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Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has issued a statement ending his holdout with the team over a new contract just one day after starting his strike. Hopkins sent out a statement stating that he would be ending the holdout and that he would be holding a press conference at 3pm local time today. This came following General Manager Rick Smith's decision to place Hopkins on the "Did Not Report" list. This meant that the Texans could levy significant fines against Hopkins for not participating in team activities. Here's the full statement from Hopkins, courtesy of ESPN's Tania Ganguli, plus an update on the roster bonus Nuk was due from Adam Schefter.
DeAndre Hopkins is returning to the team. Here's his statement. Press conference this afternoon. #Texans pic.twitter.com/D12klQm4GL
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 31, 2016
With DeAndre Hopkins returning to camp, he now will be eligible to collect $445,004 roster bonus on August 4th if he's on 90-man roster.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 31, 2016
Ganguli also offered this tidbit as to what the holdout was ultimately trying to achieve:
The main issue behind all this is not that Hopkins doesn't have a new deal already. It's that the Texans weren't willing to negotiate.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 31, 2016
Thus the shortest holdout in NFL history has ended. With Hopkins reporting back to camp, the question has to be asked--will this effect future negotiations between the two sides? Sound off in the comments below on how futile an exercise this all was.
UPDATE:
#Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins is back in the facility and in uniform, with the team indicating they'd work on his contract if he returned.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 31, 2016
Hopkins said in his statement he wanted to do a presser at 3 today, but that will be pushed back. Expected to talk tomorrow. #Texans
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 31, 2016