The Houston Texans are heading into the summer knowing that a trade of Andre Johnson is a possibility if he continues to stay away from team activities and one trade partner could be the Oakland Raiders, as they need depth at wideout and have a backup quarterback in Matt McGloin that could be a fit with Bill O'Brien over Ryan Mallett with the Patriots.
The Texans traded TJ Yates to the Falcons for a linebacker and heading into training camp the team has named Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter over Case Keenum and Tom Savage. According to ESPN.com, the Texans and the Patriots had talked earlier in the offseason about a trade for Mallett, but the Patriots did not want to deal their backup quarterback with a rookie coming in and nothing went farther than initial discussions. Keenum started for the Texans last season, but he did not win the starting job and there is a slight chance the team could look at McGloin as an option, since he was QB when O'Brien was at Penn State.
Trades this late in the offseason do not usually happen, but the situation with Johnson is not like most situations, as he is staying away from the team but is not demanding a trade or a new contract. The Texans could be forced to trade Johnson if he doesn't show up to training camp or other team activities and one team that could be an option is the Raiders, as they have the cap space to make the deal work. That doesn't mean it will happen, but Johnson continues to be absent and he is painting his team into a corner right now after putting up massive numbers in his career with the Texans.
Johnson is 32 and earlier in the offseason he spoke about being frustrated with the way last season went and also that he has been to the playoffs just twice with the team. O'Brien comes in as a hardnosed head coach and Johnson may not be too thrilled about playing in a new system and on top of that, the Texans traded away his quarterback in Matt Schaub to the Raiders this offseason after the way he played last season. Johnson had massive numbers last season despite playing with Keenum and a down year Schaub, as he had 109 catches for 1,407 yards and five scores and this came as the team lost 14 straight games after starting 2-0.
ESPN broke the news about Fitzpatrick and while he is a solid option for O'Brien, he is no Tom Brady and Johnson could be looking for a way out to avoid a rebuilding year in Houston. Last season the Texans went 2-14 and now they are coming in with some confidence despite the terrible record, as they have a new system and a top overall pick in Jadeveon Clowney. Last season the Texans ranked 15th in passing yards per game and 20th in rushing and getting Arian Foster back healthy will be a huge boost to the offense.
