Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is a holdout from training camp, and the Texans need to pay him what he wants sooner rather than later.
In 2016, the Houston Texans are set to spend more money on Cecil Shorts, Tony Bergstrom, Akeem Dent, Chris Clark, and 12 other players than they will spend on DeAndre Hopkins (via Spotrac.com). Nothing against any of these guys, but Hopkins is probably the second-most important player on the team. Sadly, he’s been forced into holding out of training camp because the team will not give him a new contract (via Adam Scheffer & Tania Ganguli of ESPN).
It’s time for him to get paid.
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I understand the eagerness that teams have to keep their young stars under their rookie contracts as long as possible to save money, and sometimes that makes sense. A guy like Hopkins, however, is playing a lot better than a rookie contract would assume. It would be fairly easy to make a case for Hopkins as the league’s top receiver, and though I may not get on board that train I certainly wouldn’t try to derail it.
He managed an impressive 111 catches for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns last season despite playing with four different starting quarterbacks, none of whom were stars. In fact, he became the first player in NFL history to manage 100 yard receiving games from four different quarterbacks.
Flashback to the year before, and Hopkins again shone while again catching passes from four different quarterbacks including three different starters. In fact, in his three year career, Hopkins hasn’t played with the same quarterback for more than 12 games in a season and none of the guys throwing passes his way have been franchise-level passers.
Despite all the upheaval, confusion, and inadequacy at the quarterback position Hopkins has produced week-in and week-out and has hardly even complained. Now he’s watching players like Travis Benjamin, Mohamed Sanu, and Marvin Jones make two-to-three times as much money and it’s got to be hard to stomach.
Earlier this year Hopkins switched agents to work with a new agency who also represents teammates J.J. Watt and Brock Osweiler (via Scout.com). This should have been an indication that Hopkins was ready to sign a new contract, but unfortunately the team waited to late and now are facing the bad press and pressure of a training camp holdout. Hopkins isn’t being unreasonable though, he just wants what he’s earned:
"I’m not looking for a certain range,” Hopkins said during a break at a football camp for local children (according to ESPN’s Tania Ganguli). “I just want to be treated for what I’m worth. That’s fair to say, right?"
I definitely agree that’s fair to say DeAndre, and I hope the Texans would think so as well. You’ve been one of the few bright spots on a struggling team for several seasons, and have never seemed to waver or complain despite continuously poor situations.
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The Houston Texans should take this opportunity to pay Hopkins the money he deserves and also lock him up into a long-term contract. He’s deserving of a contract at least in the Jeremy Maclin-Alshon Jeffrey range and he’s young enough that extending him for another six years would be an excellent decision for the team.
If they won’t pay him soon, the Texans risk a similar situation to what happened with Dez Bryant and the Dallas Cowboys last year. Bryant held out last season and missed out on vital offseason work, which according to Dallas executive vice president Stephen Jones lead to him being out of shape and out of sync for the Cowboys’ disappointing 2015 season (via Brandon George of SportsDay).
More nfl spin zone: DeAndre Hopkins Skips Texans Camp
With so many new faces on offense, the longer it takes the Texans to get on the same page during training camp the harder it will be once the season begins. Houston needs Hopkins’ leadership on the field not at home, and they need it sooner rather than later. Pay the man Houston, I promise you won’t regret it.