I think everyone saw this coming with the Clowney trade right? Not Hopkins being traded per se but a power hungry coach and GM that has NO checks and balances. Most of these types of conversations would take place with the Coach AND GM present and therefore would hopefully never escalate in this type of conversation. Unfortunately, the franchise gave the coach the GM duties with no oversight/checks and balances and that is why we are in this situation. The dumbass GM/coach trades one of the best receivers in the game in his prime all due to a BS holier than thou excuse. Unbelievable but believable at the same time.
Bill O’Brien made the most shocking trade of the NFL offseason earlier this week, sending DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. But it could be a while before the Texans’ head coach and general manager publicly explains his reasoning for the much-criticized move. The COVID-19 epidemic has led to the cancellation of the NFL’s spring meeting in Florida, where head coaches meet with reporters for one hour, and it has delayed the start of offseason programs. Teams typically host pre-draft press conferences, but the world is in flux Whenever O’Brien ultimately addresses the Hopkins trade, here are the key questions he’ll face. What exactly is the Texans’ team culture? And is it contributing to winning? For the second consecutive offseason, O’Brien dealt one of his best players, with multiple outlets reporting afterward that rifts existed between O’Brien and those men. Jadeveon Clowney’s lack of elite pass rushing production made whether he was worthy of an expensive long-term commitment a legitimate debate. But Hopkins was the Texans’ most reliable superstar. O’Brien often uses the words “smart, tough and dependable” to describe his team, yet he shipped off an All-Pro who has missed just two games in his career — including a meaningless Week 17 one — and played through a significant rib injury in the divisional round loss to the Chiefs. If Hopkins, who was drafted by ex-Texans GM Rick Smith, does not fit O’Brien’s vision, then it’s fair to wonder whether that vision will ultimately take the team any further than it’s been. The decision to trade the elite receiver certainly seemed to surprise other Texans players. Will it cause internal tension? O’Brien often says that he doesn’t make any of the Texans’ decisions alone, that he leans heavily on executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby and consults team chairman Cal McNair. But neither Easterby nor McNair has met with reporters in a press conference since the Texans fired ex-general manager Brian Gaine and gave O’Brien more control. Why does O’Brien place such high value on running backs? In at least one way, O’Brien’s play-calling this past season was representative of football’s analytics movement: His team tied for fourth in total fourth down conversion attempts (25) and second in attempts made during one-score games (5). But when it comes to the running game, O’Brien looks like a traditionalist. The Texans ran the ball on first down at the league’s eighth-highest rate (56.6 percent) and only three teams devoted a larger share of their rushing offense to runs up the middle. No wonder O’Brien saw enough value in David Johnson to take on the entirety of his expensive contract, which comes with cap hits of $11.2 million this season and $9 million the next. O’Brien had already shown how much he valued running backs by trading for Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde. Those two collectively cost the Texans a 2020 third-round pick and offensive lineman Martinas Rankin, who was a 2018 third-round selection himself. Why spend so many resources on three guys who are, in today’s NFL, playing arguably the sport’s most replaceable position? O’Brien clearly doesn’t view running back that way. The Texans are utilizing 7.7 percent of their 2020 cap space on their Johnson-and-Johnson backfield. That’s a larger share of cap space than Tennessee is spending on franchise-tagged back Derrick Henry. To make matters worse, if David Johnson doesn’t have the bounce-back season the Texans are hoping for, they can’t turn to Duke Johnson for 150-plus carries. The latter hasn’t run the ball more than 100 times since his rookie year. How is O’Brien making Deshaun Watson’s life easier? Given his heavy investment in running backs, O’Brien might think he’s helping his young quarterback by providing Watson with a reliable and efficient running game. That certainly wouldn’t hurt Watson, but analytics have found that play-action effectiveness is not dependent upon rushing success. Unless the Texans get the version of David Johnson who averaged 11 yards per reception as a 2016 All-Pro, Watson will miss Hopkins. Signing slot receiver Randall Cobb, who averaged a career-best 15.1 yards per reception in his one season with the Cowboys, addresses a need that’s existed since Keke Coutee fell out of favor with O’Brien last season. But Cobb hasn’t played in 16 games since 2015, and he’ll be 30 in August. Yet the Texans gave him a reported three-year, $27 million deal that includes $18.75 million guaranteed rather than renegotiate Hopkins’ contract. As of now, Cobb, Will Fuller and Kenny Stills are the Texans’ top receivers, but they figure to add a receiver from a draft class that’s deep at the position. The amount of available receiver talent likely influenced O’Brien’s belief that his team could move on from Hopkins. Houston might reasonably use one of its two second-round picks on a receiver. On the topic of draft picks, let’s get to the last big question. How well did O’Brien survey the market for the best deal? If there’s any football rationale to the Hopkins trade, it’s that the Texans were making a Patriots-like move, trading a player at the height of his market instead of agreeing to a deal they’d eventually regret. But the haul of picks the Vikings received in exchange for receiver Stefon Diggs makes it hard to believe the Texans got a reasonable return for Hopkins. Diggs, who will be 27 this season and publicly aired his frustrations with the Vikings, has never recorded more than 1,130 receivers yards or 49 first downs. Hopkins, who turns 28 in June, has surpassed those totals in five of the past six seasons.
WUT? How long have you been following this team? It started in NE when he got into a shouting match with Brady. Then there was a faction of sorts in the locker room with Duane Brown, the handling of JD Clowney, the power struggle with Rick Smith, the firing of Gaine(whom he picked to be gm) for even more power, licking Cals chode to gain complete control and then the trade of Hop. Im pretty sure 99% of this board saw it coming.
Nope. And to be fair, we won't be able to fully assess the trade until we see how David Johnson and that 2nd rounder performs. But on it's face, it's as bad as everyone is calling it.
My friend argues that BOB just needs a chance to 'prove his vision' with the option offense and that Hopkins was being a whiney diva and deserved out. Please let me know your feedback so I can show him
Why? completely explains the lopsided trade and we already know Bill is incompetent. Remember, "You suck too"?
Sure that viewpoint could work, if the fker incompetent gm actually trade hopkins his value. Hell diggs had issues with the vikings, but they still got a sht ton more picks than the sht hopkins trade. Like i said b4 BoB has a massive ego, and it seem he doesnt care about positive value in trading assets or player who disagree with him. Trading at a lose is just screwing the franchise long term.
Even if david johnson performs well, like hyde production last season. Its still a sht trade that we sold hopkins way 2 low. That stefon diggs trade right after hopkins is the benchmarker
Lopsided trade is just being a bad GM, we've seen this already. But BoB saying this to a guy like D-Hop could be a career altering, if not ending, move. I absolutely loathe BoB but hard to imagine he'd be dumb enough to say something like this.
The owner who hired him literally called his players inmates. Nothing will happen to him and he knows it. That's Texans culture.
If this stuff is true and nothing changes, boycott the Texans. Also butt chin should get the Donald Sterling treatment and get blackballed.
