Want a good deal, or steal? Go to the NFL’s fleece market known as the Houston Texans.
It was back on March 20 when the Texans, whose coach Bill O’Brien has the dual role of being the team’s general manager, shipped four-time Pro Bowler DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Texans dealt Hopkins and a fourth-round pick for second-round picks this year and next and running back David Johnson and all his baggage.
Johnson, who had a breakout season in 2016 but lost his job last season to Kenyon Drake, is still owed $10.2 million this season and carries a $14.2 million cap hit.
“It is amazing in the NFL that some trades are so lopsided still,” an NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic. “The Hopkins thing was a joke. How the David Johnson contract was included in the deal just astounds me.”
The swindling didn’t stop there. On Friday, the Los Angeles Rams announced that they traded receiver Brandin Cooks and a draft pick to the Texans for a second-rounder.
So the Texans went from having one of league’s best receivers to now having a receiving corps of Cooks, who’s had a reported five concussions in six seasons, and Will Fuller, who’s missed 22 games in his four seasons.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell gave the Texans a D+ grade for the deal.
Meanwhile, the teams that benefited from the Texans’ folly could see their trajectory altered.
The Cardinals not only rid themselves of the Johnson contract, but added an offensive star to join veteran receiving great Larry Fitzgerald, rising star quarterback Kyler Murray and Drake in a Kliff Kingbury offense.
The Rams, who don’t have a first-round pick, get a second-rounder and can begin a rebuild after losing Todd Gurley, Ndamukong Suh, Dante Fowler and Greg Zuerlein.
Hopkins wasn’t the only Pro Bowl receiver who was shipped during free agency. But at least this one — Stefon Diggs — went for a first-round pick.
Diggs once requested a trade and then reneged. The Minnesota Vikings eventually dealt him to the Buffalo Bills for a first-round pick in the April 23 NFL Draft.
The deal should strengthen the Bills, who made the playoffs last season and have assumed the role of the hunted in the AFC East, with the Patriots finally looking vulnerable.
It should weaken the Vikings, who saw many mainstays jump ship. Also disembarking were cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes, a three-time Pro Bowl player, and Trae Waynes, the 11th player taken in 2015, and defensive end Everson Griffen, a four-time Pro Bowler.
But the most seismic shift occurred when Tom Brady, six-time Super Bowl winner, shook up the league by leaving New England after 20 years to play for Tampa Bay.
Already blessed with offensive weapons, the Bucs should be an instant contender going from Jameis Winston, who threw 30 picks last season, to Brady, who averaged just eight picks a season for the past decade.
Meanwhile, one of the Bucs’ competitors in the NFC South — Carolina — seems to be in rebuild mode after losing core players, Cam Newton (cut), Luke Kuechly (retired) and Greg Olsen (signed with the Seahawks).
NFC FREE AGENCY RECAP (FIRS… by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
