Minutes after their David Johnson trade surfaced, the Texans and Cardinals will top that deal. The Texans have agreed to send All-Pro wideout DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
Hopkins will be included in the Johnson trade, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The seven-year veteran now becomes the centerpiece of said trade. Not only are the Texans taking all of Johnson’s contract, but it appears they are dealing Hopkins without getting a first-round pick back.
Interestingly, this deal thus far does not include any first-round picks. The Texans will trade Hopkins and a fourth-round pick for Johnson, a 2020 second-rounder and a 2021 fourth-rounder, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter).
This marks one of the biggest skill-position trades in recent memory, and the Cardinals will now have a Hopkins-Larry Fitzgerald–Christian Kirk receiver trio. A rumor surfaced earlier Monday about Hopkins being available, and SI.com’s Albert Breer adds (on Twitter) that the dominant receiver came up in trade rumors in August and October. Bill O’Brien took over personnel duties last May.
Hopkins, who will turn 28 this summer, has been a first-team All-Pro in each of the past three seasons. He’s made four of the past five Pro Bowls. One of the top contested-catch players in modern NFL history, the former first-round pick will now be tasked with helping the Kyler Murray-centered Arizona offense take steps forward. Cardinals GM Steve Keim interestingly got off the Johnson contract and acquired Hopkins without having to give up a first-round pick. The Cardinals hold this year’s No. 8 overall pick. The second-rounder they are giving up is the No. 40 overall selection.
Hopkins signed a five-year, $81MM extension in 2017. Three seasons remain on that deal. While it is certainly possible the Cardinals will redo his contract, as the Raiders did upon acquiring Antonio Brown last March, Hopkins is set to make just $12.5MM in 2020 base salary.
This marks an unusual move for the Texans, who have used Hopkins as their offensive centerpiece since Andre Johnson vacated that role several years ago. Hopkins has five 1,100-yard seasons since 2014, the last year he and Johnson were on the same team, and has 54 career touchdowns. His 504 receptions, 6,590 yards and 46 TDs each rank second in the league over the past five years (h/t Field Yates of ESPN.com). Both Kenny Stills and Will Fuller are under contract for 2020, but neither is signed beyond next season.
The Texans have been active traders since O’Brien took over as de facto GM (and now actual GM). They dealt two first-round picks and a second for Laremy Tunsil and unloaded third-rounders for Duke Johnson and Gareon Conley. This Hopkins-Johnson deal will give the Texans a second-rounder back, but the team obviously is not as strong offensively after making the move.
go Bill O-Brien!! Who do you want to trade to the Steelers for nothing?!!
Breaking News: The Houston Texans trade Deshaun Watson to the Pittsburgh Steelers for 10 packs of Toilet Paper and a hand sanitizer to be named later.
If it was Charmin….. it could be worth it
This is the worst trade I have ever seen in my life, shows that all teams should use a gm, I cannot believe deandre was gotten for a shell of David Johnson and a 2nd round pick, shame on the entire nfl for not easily beating that pathetic get by the Texans
I said they should trade for Johnson but I didn’t mean give up Hopkins …
Let the Antonio Brown to the Texans rumors start
I think Amir cooper could jump to the start of their wish list
Ah yes good old Amir… Not WR Amari Cooper. That would be too beneficial for them.
How does shipping out your best player on a good contract help explain taking on a horrible contract?
Billy Boy!
Texans going to Texan
Texans got absolutely ROBBED
Man this guy is dumb.
Hopkins slept with O’Brien’s wife … nothing else explains this trade.
Wow bill is a dummy
Wow this was dumb.
Wow, ARZ gets the salary dump AND gets Hopkins!?. HOU got hosed.
Hopkins makes about a million more than DJ. But this is clearly a win for them. Taking on DJ for next to nothing makes sense. Getting Hopkins and not getting a first rounder blows my mind. I think you could have shopped him to many other teams and landed a first.
Deshaun Watson has gotta be pissed right now…just traded away his best piece. Just dumb
I mean flat out stupid…just wow
What the heck! Pats could’ve topped that return with a second round pick!!
Any team could have topped that trade. Texans got hosed.
the Cards sent a second round pick
and also a bad contract
If the Cardinals get some offensive line help and another piece or two for that defense, watch out
Can’t say I saw this coming
How do you not get back a first rounder for Hopkins, a future fourth, and an awful contract they didn’t want.
This is what happens when you let a coach also be the GM. What has Bill O’Brien ever done to get this kind of power, besides underachieve as a pro coach. Now he gets to be fleeced as a GM. Inexcusable.
what a ridiculously stupid trade for Houston. You just traded arguably the best WR in the NFL for hot garbage.
Hey Cardinals fans, how do you like Kiem now? This is the worst deal I’ve ever seen. If the Texans got 2 1st rounders back while taking David Johnson, it would almost balance out. Terrible!
I’m not sure where you got two first rounders from but Kiem dunked on the Texans.
Hopkins and a 2020 4th
For
Johnson, 2020 2nd, 2021 4th
That’s not my comment at all. I’m saying if the Texans got 2 1st rounders and Johnson for Hopkins, it would almost balance out… but that’s not what happened. “If the Texans…”
Kiem did real well.
My bad about that I read your comment wrong
Pirates of the NFL
3 great WR’s with only one football….that will be a hilarious fail.
3 great WRs? Really giving Kirk a lot of praise
no oline
depleted wrs
no draft picks.
wtf are the Texans doing?
trading Hopkins frees up money to sign tunsil….but you shouldn’t have traded for him in the first place.
Texans should sign Kendrick Bourne, Emmanuel Sanders, and Phillip Dorsett.
I’d trade will Fuller for picks, can’t stay healthy, and fix the oline to keep Johnson and Watson healthy.
Someone needs to check O’Brien for coronavirus. Only a delirious person with a high fever would make this deal
Wow! Just wow. Cal – I hope you’re paying attention. Clowney and now D Hop? I’m not opposed to trading either – but this was a garage sale return on both.
The Texans gave up a 3rd for Duke Johnson and now give up Hopkins for another RB? Triple option in Houston?
surely this trade is struck down by the commissioner. this is just absurd.
well lets hope atleast they try and get Robby Anderson.
Or Brandon cooks or AB
The Cowboys should of tried to trade for Hopkins and let Cooper walk.
must be some stuff behind the scenes … i mean you got robbed in the Clowney deal and AND Tunsil Deal and now you get straight up rapped for dhop.
Here is the way to rationalize the trade. DJ is probably healthy, will be playing behind a better OL and can still be a weapon as a receiver. He played less than 30% of offensive snaps the last 7 games. In 6 games to begin the season he had about 300 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving. He’s also less of a cap hit than Hopkins.
The downside is, why? If you’re trading Hopkins, a first rounder has to be the starter for it. Unless he just cannot be on your team, you have to get a higher pick. A low first rounder is better than a second rounder. Maybe it made sense to BOB but it’s going to take some explaining.
The Cardinals in fact could be Cleveland West this year. They rank 23rd in cap availability and have less now with the trade. They need to re-sign Drake who now probably has more leverage knowing they want to win. Say they keep him and have the collection of Murray, Drake, Hopkins, Kirk and Fitz along with guys like Butler and Isabella then they still need OL help. Humphries might be their LT but how long does he last? Then your guards are Pugh and Sweezy with Cole manning the pivot. JR Sweezy cannot pass block. He just can’t. Good run blocker but he can’t pass block. Becton is the expected pick but the interior of the OL is a gaping hole. They could easily run into the same issues as Cleveland should a piece go down as they have no depth there and the original pieces aren’t great to start with.
The Texans will NEVER win a Super Bowl as long as their front office is the way it is now. It seems like they refuse to fix the areas of the team that need to be fixed: didn’t pay Dwuane Brown what he was worth, didn’t pay Tyrann Mathieu what he was worth, and traded Jadeveon Clowney. Now they traded Deandre Hopkins.
they did good on the Duane Brown trade he was a cancer and then promptly got injured in his 3rd game with SEA, but yeah so far BOB has made 4 just bone headed straight up bone head trades that are indefencible … his moves contradict themselves … you give up the farm for tunsil because you are in WIN NOW MODE ….. but you give away hopkins and clowney who help you in WIN NOW MODE for pennies on the dollar and you let the honey badger walk .?????
Duane Brown was not worth what he wanted. Can’t say the cost of Tunsil will be worth it but he provides upside as opposed to Brown who is on the downside of his career. Clowney also was not re-signing. He made it clear he was gone. Got what they could though you wonder if letting him play it out and taking the comp might have been the same. They replaced his sack total with Jacob Martin but that’s not the guy you want to sell to your fan base. Mathieu straight up got paid more than they could give with their holes. They didn’t let him walk, he just got higher than what people thought he would. While I still believe they shouldn’t have parted with Hopkins for less than a first, they are paying less for a guy who played poorly behind one of the worst OL in the NFL. I think they did well in getting a player better than Carlos Hyde who provides pass catching ability. No guarantees but they could still land Amari Cooper or another top tier FA.
I don’t always agree with moves where you’re getting rid of your best talent but none of the moves you listed that they’ve made are indefensible.
1. Texans have a very young offensive line. Brown could’ve giving them veteran wisdom. Furthermore, he was in the pro bowl two years ago and was named a pro bowl alternate last season. The pro bowl by itself doesn’t mean a whole lot but it’s supposed to be a single game composed of players who are have a really good season, like the NBA all-star game or the MLB all-star game. Brown still has a bit left. 2. Clowney was gonna leave in free agency thanks in part because to the fact that Texans did not want to pay him what an elite pass rusher is worth. The Texans pass rush is not nearly as good when Watt is out. Clowney helped with that. Not only that but they ended up getting fleeced by the Seahawks. 3. Mathieu only signed with the Chiefs for three years and 42 million. According to an article on the page dedicated to Houston sports, the Texans had 80 million in cap space. If that’s true, they absolutely could’ve resigned him. Their secondary has been a big hole for the last few years. That and play callinf is why they got picked apart by Andrew Luck in the postseason. He absolutely could’ve helped with that. The Texans front office seems to have no idea what it’s doing by not only keeping Bill O’Brien as head coach but also letting him be their GM. It’s time to fire him.
Didn’t I see this same trade not too long ago with some guy named Antonio Braun or something?
The arrogance of Bill O’Brien is something to behold. I would be shocked if he lasted through the season. What a horrible trade!