An event happens. Then after the event occurs, reports come out that this isn’t surprising, that this information no one has known about has been known for a while now. This is the way the world works.

Since DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Cardinals for the 40th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, David Johnson, and a fourth round pick swap, reports have started to trickle in that Bill O’Brien and the Texans had been shopping Hopkins for a year and a half now. Mike Sando reported this in “The Athletic;” Bleacher Report had the following quote from a mystery NFL executive.

“They have been shopping the guy (Hopkins) for a year-and-a-half, so let’s not pretend they do not know what the market is. They clearly knew the market. Other teams were scared of the market, and I think with players like Hopkins who have actually held out, there is fear of what the contract looks like. Do I think they should have taken on David Johnson? No, they did not do a great deal, but they were at a point where they just wanted to move on, and that is the danger of having the head coach being the GM.”

This could mean a few things:

1. Hopkins and O’Brien haven’t gotten a long for multiple seasons now.

2. Teams have scoffed at offering the Texans fair value in the trades they kicked around.

3. Hopkins was looking for a new contract four years away from free agency.

4. The Texans made this trade out of exhaustion, not because it would make them a better football team.

What is and isn’t true, I don’t know. What we know for sure is that something stinks in Houston, and it’s stunk for awhile now.