There really aren’t any parallels where individuals can be shipped off from one company to another and then expected to compete against their former employer the same week. Trades are a part of the fabric of professional sports and help make the NFL the 24-hour news producer that it has become. Even before yesterday’s deal that brought Demaryius Thomas to Houston http://www.thetexans...ersey-authentic , the Texans, for all their conservative habits, have made a ton of trades during their short stint in the NFL. In honor of the Texans’ aggressive move to acquire more talent on the offensive side of the ball to replace Will Fuller, here’s my list of the top ten trades in Texans’ history10. D.J. Reader For Keshawn Martin? Consider It Done.Mid or late round picks are hard to predict. Gems are hard to come by after a hundred or so players are selected—but that’s why they’re called gems. Reader is the interior defensive stalwart the Texans have been working to develop since they drafted him in 2016. Vince Wilfork was brought into town to train and develop Reader into the nose tackle the team needs to run their 3-4 defense.Back in September of 2015, New England gave the Texans a fifth round pick in exchange for a sixth round pick and Keshawn Martin. That pick became D.J. Reader.Reader is now a key part of Houston’s defense and looks to be the Texans’ nose tackle for the foreseeable future.9. Texans Find Franchise Center In Chris Myers.For just a sixth round pick back in 2008, the Texans gained a future two-time Pro-Bowl center in Chris Myers. With Myers a restricted free agent, the Texans worked a sign-and-trade deal with the Broncos for Myers’ services. The six seasons he played with the Texans were some of the best running offenses Houston has ever seen. Myers started in every game he played in Houston and was a locker room leader throughout his career.8. Brian Cushing’s Successor Required Trading Up.In what has turned into a thoroughly disappointing draft class, linebacker Benardrick McKinney is the sole bright spot from the 2015 NFL Draft. The Texans and Browns once again got complicated. Houston traded second, fourth, and sixth round picks to Cleveland for an earlier second and seventh round pick. The Texans then selected linebacker Benardrick McKinney with the second-round pick and traded the seventh rounder. McKinney has skyrocketed up the Texans’ all-time leading tackle list and is already 11th in franchise history with 215 solo tackles. He recently signed a five-year, $50 million dollar contract that secures him as the Texans’ linebacker of the future. He has stepped in and owned the defense in the transition from DeMeco Ryans to Brian Cushing to him. 7. Jay Foreman Makes An Early Impact.The Texans were in need of defensive playmakers even before their inaugural season began. The Texans made five trades before they started playing football.The fifth was for Jay Foreman, a linebacker from Nebraska. Foreman was traded by Buffalo for backup RB Charlie Rogers. If you were alive to remember, Foreman was the leading tackler in the inaugural season. He was also second and third in tackles over the next two seasons. 6. The Deal for Demaryius Thomas.The Texans wasted no time after learning that wide receiver Will Fuller suffered a torn ACL in the Week Eight Thursday Night Football game against the Miami Dolphins. At the age of 30, Demaryius Thomas has been underperforming compared to his past production with Peyton Manning. The 6’3” wide receiver is the second all-time pass catcher in Broncos’ history, but that—along with his $14 million salary next season and the Broncos’ 3-5 record—wasn’t enough to keep Thomas off of the trading block. The Texans took Thomas and a 2019 seventh round pick in exchange for a fourth and seventh round pick. Thomas will hopefully take pressure off DeAndre Hopkins and keep rookie wide receiver Keke Coutee in the slot position. A rather aggressive move for a relatively conservative franchise could become a turning point in the 2018 season’s story line.5. Texans move on from DeMeco Ryans.The emergence of Brian Cushing, combined with the implementation of the 3-4 defense by Wade Phillips, created the catalyst to trade the team’s leader. Ryans went to Philadelphia with a third round pick as the Texans received a third and a fourth rounder in return. Brandon Brooks and Ben Jones were drafted with those picks and became vital assets on the offensive line; that is, until the Texans decided to not re-sign either lineman. Although it hurt to see Ryans in another uniform, the Texans obtained excellent value from the trade. 4. Matt Shaub Replaces David Carr.Five seasons of misery were enough for the Texans to move on from the team’s first ever draft choice. Schaub was the perennial backup quarterback to Mike Vick in Atlanta before the Texans acquired him and the 10th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft from the Falcons for 2007 and 2008 second round picks and the eighth overall pick in 2007. Though this trade is eventually marred by the draft bust that was Amobi Okoye, Schaub led the Texans to the NFL Playoffs twice and leads the team in almost every passing category.3. Texans Trade Back In 2008. After a promising 2007 campaign, the Texans bolstered their offense by turning their first round pick into three picks. Most notably Youth Kareem Jackson Jersey , the Texans drafted left tackle Duane Brown out of Virginia Tech to block along side newly acquired center Chris Myers and developing right tackle Eric Winston. Although fans may be salty about Brown’s recent holdout and eventual trade in 2017, he was one of the best players in team history and protected the blindside of many Houston quarterbacks for nearly a decade. Houston not only received an elite tackle in the trade, but also drafted Steve Slaton, who rushed for over 1,200 yards in his rookie season. Slaton was the running back the team was missing after Domanick Davis left and is one of the more nostalgic names for fans. 2. Deshaun Drops, Texans Move Up.A franchise in limbo is one without a reliable quarterback for the foreseeable future. The Texans made the most aggressive trade in franchise history in 2017 by moving up 13 picks in the first round to draft Deshaun Watson. Swapping first round picks and giving up their 2018 first round pick to nab Watson was surely a costly move, but so far, Watson has been the best offensive weapon in franchise history. The Texans’ future rests in the hands of Deshaun Watson, but none of it would have been possible without the best trade in franchise history1. Texans Rid Themselves of [NAME REDACTED] and His Contract.As we saw on Thursday, [NAME REDACTED] is not the franchise quarterback former general manager Rick Smith hoped he would be. With basically eight games of film, the Texans took an enormous gamble on the promising quarterback by signing him to a $72 million dollar deal with $37 million fully guaranteed. On March 9, 2017, exactly one year after they signed him, the Texans pulled the ejection seat from the Brocketship and fell back to Earth by making one of the most unconventional trades in league history.
The Texans sent [NAME REDACTED], a 2018 second round pick, and a 2017 sixth round pick to a rebuilding Cleveland team in return for a 2017 fourth round pick and $10 million in salary cap space. Considering the Texans did not make any other major moves that offseason (maybe because they were counting on Tony Romo to head south to Houston after the Cowboys cut him?), you could say the Texans eventually used the money saved in this trade to re-sign Johnathan Joseph and sign Tyrann Mathieu.Honorable mention: The Texans move up one pick to secure Will Fuller in 2016. Ben Tate was drafted in 2010 after the Texans move up in the second round with New England; the Texans traded second- (62nd overall) and fifth-round (150th overall) picks to the Patriots in exchange for New England’s second-round pick. DeAndre Hopkins believes if a ball comes near him he should catch it."That's been my mindset since I've been playing football," he said. "Defense, offense, basketball as well, the ball's in the air Womens Kevin Johnson Jersey , it's mine."That belief has led to some amazing catches, and lately he seems to make at least one a game. All of which has helped the Texans turn around their season and leave them one win from clinching the AFC South.His latest great grab came on in the fourth quarter on Saturday on a 14-yard reception that was the go-ahead score in Houston's 29-22 win over the Jets. New York cornerback Morris Claiborne stayed with Hopkins throughout that route and even got an arm between his on the play. But Hopkins was still able to come down with the ball."I felt like as good as I played it from the line of scrimmage it was perfect," Claiborne said. "When you get perfect coverage like that from the line of scrimmage all the way to the end zone and guys come up with those type of balls, you take your hat off to them."After the play Hopkins said Claiborne looked at him and said: 'Man I don't know how you caught it.'It's a sentiment Hopkins hears often and said top defensive backs such as Patrick Peterson and Jalen Ramsey have said similar things after some of his catches.Hopkins is a favorite target of second-year quarterback Deshaun Watson and he raved about his ability to catch most anything thrown his way."I try to be as perfect as I can, but for him, he just says: 'just get it in his area, he's going to come down with it,'" Watson said. "That's what I try to do, just throw it in his catch-radius, and majority of the time he's going to take it down. It helps me out big time."Hopkins has reached 1,300 yards receiving for the second straight year and the third time in his career, and his 1,321 yards rank third in the NFL. He has 11 touchdown receptions, which are tied for the second most in his career behind the 13 he grabbed last season.Though he's happy about his success, he's far more excited about how the team is doing, with the Texans winning 10 of their past 11 games after a 0-3 start."If I had 50 catches and 500 yards I would feel like this is my best season because my team is in this position to do more than we've ever done before," he said. "So for me team success first."And despite his success, Hopkins never stops striving to improve. He admits to watching footage of his work, but said that he also devotes a good chunk of time to viewing catches made by former Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, whom he refers to by his nickname "Megatron.""I watch my highlights a lot, but I watch Megatron highlights too just because he made great catches like that Womens Nick Martin Jersey ," Hopkins said. "It motivates me before the games just seeing a great dude go out there and just do it effortlessly."During these film sessions Hopkins not only watches his big catches, he also dissects the catches that he didn't make."I always feel like I can be better. I feel like I can do better," he said. "I feel like I can make better catches."Hopkins is a very confident player, but he's careful not to sound boastful. No matter what players do to try and slow him down he puts pressure on himself to do more to come away with the catch."I've been stopped before from making those catches or I might have stopped myself sometimes," he said. "So I feel like it's me more so than the defender. That's just like the role that I put on myself and the pressure, no matter what DB is out there it's my ball. I don't want to say a DB can't guard me, but I still feel like I can catch it."Houston cornerback Johnathan Joseph, a 13-year NFL veteran, has covered Hopkins for years in practice and shakes his head when asked what someone can do to keep him from making a catch."You can't do anything," Joseph said. "He's an exceptional talent. He's got rare hand-eye coordination to catch the ball so ... it's one of those things that in the game it's almost impossible."Hopkins has been making nifty catches throughout his six-year NFL career, which often leads him to be asked which one is his favorite. Because he's always outdoing himself, the answer often changes and on Thursday it took him a few seconds to come up with an answer.He exhaled sharply and rubbed his long and lean hands together for a bit before coming to a conclusion."The Dolphins catch between the legs," he finally said. "I'm going to go with that."That catch came earlier this season when he reached back and grabbed the ball with one hand and weaved it between his legs in the air before crashing to the ground. But it actually wasn't a catch at all because he was called for pass interference.Despite not counting, that play was the talk of the locker room after the win and had many of his teammates wondering, as they often do, how he possibly came down with it.While he wows teammates and defenders alike with such feats as that non-catch and his huge grab last week, does he still get excited when he makes plays like that or is it simply another day at the office for the 26 year old?"Sometimes I surprise myself, just like darn I did that? (But) I feel like just go out and be better and do more," he said.
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