After what is easily one of the most shocking trades of the offseason, Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien has defended the DeAndre Hopkins deal.
It’s nice to know that even when we don’t have football, we can count on the Houston Texans to give us something to talk about. And they delivered in spectacular fashion last month, when they shipped star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals. On Friday, Bill O’Brien finally broke his silence in a conference call to season ticket holders.
In the call, O’Brien revealed that Hopkins was asking for a raise, and it wasn’t something the Texans could offer. He had three years left on his current deal, and they cut him loose for David Johnson. It left many fans and people around the NFL scratching their heads and wondering how O’Brien could let the best wide receiver leave without getting a big return.
The fact that Bill O’Brien actually defended this horrendous move is laughable at best. How could he say this move is made “with the team in mind,” let alone any other ridiculous decision that is made? It made universal headlines though, and all eyes will now be on Houston when it gets back on the field.
Fans had to know that changes were coming after the Texans blew a 24-0 lead against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs. But you couldn’t have told me or anyone else that they would send Hopkins to the desert for anything less than a first-round pick.
The Texans would’ve been better off paying Hopkins, and keeping him as the offensive face of the team. Instead, they now have a running back that hasn’t been relevant since 2016, and was benched last year. Oh, and he’s got a $10 million base salary on the board for this year. Whatever the rumored “issues” were between Hopkins and O’Brien should have been worked out and this could’ve been avoided. Instead, they just handed the AFC South to the Tennessee Titans.
Since word of the trade broke, Texans fans have just obliterated O’Brien and the Texans. But it appears they are set on defending this move and moving forward. Will it pay off? We can only wait and see, but nobody on the planet is buying O’Brien and what he has to say. We could all be wrong, and the Texans could make us all look crazy, but at this point, nobody would blink twice if the NFL decided to move Texans games to Comedy Central.