IVAN TORRES
Special to The Leader
In the NFL, there are many teams that struggle to find their identity.
Out of all 32 teams, no team struggles more with identity than the Houston Texans.
Before 2020, the Texans made the playoffs back to back in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
This team showed to be very promising with a young star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, arguably the best receiver in the league, Deandre Hopkins and a great defensive end J.J. Watt.
However, promising turned into failure in just one season.
Fans, players and front office heads were turned when the Houston Texans posted a record of 4 wins and 12 losses.
All we can ask ourselves is “What happened?”
First off, before the 2020 season, the Texans’ star receiver, DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Cardinals for running back David Johnson and a second and fourth round pick.
According to the Texans’ head coach, Bill O’ Brien said, “DeAndre Hopkins was a great football player here. He made so many plays for us. We love DeAndre Hopkins. But he had three years left on his deal and he wanted a raise. And we weren’t going to be able to go in that direction.”
This was the first problem. As a team who are Super Bowl contenders, there’s no reason to trade away the best player on their offense. The best thing to do would be to pay the stars and address needed positions in the draft.
Not only did trading Deandre Hopkins not make sense, but they also traded him for a “bag of chips.”
David Johnson hasn’t been productive since 2016 where he found the endzone 16 times that season. Johnson found the endzone more times in that one season than he had his next four seasons combined (15).
Not only that, but with the draft picks they received, the Texans had somehow managed not to help their quarterback with offensive lineman.
Overall, the Texans received a washed up running back and picks they failed to put into use at the price of, debatably, the number one receiver in the league.
Not only did they trade DeAndre Hopkins and have a record of 4 and 12, but in this offseason, the team somehow managed to make it worse for themselves.
Since the 2020 season had low hopes for the Texans, they are now forced to start from scratch once again.
How do they do that?
They start by cutting their franchise player and five-time pro bowler defensive end, J.J. Watt.
The Texans ranked 30th last season in defense. Congratulations to them because their defense has a serious shot of being ranked dead last next season.
Just as things can’t get any worse for the Texans, they do.
Twenty-five-year-old and three-time all pro quarterback, Deshaun Watson requested to be traded.
According to Sports Illustrated, Watson said that the organization needed “a whole culture shift.”
If Houston goes on to trade Watson, their most marketable player would be Will Fuller, who was suspended at the end of the season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drugs policy.
He is also a pending unrestricted free agent.
With all these moves being made in the offseason, Houston, we have a serious problem.