Now that he has asked to be traded or released, the Andre Johnson era with the Texans is almost certainly over.

The end has been in sight for some time.

Everybody knew it, but the Texans kept lying about it.

As has been the case with many of the franchise's operations through the years, it is bringing this union to a close in comedic fashion.

Related: The Andre Johnson no one knows

Texans coach Bill O'Brien sat Johnson down last Thursday and delivered some, um, interesting news.

O'Brien told Johnson, the franchise's most accomplished offensive player, a man who has averaged 84 receptions per season, including a team-high 85 last year, that the Texans anticipated he would catch around 40 passes next season.

"I just laughed," Johnson told the Chronicle on Monday night. "They gave me my role, and I just laughed at them.

"How do you tell a guy who is used to catching 80 balls a year that he was going to catch 40?"

Back to Gallery Johnson move inevitable, but Texans bungled handling of it 83 1 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Staff 2 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 3 of 83 Photo: Robert Laberge, Getty Images 4 of 83 Photo: AL DIAZ, AP 5 of 83 Photo: AL DIAZ, AP 6 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 7 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 8 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 9 of 83 Photo: KEVIN FUJII, Houston Chronicle 10 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 11 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 12 of 83 Photo: Karl Stolleis, Houston Chronicle 13 of 83 Photo: Karl Stolleis, Houston Chronicle 14 of 83 Photo: James Nielsen, Special to the Chronicle 15 of 83 Photo: Karl Stolleis, Houston Chronicle 16 of 83 Photo: BRETT COOMER, Houston Chronicle 17 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 18 of 83 Photo: Andrew Innerarity, Houston Chronicle 19 of 83 Photo: Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle 20 of 83 Photo: CHRISTOBAL PEREZ, HOUSTON CHRONICLE 21 of 83 Photo: CHRISTOBAL PEREZ, HOUSTON CHRONICLE 22 of 83 Photo: Karl Stolleis, Houston Chronicle 23 of 83 Photo: KAREN WARREN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE 24 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 25 of 83 Photo: Buster Dean, Houston Chronicle 26 of 83 Photo: KAREN WARREN, Houston Chronicle 27 of 83 Photo: BRETT COOMER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE 28 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 29 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 30 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Chronicle 31 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 32 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 33 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 34 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 35 of 83 Photo: Pat Sullivan, AP 36 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 37 of 83 Photo: Tony Bullard, For the Chronicle 38 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 39 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 40 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 41 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 42 of 83 Photo: Kevin Fujii, Houston Chronicle 43 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 44 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 45 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 46 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 47 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 48 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 49 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 50 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 51 of 83 Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle 52 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 53 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 54 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 55 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 56 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 57 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 58 of 83 Photo: Bob Levey, For the Chronicle 59 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 60 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 61 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 62 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 63 of 83 Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle 64 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 65 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 66 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 67 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 68 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 69 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 70 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 71 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 72 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 73 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 74 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 75 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 76 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 77 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 78 of 83 Photo: Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle 79 of 83 Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle 80 of 83 Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle 81 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle 82 of 83 Photo: Smiley N. Pool , Houston Chronicle 83 of 83 Photo: Houston Chronicle





































































































































































That's a good question. But don't tip your waitresses yet. The stand-up routine was hardly over.

O'Brien told Johnson he wasn't even likely to be a starter next season, definitely not for all of the games.

Johnson didn't laugh out loud this time. Maybe that wasn't a punch line but an abracadabra.

Because keeping Johnson on next year's team and finding a way for him not to start would be a magnificent trick, considering that behind Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins, the Texans had arguably the worst pass-catching wideouts in the NFL last season.

Premature notion

And it isn't as if they made up for it with their tight ends, because there isn't much argument about that group being the league's worst.

Yet you have the nerve to tell Andre Johnson he probably wouldn't start? That hurt.

"I was floored," Johnson said. "I don't feel like there is a guy on that team that can outplay me or outwork me. I mean, who am I going to play behind?

"So I was real honest with him: 'If that's your role for me, you're going to be dealing with a miserable football player.' "

It is one thing for a player's skills to erode and his production to drop. It is another for the team to tell him in February what he will do in September, October and November.

If Johnson, 33, were going to have a lesser role on the team, which by itself isn't an unreasonable assumption, that should be determined by his play, not by some six-months-before-the-season plan.

One would think the Texans simply weren't interested in keeping Johnson around for the $11.5 million (including a $1 million workout bonus) he is supposed to be paid this year. But the two parties never discussed money. How could they after the way the conversation began?

It is as if the Texans know nothing at all about Johnson.

Little trade value

Given the take-it-or-leave-it option of accepting a predetermined lesser role with a team that says he isn't good enough - not to mention a team that isn't considered a contender - Johnson, understandably, asked if he could leave it.

Johnson will be difficult to trade. Now that teams know the Texans would rather cut him than pay him what his contract says, they would be foolish to offer much.

Johnson said he appreciated the Texans' honesty, though he didn't understand their plan or agree with their assessment.

In a way, he said, he is excited about what the future might hold. There is no doubt the grass is greener at other NFL stadiums, and not just because NRG's field is horrid.

Surprisingly, Johnson says he isn't angry at the Texans.

"I'm not upset at all," he said. "If we lived in a perfect world, I would want to finish my career here, because this is where I started. But it's just not going to work out that way.

"I had an idea it was going to happen. So I guess when you prepare for it to happen, it doesn't hit you that same way as if it were a surprise."

The odds were so against Johnson's retiring as a Texan that the odds of the team's winning the Super Bowl last year were better.

Getting released last year at this time would have been better for Johnson. In many ways, it would have been giving the potential Hall of Famer the treatment he deserves.

Business as usual

But the NFL isn't about players getting what they deserve. It is a cold business.

Johnson's agent, Kennard McGuire, asked somewhat facetiously: "Where was this kindness last year? In this environment, we understand that there is an expiration date and everybody has a shelf life. Again, I ask, where was this kindness last year?"

Instead, Johnson ended 2014 the same way he ended 2013: catching passes from Case Keenum.

And he has probably caught his last pass in a Texans uniform.