Report: Browns, Patriots, Raiders potential candidates for Andre Johnson
Earlier today Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported four teams were interested in disgruntled Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson. To follow that report, Rapoport mentioned three teams who could reach out in hopes of snagging Johnson in a segment on NFL Network:
From @RapSheet on Total Access: Patriots, Browns and "wild card" Raiders make sense as potential Andre Johnson landing spots.
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) July 11, 2014
Considering Johnson wants to find himself in a situation where winning is possible, this has caused many to link he and the New England Patriots, dating back to when the turmoil began. And as it was several months ago, salary cap continues to be an issue. The 32-year-old receiver is set to make $10 million in 2014-15 according to SportRac.com–the cap hit being $14 million. Adding Johnson, and possibly including Danny Amendola in the package, takes New England over the cap limit.
#Patriots are currently $6.4M under the cap. Johnson’s base salary is slated to be $10M. And trading Amendola adds $2.25M more to Pats cap
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) July 10, 2014
For each franchise mentioned-New England, Cleveland, Oakland–they’d be landing a marquee free agent who could immediately impact the team’s 2014 fortunes. In New England, Johnson adds the much needed deep threat the team has been absent of since Randy Moss’ departure. In Cleveland, he’d step into the role Josh Gordon’s disciplinary actions have left void. And in Oakland, Johnson adds a veteran presence to go alongside Matt Schaub.
Last season, Johnson collected 5 touchdowns and 1407 receiving yards.