The Houston Texans have given wide receiver Andre Johnson permission to seek a trade and will release him if no trade partner is found, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Johnson was reportedly told that he would take on a reduced role next season, and the player informed the team he would rather be traded or cut.
Andre Johnson’s Texans career is over as team will trade or release him
Arguably the best player in franchise history has reportedly played his final snap with the team.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Johnson has been with the Texans since the team drafted him with the No. 3 overall pick in 2003, and he's put together seven seasons of 1,000-plus yards in that time. Last season, he caught 85 passes for 936 yards and three touchdowns. That made him the second-leading receiver on the team, behind second-year pro DeAndre Hopkins, who had 76 receptions for 1,210 yards and six touchdowns.
Houston did not ask Johnson to take a pay cut and only informed him that he was in for a reduced role, according to the report. It’s unclear if a pay cut is something Houston would have pursued had Johnson not asked for his release, but it stands to reason that it would have been. His salary cap figure for 2015 is $16.1 million with a base salary of $10.5 million. His 2016 base salary is set at $11 million with a $1 million roster bonus.
Obviously, it will be difficult to get a trade done with those numbers. If keeping his current deal is the goal for the veteran receiver, he’ll likely wind up disappointed. Johnson, who will be 34 when the 2015 regular season rolls around, clearly has something to offer plenty of teams out there, but those cap numbers are prohibitive. If a trade can’t be worked out and Johnson is released, the Texans would save $8.825 million against the salary cap for 2015.
SB Nation presents: Multiple teams in the AFC West could use a new receiver
Johnson's salary likely plays the biggest role in Houston's decision to give him a reduced role. The Texans don't have any other receivers on the roster who look to replicate his production at this point, which means they could be targeting someone specifically in free agency or even the NFL Draft, though Hopkins is entering just his third season in the league.
Johnson will likely go down as the best player in Texans franchise history. He caught 1,012 passes for 13,597 yards and 64 touchdowns over the course of his career, making it to seven Pro Bowls and earning four All-Pro awards. There are plenty of potential landing spots for a guy like Johnson, including the Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, to name a few. It's unlikely that any of these teams will be interested in giving up a draft pick on top of Johnson's 2015 cap number, though.
See More:
