Does this just make too much sense? (Andre Johnson wants out of Houston)

Archeryaddict12 said:

Has no chance of happening and won't happen IMO. I think AD will grow into a fabulous receiver, KT and Boyce have potential IMO. Hopefully lafell can add in also. Then Edelman and amendola take care of Brady's bread and butter. Add in gronk and its a very nice offense. Maybe could of been upgraded, but still you can't complain too much.

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I think Andre Johnson would look spectacular in a Pats uniform. No doubt. At first glance, I was all for it. If there is a way for them to make it happen, by all means BB, do it. But after looking over the facts, I just can't see it.
First, he has a few massive cap hits this year and next. So, unless he'd take a massive pay cut (not out of the question), how do the Pats fit him under the cap?
Second, the Texans would only save $3M off the cap if they were to release Johnson. He's on at $15M and would still count $12M agaisnt the cap. As of now, they have $12M in cap space so they have some wiggle room but $12M is still an awful lot to carry for a player not on the roster. (http://overthecap.com/teamcap.php?Team=Texans&Year=2014). I have a feeling that they will figure this out and get Johnson to be a good soldier. They aren't that far off.
Third, would he even be a good fit? Sure, he is a dynamite receiver. As consistent as they come. But he's been with one team for his whole career and that Patriots have had a abysmal track record with veteran WR's from other teams.

AJ would be a great addition, but we don't have cap for him and it doesn't make sense for the Texans to trade him

Git 'er done!

Too much sense-aroo. Johnson doesn't want to be in that trainwreck and they don't gain anything. Might as well tank another year and get some more good picks.

mgteich said:

The other question is whether HOU will allow Johnson to blackmail them into a trade. Players say they want to be traded all the time. Players often threaten sit outs. It is NOT good for the league to have players decided that they don't like their quarterback and getting trade as a result of their threats.

It is not clear that Kraft and Belichick will reward such behavior.

That being said, perhaps HOU is very willing to part with Johnson.

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I don't think it's all that bad for the league when these things happen. For one thing, it gets people talking about the league, and for another there just aren't that many players who have the clout to force a move like this. It's also one of the few weapons a player has at their disposal to leverage against a team. If a player signs a deal and then suddenly the coach changes, the QB changes, the circumstances change, that player is stuck there unless the team decides to move them. Voicing displeasure is the only card they can really play.

I think the Patriots should highly consider trading for Andre. A player like him is what we're missing in the games that matter. We need to be able to continue to move the chains which will rest our D (which continues to improve), and take pressure off of other receivers. There's too much pressure on receivers like Dobson, Amendola to get the job done. To be able to compete with the best teams in the league, we are still missing that play maker on Offense. If Gronk wasn't a threat to be injured, it wouldn't be as much of a need.

I think andre could will wind up on a team like the Seahawks, Panthers, 49ers, or Pats. He wants to go to a winning team and lets hope it's not Seattle...

Sciz said:

The $3.68M savings for the Texans assumes a $10M salary. The $6.5M cost to the Pats assume that's his salary. I don't know which it is (people around the Internet disagree), but it can't be both. And either way, it doesn't include his $1M week 1 roster bonus.


Edit: Jason at OverTheCap says Johnson hit a $3.5M escalator to push his salary from $6.5M to $10M. Add the $1M roster bonus, and a team trading for him would be on the hook for $11M. In other words, this idea can die.

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The $3.68 million would be the cap savings after his salary is taken off the books and his dead money is factored in.

Also, are you sure it is a week one roster bonus. Most roster bonuses are due either the first day of the NFL year or not that far after it to make sure that if a team is going to cut you that they cut you before free agency begins.

jboston19 said:

The Texans are contenders. I can't see them getting rid of AJ unless they're blown away with an offer. I'd say they're more likely to trade for a qb than deal their best WR away. And, if there was an upgrade at qb available, they'd have made that trade already. AJ isn't going anywhere.

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They had the worst record in the league last year and lost 14 straight games. They are not contenders. They could surprise people and fight for a Wild Card berth, but I think 8-8 this year would be an incredible year for them with or without Johnson.

I think that a Johnson trade would be awesome and after reading many of the posts here I don't see how that would work with model the Patriots run and that is responsible spending and I think he is a Pro Bowler but, I think it is very important that we allow for Brady to have two seasons of working with Dobson. We can't give up on him yet and he showed signs of being a player and to me that would be just another waste of a 2nd round draft pick

Happy to part of the Community with everyone as I have been a long time guest and many on here are very knowledgeable and I look forward to talking to you all.

Rob0729 said:

They had the worst record in the league last year and lost 14 straight games. They are not contenders. They could surprise people and fight for a Wild Card
berth, but I think 8-8 this year would be an incredible year for them with or without Johnson.

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I think you are totally correct on this assessment and I think you are even giving them a chance at 8-8 is pushing it as they don't have a good quarterback ( Fitzpatrick is not a starter anymore) maybe they should have just taken Mallet in that trade (Damn you Tom Curran)

Rob0729 said:

The $3.68 million would be the cap savings after his salary is taken off the books and his dead money is factored in.

Also, are you sure it is a week one roster bonus. Most roster bonuses are due either the first day of the NFL year or not that far after it to make sure that if a team is going to cut you that they cut you before free agency begins.

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PFT says the roster bonus is due week 1 and contingent on participation in offseason workouts. So more than likely he's not going to earn it if he stays with the Texans, but I would assume that he would earn it after being traded to a different team. Either way, we're talking about either $10M or $11M in new money this coming season, which is quite a bit different than the $6.5M that many were assuming.

Rob0729 said:

They had the worst record in the league last year and lost 14 straight games. They are not contenders. They could surprise people and fight for a Wild Card berth, but I think 8-8 this year would be an incredible year for them with or without Johnson.

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Last year was a "literally everything that could go wrong did go wrong" year for them, down to their coach having a heart attack on the sideline during a game that they were handily beating the Colts. I'd say that 8-8 would be on the high end of a "pretty decent season" for them, and with some decent-or-better QB play they could easily go 10-6. If BOB and the QB end up having good seasons, a first round bye could possibly be in play.

2-14 is what happens when you not only have a ton of injuries, but you also have a coaching staff that isn't adaptable enough to adjust its gameplan in the face of changing circumstances. They were still trying to run an offense that was predicated on power running to set up the pass, despite having AJ and DeAndre Hopkins and being down to their sixth RB and third TE. With good health, competent QB play, and better coaching, they'll be fine.

As for Fitzpatrick, Andre Johnson and that running game have been making bad quarterbacks look legitimate for years. I don't like Fitzpatrick either, but he can't be worse than Schaub was last year, and could be a whole lot better.

It sounds like that's all a formality for AJ, though, at this point. Whether they could be good or not, he's clearly sick of being on a team that you don't know will be good.

Sciz said:

The $3.68M savings for the Texans assumes a $10M salary. The $6.5M cost to the Pats assume that's his salary. I don't know which it is (people around the Internet disagree), but it can't be both. And either way, it doesn't include his $1M week 1 roster bonus.


Edit: Jason at OverTheCap says Johnson hit a $3.5M escalator to push his salary from $6.5M to $10M. Add the $1M roster bonus, and a team trading for him would be on the hook for $11M. In other words, this idea can die.

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Sciz- A team trading for Johnson can renegotiate his contract so that it's not an $11M hit this year.

DaBruinz said:

Sciz- A team trading for Johnson can renegotiate his contract so that it's not an $11M hit this year.

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Unless he's taking a pay cut, it's still $11M at some point. They need room on next seasons cap if they want both Revis and McCourty to stick around, so I don't think pushing $7M of that 11 (or something along those lines) into 2015 is the solution either.

Sciz said:

PFT says the roster bonus is due week 1 and contingent on participation in offseason workouts. So more than likely he's not going to earn it if he stays with the Texans, but I would assume that he would earn it after being traded to a different team. Either way, we're talking about either $10M or $11M in new money this coming season, which is quite a bit different than the $6.5M that many were assuming.

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Well, if taking part of the offseason workouts is a contingency, he isn't going to get the bonus unless he is traded very quickly. He already said he is not going to attend OTAs or minicamp.

BradyFTW! said:

Last year was a "literally everything that could go wrong did go wrong" year for them, down to their coach having a heart attack on the sideline during a game that they were handily beating the Colts. I'd say that 8-8 would be on the high end of a "pretty decent season" for them, and with some decent-or-better QB play they could easily go 10-6. If BOB and the QB end up having good seasons, a first round bye could possibly be in play.

2-14 is what happens when you not only have a ton of injuries, but you also have a coaching staff that isn't adaptable enough to adjust its gameplan in the face of changing circumstances. They were still trying to run an offense that was predicated on power running to set up the pass, despite having AJ and DeAndre Hopkins and being down to their sixth RB and third TE. With good health, competent QB play, and better coaching, they'll be fine.

As for Fitzpatrick, Andre Johnson and that running game have been making bad quarterbacks look legitimate for years. I don't like Fitzpatrick either, but he can't be worse than Schaub was last year, and could be a whole lot better.

It sounds like that's all a formality for AJ, though, at this point. Whether they could be good or not, he's clearly sick of being on a team that you don't know will be good.

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Yes, everything went wrong with the Texans last year, but they still do not have a QB. I still wonder if they will have a QB if they trade for Mallett.

DaBruinz said:

Sciz- A team trading for Johnson can renegotiate his contract so that it's not an $11M hit this year.

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If that trade would go through wouldn't you think that Amendola would be a part of it and that would leave a Dead cap hit for His signing bonus correct? If that is the case and the new contract would have money from his signing bonus could that be fit under?
I wonder for the fact that we will need quite a bit of $ next year to sign McCourty and the most important resign in Revis Island.

I would imagine a contract re-do would need to be done in order to facilitate a trade for AJ. Who knows, maybe a 32 YO guy who is sick and tired of not being in position to seriously compete for a SB title, might just be open to a cap friendly deal for such a chance?

I think it's safe to say that none of us in here knows one way or the other!

DaBruinz said:

Sciz- A team trading for Johnson can renegotiate his contract so that it's not an $11M hit this year.

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It wouldn't be an $11 cap hit this year. Even if the new team has to eat all of the bonus money paid out this year, that team will be paying him about $8 million in new money. He has three years left on his deal. So that bonus money (about $1.6 million) would be spread out over three years. If the new team acquiring him wanted to lower his cap money, they could convert $4-5.5 million of his base pay into bonus and reduce his cap number down to $3-4 million if they needed to.

Rob0729 said:

Yes, everything went wrong with the Texans last year, but they still do not have a QB. I still wonder if they will have a QB if they trade for Mallett.

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I'm not sure what I believe though I'm pretty sure the Texans had absolutely no need to trade for Mallet before or during the draft using 2014 picks.

If a trade happens at all, the Texans must know the Patriots would be willing/forced to accept next-years 2015 picks.

Danger Zone said:

I'm not sure what I believe though I'm pretty sure the Texans had absolutely no need to trade for Mallet before or during the draft using 2014 picks.

If a trade happens at all, the Texans must know the Patriots would be willing/forced to accept next-years 2015 picks.

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I am not saying the Pats would trade Mallett for Johnson straight up. They could package Mallett and pick (possibly two) for Johnson. If Mallett is worth a 2015 pick to the Texans, he is worth something in value in a package to trade Johnson if they choose to trade him.