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NFL Trade Analysis: DeAndre Hopkins To Cardinals For David Johnson

Bill O’Brien traded DeAndre Hopkins for a washed up, unnecessary RB.

Jacksonville Jaguars v Houston Texan Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

When I first saw the rumor this morning that DeAndre Hopkins was potentially on the trade block, I immediately believed it. Why? Well, clearly, he’s not a Bill O’Brien kind of player.

DeAndre Hopkins with a designer bag.

Real players, after all, don’t carry fancy bags like DeAndre does. After this video was released, it now seems inevitable that BOB is far more interested in having HIS kinds of guys on his team rather than talent.

This is truly stunning material, but it provides a great insight into BOB’s limited mind. BOB is absolutely 100% willing to replace actually talented football players with his preconception of what a football player should be. It was Jadeveon Clowney last season.

Today, it’s DeAndre Hopkins. Let’s look at how Pancakes reported the trade, so we can start from there:

Even a couple hours later, the sheer and utter stupidity of this trade is shocking.

Entering his age-28 season, Hopkins is truly an elite WR in the NFL, and I’d even venture to guess he eventually is elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. Hopkins had a “down” year for him in 2019, in large part because of BOB’s horrific offensive scheme. There have been some reports since the trade that a rift had formed between Hopkins and BOB; I’d bet a substantial amount of that rift was caused by Hopkins’ usage.

Also, too, we gave up a 4th round pick, but who cares? BOB doesn’t know what to do with that, anyway.

In return, we received David Johnson, a 2020 second round pick, and a fourth round pick in 2021. Let’s start with Johnson.

Johnson has been a shell of a player he was since his breakout 2016 season where he gained 1,239 rushing yards and 879 receiving yards. Even then, his yards per carry in 2016 was a pedestrian 4.2, and it’s only 4.0 for his career. In 2018 and 2019, it’s fallen to an Alfred Blue-esque 3.7 y/c. For those of you scoring at home, that’s not so swell. Honestly, if you look at their respective numbers, Johnson is a middle income man’s Lamar Miller.

Where Johnson does shine is in the passing game, which is incredibly silly because we already have Duke Johnson on the roster. Quite frankly, Duke Johnson could do the same thing that David Johnson will do in 2020. Which is run into the backs of offensive linemen 25 times a game. I mean, let’s be honest here: BOB had no idea how to use Lamar Miller, he has no idea what to do with Duke Johnson, and bringing in a banged up 28 year old RB (who is only eight (8) months younger than Lamar Miller!) will not fix this offense.

The sad fact is that Carlos Hyde was a perfect fit for BOB’s offense, and we would not have had to have traded Hopkins to get him. There are 50 players who could get 4.0 y/c under BOB’s offense, and we just traded an elite WR for one of those 50.

Worst of all, our WR corps suddenly looks like Will Fuller (who should absolutely not be counted on for any production), Kenny Stills, and perennial dog house tenant Keke Coutee. The WR position is now just as impotent as BOB’s play calling.

Re-adding that we also get a 2nd round pick this year and a 4th in 2021. For BOB, draft picks are like the mule with a spinning wheel: no one knows how he got it, and danged if he knows how to use it.

Finally, if this is about Hopkins’ contract, it looks all the worse for BOB, as if it doesn’t look bad enough already. If you can’t find the room to re-sign one of the two best players on your entire roster, maybe you shouldn’t be giving Whitney Mercilus his contract. Other than this, I don’t care at all about the money changing hands, as it’s irrelevant because of the talent in the trade.

In the end, it was all about one thing, I think: Hopkins uses a murse, and real football players don’t carry murses.

#CalMcNairDoesNotCare