Hopkins remains confident his agent will work out a long-term deal with the Texans, Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle reports. "Those talks are between the Texans and my agent, but this city has embraced me just like my hometown in South Carolina has," said Hopkins. "I love being here. I love playing for this team, great organization."

Hopkins is under contract this season at his fifth-year-option salary of $7.915 million, coming off what was easily the least efficient campaign -- 6.4 yards per target, 12.2 per catch -- of his otherwise impressive career. Brock Osweiler proved far worse than the subpar quarterbacks Hopkins dealt with in previous seasons, finishing last in the league by a wide margin with 5.8 yards per pass attempt. The Texans and Hopkins seem to agree that the 25-year-old wideout was a victim of circumstances last season and probably still has his best football ahead of him. It may still take time to work things out, as Hopkins likely is targeting an extension that compares to the deals signed the past few years by Julio Jones, Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant and A.J. Green -- all of whom have contracts for $14-15 million per season with 40-50 percent of the money guaranteed. The Texans may hope to pay him a tick below that rate, though he'd end up making quite a bit more if he were to rebound in 2017 and then hit the open market next offseason. Either way, Hopkins stands to benefit from Osweiler's departure, even though the combination of Tom Savage and Deshaun Watson doesn't seem too promising, at least for this season.