Houston Texans Rumors: What Kevin Johnson could net in a potential trade

The Houston Texans are, reportedly, shopping former first round pick, Kevin Johnson in the trade market. Here’s what he could net in a potential trade.

It was not all that long ago that the Houston Texans thought Kevin Johnson was worth a first round pick. He was viewed as a high upside player out of Wake Forest as a big, lanky corner that could do it all.

The Texans spent their 16th overall selection in the 2015 draft on Johnson and he was viewed as the future of the cornerback position in Houston. Johnathan Joseph was starting to age and barely beginning to show it. Kareem Jackson had been a solid corner for a while but never showed the ability to be a lockdown, number one corner. Johnson was viewed as such.

The good news about it all was Johnson was able to come in with not much pressure and able to learn behind two consummate pros in Joseph and Jackson. He played in all 16 games that first season and actually start in 10 of them. He had a pretty productive season with over 50 tackles, 6 pass breakups, and 1 interception. Not phenomenal but, all in all, not a bad rookie campaign.

Cornerback is a notoriously hard position to come in and have an immediate impact. The schemes are more complicated, the receivers are better, and, for the most part, the throws are better than they are in college. That’s why it was very good that the Houston Texans had the infrastructure for Johnson to have the pressure of being a number one corner right out of school.

So, after a pretty decent rookie season, the Houston Texans were expecting even more out Johnson heading into his second season. Johnson stepped up and provided major encouragements to both the team and fans. He looked infinitely better in coverage, was less grabby, and played with a higher level of confidence than what was seen in his rookie season.

Unfortunately, in the Texans week six tilt against the Colts, Johnson injured his foot and wound up missing the rest of the 2016 season. This was extremely disappointing because he was really looking like he had the goods to truly become a lockdown, number one corner.

But, he showed enough promise that there wasn’t much worry about his ability to come back in 2017 and continue to be that guy. He came out of the gate slowly in 2017 but, that was to be expected, after all, he was coming off of a season-ending injury. He, then, suffered a mild injury and missed four games but after he came back, he wasn’t able to recapture the magic that had people excited about him the year before.

Still, the Houston Texans felt confident enough about Johnson following the 2017 season that they went ahead and picked up his fifth-year option, locking him in as a Texan through the 2019 season.

Then, he suffered a grade three concussion in the 2018 season opener against the Patriots and missed all of the 2018 season. Now, the Houston Texans and Johnson are at an impasse. He’s on the books for over $9 million for the 2019 and he’s missed a lot of football because of injury and has been largely disappointing. Let’s take a look at his injury history.

In 2015, he suffered a pedal foot fracture but played through it. He also fractured his wrist in the final game of his rookie year. He had surgery for both in January of 2016. He then suffered the same foot fracture less than a year later and missed the rest of the 2016 season after having surgery again. He had an MCL sprain that forced him to miss 4 games in 2017.

Then, the more serious issues began. He suffered his first professional concussion (grade one) in November 2017 but was cleared before the next game. In 2018 preseason, he suffered another grade one concussion but was cleared before week one. Then, as previously stated, he suffered a grade three concussion in week one that forced him to miss the rest of the season.

That’s an extensive injury history for just four years. All of that, coupled with his disappointing play, has forced the Houston Texans to reevaluate his spot on their roster. It came out Saturday afternoon, via Ian Rapoport, that the team his shopping him on the trade market.

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This is likely due to the fact there just simply isn’t room for him on this roster at that price tag. So, trading him is the ideal route for the team. They might be able to get a fifth to seventh round pick, potentially with a conditional tag slapped on it but, I think that’s unlikely. He’s too expensive and too oft-injured for teams to give up to much. Perhaps if the Texans are willing to pick up part of his salary that would make teams more comfortable trading for him

However, this pretty much seals the deal that Johnson won’t be on the roster come summer workouts. The Houston Texans can save over $9 million by getting him off of the roster and that money can be used elsewhere. With that in mind, any team interested could just wait until he’s on the open market to pay significantly less.

So, at the end of the day, I’m not sure the Texans can get a guaranteed pick in return for Johnson because of his injury history and price tag. It would be wonderful if they could trade him but it’ll take some sweeteners like a lower pick or some money to do so.

For his career with the Houston Texans, Kevin Johnson has over 100 tackles to go with just 14 pass breakups, 1 interception, and 1 fumble recovery. Time will tell where he suits up for the 2019 season whether it’s in Houston or elsewhere.