Tuesday’s comments from Texans receiver Andre Johnson caught plenty of folks by surprise. His team should have seen it coming.
And yet the Texans have done nothing in free agency or the draft to prepare for the possibility that Johnson won’t be with the team that made him the third overall pick in the 2003 draft.
After a loss in November of last season, Johnson exchanged words with quarterback Matt Schaub before leaving the field and heading to the locker room with time left on the clock.
“I’m under contract so I have to play my contract out,” Johnson said after the game regarding his future in Houston. “I can’t do anything about that.”
What he can do is stay away from voluntary workouts, even though he risks losing a $1 million roster bonus that he’ll earn as of Week One if he participates in offseason workouts and fulfills all contractual obligations.
What he also can do is try to persuade the team to trade him or cut him. The team’s reluctance to do so may have something to do with the frustration and the “situation” he has experienced this offseason.
Apart from adding veteran Mike Thomas after the regular season ended, the Texans haven’t signed a free-agent receiver or drafted one.
It could be that the Texans plan to keep Johnson for 2014, hoping that improved performance by the franchise will make him more happy -- or perhaps less unhappy. Or maybe they’re simply waiting to trade him to a team that may need a receiver. Maybe, for example, a team in Cleveland that may not have Josh Gordon for much longer.