Houston Texans: The DeAndre Hopkins trade has still not been approved

It has been three weeks since the trade between the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans, still not being official. What’s going on?

Houston Texans‘ faithful, it has been the move of the offseason — and not for good reasons. The DeAndre Hopkins for David Johnson trade has been laughed at by NFL fans and the media. However, the trade as of right now is not finalized. According to a report from Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk, Johnson and Hopkins have yet to pass their physicals. So as of right now, Hopkins is still a member of the Houston Texans and Johnson is still a Cardinal.

Here is where it gets interesting — Hopkins and Johnson have to pass their physicals before the NFL Draft, which is scheduled for April 23. If the physicals do not happen by then, both the Texans and Cardinals will have to renegotiate and agree to terms or straight cancel the trade. It can also have an effect on what picks are going to and from each team.

Mike Florio in the same article brings up the history of Johnson, he states:

"As one source explained it to PFT, Johnson has had a preliminary physical performed on his wrist, which was injured in Week One of the 2017 season. He passed that portion of the physical, despite reduced range of motion that initially caused the doctor (not an NFL doctor) to hesitate. Johnson still has to take a physical as to the rest of his body."

Bill O’Brien for the first time since the trade spoke about it during a conference call with Cal McNair, Jack Easterby, season ticket holders, and members of the media.

In the conference call according to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, O’Brien made this comment regarding the Hopkins deal. He said:

"“I would say the deal with Arizona was a deal that we felt was in the best interest of our team, DeAndre Hopkins was a great football player here. He made so many plays for us. We love DeAndre Hopkins. But he had three years left on his deal and he wanted a raise. And we weren’t going to be able to go in that direction.We felt like we had a great offer from Arizona that involved picks. That involved an excellent three-down running back who is hungry and humble and just can’t wait to get started. David Johnson is going to be a great addition to our football team.There’s a lot of things that go into trades. Lot of thoughts that go in. How much are you going to take on contractually? How much does it take to buy that second-round pick, that No. 40 pick? What type of player are you bringing in? What type of player are you losing and what is in the best interest of the team?”"

From what it sounds like in that quote, O’Brien is keen to have Johnson join the Houston Texans.

Since his break out season in 2016, Johnson has not been the same guy. Over the past three

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years, Johnson has had nagging injuries stopping him from being on the field and obviously with injuries it brings down his stats.

Last season, the Cardinals traded for a stud running back in Kenyan Drake, who instantly made in impact for the young and up-and-coming Cardinals. When the Cardinals brought in Drake the writing was pretty much on the wall for Johnson in Arizona. He had 345 rushing yards last season and 375 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

But what happens if the deal falls through? Could Hopkins be back in a Texans uniform next season? I doubt it because of the broken relationship between O’Brien and Hopkins.

If the current trade does fall through the between the Cardinals and Texans it will be interesting to see if O’Brien renegotiates with Arizona or does he wait till the night of the NFL Draft and use Hopkins to get a 1st rounder from a wide receiver-needy team or another win-now team.

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It will be shocking to see, however, if the Texans organization caves into Hopkins demands and give him more money to keep him here after all and save themselves from being the laughing stock.

We will see what happens in the upcoming days.

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