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They may not be playing in the Super Bowl tonight, but your Houston Texans are in the news today for reasons beyond their stadium being the site of Super Bowl LI (thanks to Wotan for bringing this story to my attention).
Before #Patriots traded Jamie Collins to the #Browns, they targeted a blockbuster: Hopkins for Collins. Good effort https://t.co/yH6JY1J9y8
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 5, 2017
From Rapoport’s story:
The two juiciest: The Patriots asked for frustrated receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a potential trade for Collins -- offensive building block in need of an extension for defensive building block in need of an extension. That was a non-starter for the Texans, even with Hopkins battling uneven quarterback play.
The other offer the Patriots spent weeks researching: Veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph for Collins. New England loves him. Though intriguing, Joseph is so valuable to Houston that the team would not part with him.
First off, this doesn’t mean the Texans were ever interested in ending their relationship with Nuk or J-Jo. It simply means the Patriots were interested in acquiring those players. Which, you know, they should be; DeAndre Hopkins and Johnathan Joseph are both excellent football players.
Secondly, as offensively challenged and defensively stacked as the Texans are, bringing Collins on at the expense of Nuk wouldn’t have made much sense for Houston, no matter how much more money Hopkins stands to make in his next contract.
The idea of swapping Joseph for Collins might be considered a closer call at first glance, given the Texans’ depth at cornerback and Collins’ youth compared to J-Jo’s age. Then again, the team that acquired Collins would have to hand him a fat new contract, and that’s likely not something the Texans thought was the best use of their salary cap resources at the moment.
In conclusion, speculation is fun, but it’s easy to understand why the Texans balked at both deals. Now, should the Patriots want to revisit trade talks with the Texans about a certain backup quarterback this offseason, perhaps they’d find a team considerably more responsive and willing to negotiate.