New NFL salary cap gives the Seattle Seahawks plenty of room to work by Keith Myers

The Houston Texans and wide receiver Andre Johnson may be parting ways after 12 seasons together.

The Texans recently informed Johnson, who is 34-years-old that they would be reducing his role for the upcoming season. Not many athletes take kindly to hearing such things, especially ones that could make an argument for being the best wideout in the NFL over the past decade.

Rather than remaining on a team with little to no chance of winning a Super Bowl in the few years that Johnson has remaining, the former All-Pro asked for his release.

“The Texans wanted Johnson, who will turn 34 in July and will be a Hall of Fame candidate when his career is over, to take a reduced role next season, and he declined, according to people familiar with the situation, who also disclosed the two sides never discussed his contract. Rather than accept the reduced role, Johnson asked to be traded or cut.” – John McClain (Houston Chronicle NFL Writer)

The Texans instead granted Johnson permission to seek a trade. With age a factor, and a salary cap figure that exceeds $16 million for the 2015 season, it’s not probable that a trade is something that any team is willing to discuss.

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Instead it appears that the Texans will instead have to cut arguably the greatest player in franchise history and allow him to choose his next destination.

This is where the Seattle Seahawks come in.

Wide receiver has long been one of the weakest positions on the 53-man roster. No offense to Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Deion Branch, Golden Tate, Sidney Rice or any of the countless wideouts that have been on the roster in the Pete Carroll era. Andre Johnson has put together a career that none of the mentioned receivers will ever come close to.

It could very well work out that the 6-foot-3, 230 pound pass-catcher could find himself in a Seahawks uniform come preseason. Seattle has long been looking for the big-bodied target that could present another option in the redzone.

A one to two-year contract somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4 million would neither be a slap in the face of an all-time great, nor a cap hit that the Seahawks wouldn’t be able to handle with ease.

Andre Johnson is coming off of his worst year. A season that still saw him catch 85 passes for 936 yards. Totals that would have easily led the Seahawks in both categories. Baldwin only had 66 receptions and 825 yards.

Earlier in the week we posted a poll that asked if cornerback was the teams biggest offseason need. It was one of our closest results with 51% saying no. Of those saying that other positions needed more attention, wide receiver was clearly the area they felt needed to be addressed.

Bringing in Johnson for a one or two-year run makes too much sense for the Seahawks not to seriously look into such a signing.

Barring geographical factors, or play-style issues, there really is no reason for Andre Johnson to not want to come to Seattle and make a run at what would be his first Super Bowl appearance.

After 12 years in the NFL, Johnson deserves that shot, and the 12th Man deserves to have a wide receiver like Johnson to cheer on Sunday’s.