Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson has made it abundantly clear lately that after 11 years with the organization. And no, he hasn’t done it in an annoying, selfish sort of way, rather he sat down with the team and expressed his desire to move on in his career before addressing that matter publicly, which is actually refreshing to see nowadays from an athlete in any sport.
There’s just one problem, however. Virtually the only way that Johnson would be able to depart Houston anytime soon would be if the team were to decide to deal him, and according to Ian Rapoport, that’s very unlikely to occur.
Bill O’Brien and GM Rick Smith are working with and talking to Andre Johnson, hoping to ease his concerns & get him to show. Can’t trade him
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 22, 2014
Now if you happen to be confused as to why coaching staff and management are spending a great deal of time talking to a player that doesn’t want to be there anymore rather than just make him happy and deal him, well that’s because if they were to set him free in such a manner, they would take a significant financial hit.
1. They don’t want to. 2. It’s a $11M cap hit, plus his huge contract RT @IkaikaHall: @RapSheet please explain why they can't trade Andre?
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 22, 2014
On Thursday it was reported that Johnson is likely to skip the team’s OTAs coming up this summer, so this situation doesn’t seem to be getting any easier, any time soon.