The Houston Texans have been dealing with Andre Johnson trade rumors since he has been away from team activities this offseason and teams like the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots could be in the mix to get him if Bill O'Brien and the Texans are trading the wide receiver after his displeasure with the way the offseason has gone.
Johnson may force the hand of the Texans to make a move if he doesn't show up, as missing mandatory activities will result in fines for the wideout and that could be coming soon if he can't work out his differences with the team or head coach Bill O'Brien. Johnson is coming off of another strong year and he has spent his entire career with the Texans and now all that could be over if he ends up getting traded.
There are numerous teams that would love to acquire Johnson but they likely do not have the cap space to pull it off or a draft pick they are willing to give up to sway the Texans. The Patriots come into the season with Super Bowl expectations and they have Ryan Mallett as trade bait if they want to make a move, as O'Brien has worked with Mallett and the Pats before and he has a similar system coming into Houston.
Last season Houston came into the year as Super Bowl Contenders, but halfway through the schedule they were basically eliminated and Johnson likely doesn't want to go through that again. The team won its first two games and then lost every other game on the schedule and making that even worse was the fact that they had to win their first two games of the season late, with one win coming in overtime and the other as time expired.
Johnson made it known to the media that he has been frustrated this offseason and one reason he likely hasn't demanded a trade yet is because the organization usually has been good to him and he could be giving them time to work things out. Johnson may not dislike O'Brien personally, but he did not sound happy about playing for his third coach with the Texans and also that the team got rid of Matt Schaub at quarterback, leaving just Case Keenum, an undrafted rookie from last year, TJ Yates, veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and inexperienced rookie Tom Savage as the options heading into summer.
The Texans have options on the trade market with Mallett as well as someone like Matt McGloin, who also has connections to O'Brien through his time at Penn State. The team went 2-14 last season and ranked 15th in passing yards per game and 20th in rushing yards per game and now they have a new coach and a new offense coming in. Johnson could put up big numbers again if he stays despite the inexperience at QB, as he did it last year while splitting between Schaub and Keenum. Johnson likely will remain in Houston, but there is always chance a deal could go down ahead of training camp, but that usually doesn't happen in the NFL.
