on our roster. And, so, when Hopkins wanted to redo his contract, it just wasn’t something that we could do.”

It is true that Hopkins wanted to rework his contract with the Texans, as evidenced by the extension he received from Arizona in September of 2020. However, paydays aren’t the only things that motivates Hopkins.

The Texans pitched the notion that it was difficult to pay for Watson, Watt, and Tunsil; there just wasn’t any salary cap space for Hopkins, who wanted more money. So, they just had to trade him.

Hopkins may have made that argument spurious.

In a tweet on May 21, Hopkins indicated via Doug Farrar of the Touchdown Wire that he would be willing to rework his contract with the Cardinals if that is what it took to acquire two-time All-Pro wideout Julio Jones from the Atlanta Falcons. The tweet has since been deleted, but Jess Root from the Cards Wire verifies that Hopkins’ reply with a GIF was in the affirmative that he would restructure his contract for Jones.

If Hopkins would be willing to restructure his contract so quarterback Kyler Murray could have Larry Fitzgerald, Jones, and Hopkins to target in the passing game, wouldn’t Hopkins also be willing to restructure his contract to allow Watson to have a premier pass protector, and maybe the defense to have a dominant edge rusher?

After the Texans traded Hopkins, they did finalize contract extensions with Tunsil, linebacker Zach Cunningham, and Watson. The club also restructured six players’ contracts to provide for salary cap space in the 2021 offseason.

The Texans enter a 2021 season with even more questions than they faced the year before, and one of the bad moves that continues to plague the franchise is the trading of Hopkins — whatever the motivations were.

Texans’ trading WR DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals named best sports transaction of 2020

The Houston Texans’ trading of WR DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals was the best sports transaction of 2020.

Where were you when you heard the news the Houston Texans had traded three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick, and a 2021 fourth-round selection?

The transaction that shocked Houston sports fans on March 20, 2020, was named the “Best Sports Transaction of the Year” from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on Friday.

As ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes, in an offseason where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed quarterback Tom Brady, who won them a Super Bowl at the end of the 2020 campaign, Arizona trading for Hopkins was the best move in the entire NFL.

“I’d say with three years left on his contract, his representatives, himself, myself and our team of people, we spoke and 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,” then-coach and general manager Bill O’Brien told reporters on April 16, 2020. “We feel like we made a really good deal with Arizona.”

So did Arizona. So did the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Reality didn’t as the Texans finished 4-12 with O’Brien losing his job after an 0-4 start.