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In one of the biggest trades of last year's offseason, the Houston Texans traded star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for veteran running back David Johnson. The Texans also received the Cardinals' 2020 second-round and 2021 fourth-round picks while parting ways with their 2020 fourth-round pick.
At the time, the entire league was balking at the trade. It seemed like the Texans were getting ripped off. So how are both players and teams doing a year since the trade?
DeAndre Hopkins and David Johnson: One year later
David Johnson
David Johnson's best season with the Cardinals came in 2016. That year, he ran for 1239 yards and 16 touchdowns. His worst season came the following year when he suffered an injury in the season-opener and missed the rest of the campaign. 2018 was a bounceback year for Johnson, as he registered 940 rushing yards with seven touchdowns.
When the trade went down, the Texans were hoping they could get the David Johnson of 2016. But looking back at his career, the running back only had two good seasons in five years with the Cardinals. So the odds were less than 50-50 that the Texans were going to get a good season out of him.
During the 2020 NFL season, David Johnson rushed for 691 yards and six touchdowns with the Texans. Their offense was ranked 13th in 2020, the same as the year prior. Essentially, David Johnson did not help or hurt the team's offense. But the team went 4-12 after going 10-6 the previous season.
The biggest change going into the season was losing DeAndre Hopkins. The trade is thought to have been the catalyst leading up to the eventual sacking of head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien.
DeAndre Hopkins
Meanwhile, Hopkins arrived on a team with a young, budding quarterback in Kyler Murray. Fans and analysts lauded the Arizona Cardinals for their coup and expected the addition of DeAndre Hopkins to be the catalyst for their ascension.
Hopkins had registered over 1100 yards in five of his seven seasons with the Houston Texans. His worst season was in his rookie year, where he finished with 802 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Arizona Cardinals were hoping to see him continue to dominate defenses.
Hopkins did not disappoint and went on to have the second-best year of his career. He earned 1407 yards and six touchdowns in 2020 and made the play of the season, catching a game-winning hail mary from Kyler Murray in the final seconds of their game against the Buffalo Bills. Put simply, the Cardinals got what they were hoping for and more.
In 2020, the Cardinals offense was ranked sixth overall, a major improvement from 21st in 2019. They also managed three more wins in 2020 than they did the year prior. While they did not make the playoffs, they did get noticeably better.
Who won the trade?
Overall, the Cardinals were expected to win the trade and they did so by a landslide. The Texans' offense has surprisingly maintained the same level of production without Hopkins, but their win total dropped considerably. Meanwhile, the Cardinals won three more games with Hopkins' addition. Texans fans were extremely unhappy with the trade and it seems they were right.
