It would be hard to find anyone outside the Texans’ building who doesn’t think Arizona stole DeAndre Hopkins. The Cardinals traded running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round choice and a 2021 fourth-rounder for Hopkins and a 2020 fourth-round selection.
It was a small price to pay for one of the best receivers in the NFL.
It’s been reported the Eagles also talked to the Texans but decided against trading for Hopkins, based both on what the Texans were asking for and what Hopkins wanted in a new contract.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman also intimated on a conference call with reporters Thursday that the Texans weren’t offering Philadelphia the same deal they offered the Cardinals.
“The Hopkins one, I get that this is a hot-button topic for us,” Roseman said, via Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com. “I think that, again, we gotta also look at it from the perspective of the other team. What their ask is for us may be different, depending on their valuation of players they get in trades or where draft picks are. So it’s not always apples to apples.
“I’m not saying that as an excuse, I’m just saying the reality of the situation is there are a lot of trades that we look at where I’ll call the G.M. and say, you know, ‘We talked about this. Why would you do it for this?’ And they’ll say, ‘Well, I really like this player’ or ‘I like where this pick is.’ So, I think there’s a lot that goes into it and we’re not always in control of the results on that.”
The Texans obviously valued Johnson, a commodity the Eagles didn’t have, and the Cardinals’ second-round choice, No. 40 overall, was 13 spots better than the Eagles’ second-round selection.
It also appears the Eagles, like maybe some other teams, were scared off by Hopkins’ contract request. Hopkins still has three years remaining on his deal.