The Future of DeAndre Hopkins

[Keith]

So the video Arky posted at the end of the Chargers game thread does a clever job pointing out that DeAndre Hopkins, who held out in training camp, may be looking for a way out. Hopkins statistically has had a rough season with Brock Osweiler under center, strangely worse than last year's merry-go-round of Brian Hoyer-Ryan Mallett-Brandon Weedon.

The Texans though have already exercised the 5th year option on his rookie contract, keeping him under contract through 2017. It is a balloon payment, boosting his base from $1M this year to over $7.9M next. Even still, that is not an unreasonable amount for a receiver with Hopkins' talent.

So Hopkins ended that camp holdout rather quickly... abandoning his desire to get a long-term contract, one he wasn't going to get anyway no matter how long the holdout. But it does suggest Hopkins won't be here for the long-term like his predecessor, Andre Johnson.

Johnson spent the bulk of his career catching passes from David Carr and Matt Schaub, leaving the rest of football to wonder what might have been had he played with a better QB. Of course Hopkins might want to go elsewhere since Houston is still the land of suck at the QB position. If the Texans realize this, I wonder whether they would consider trading Hopkins before the draft. Hopkins would be a desirable target for another team even at just one year for $7M (and the hope to extend).

So... what would you do? Keep Hop for $8M and at least one more season as a Texan? Or test the trade market and let him go to the highest bidder?