Andre Johnson not garnering interest from New York Jets

Houston Texans star wide receiver Andre Johnson is the best player in the franchise’s brief history (well, until J.J. Watt surpasses him), but he’s made it abundantly clear throughout the offseason that he isn’t happy with the direction of the team and would like to leave after spending all of his 11 years with the franchise. Johnson is a future Hall of Famer who has been ridiculously consistent throughout his career, and the Texans carousel of subpar QBs didn’t prevent him from racking up some more impressive stats, as the frequently targeted veteran hauled in 109 passes for 1,407 yards.

The Texans aren’t expected to trade him, because they probably wouldn’t get fair value out of Johnson. It will be interesting to see how serious he is about moving, but I’m sure many teams will be interested. I mean, it’s not often that you get a chance to acquire an elite “X”-type receiver with five 100-catch seasons on his resume, even if Johnson has stated that he isn’t willing to take a cut in salary to get a deal done.

Teams will be calling and draft picks will be discussed, but we know that the New York Jets won’t be one of those teams interested in pursuing Johnson. A team official told Metro’s Kristian Dyer that the Jets are not “actively pursuing” the 33-year-old and don’t deem him as a “fit” at this moment in time due to the team’s plans. They obviously recognize that Johnson is an amazing player, but making a move for him wouldn’t make much sense.

While Johnson can fit or help any team and would form a dynamic 1-2 punch with big offseason signing Eric Decker, the Jets aren’t the type of team who should be spending draft picks and major cap space on star receivers. They made plenty of pass-catching upgrades this offseason by signing Decker, which is the type of big money move John Idzik doesn’t make often but understood that he needed a star playmaker at WR for second-year pro Geno Smith, drafting the underrated Jalen Saunders and UCLA’s Shaq Evans, re-signing Jeff Cumberland, and adding Jace Amaro in the draft. Johnson would be a huge addition, but it just wouldn’t be worth it for the team to spend on a veteran player when they aren’t a contender and already made several nifty upgrades. A trade for Johnson is a fun idea to kick around, but this isn’t Madden.