The Kansas City Chiefs completed a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins, sending receiver Tyreek Hill to the AFC East club for a 2022 first-round, second-round, fourth-round, and 2023 fourth-round and sixth-round picks.
It makes sense. Hill is a six-time Pro Bowler who has 1,000-yard receiving seasons in four of his six seasons in the NFL. The 5-10, 185-pound speedy wideout is a Super Bowl champion and a key factor in taking the top off opposing defenses.
All the Hill trade highlights is how horrendous Bill O’Brien was as the general manager for the Houston Texans.
In the 2020 offseason, the Texans traded three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a 2020 fourth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2020 second-round pick, a 2021 fourth-round pick, and former All-Pro running back David Johnson.
Hopkins had comparable production to Hill in that he produced five seasons of 1,000-plus yards receiving in his first seven seasons with Houston. The former 2013 first-round pick didn’t have as many accolades with four Pro Bowl selections, but he had as many first-team All-Pros as Hill.
The poor return in the Hopkins trade may have been what set the Texans back the most; it may be the biggest mess current general manager Nick Caserio has had to clean up.
It is one thing to give up two first-round picks and a second-rounder for a left tackle, as was the case at the end of the 2019 preseason when Houston acquired Laremy Tunsil.
It is another to not even match that lost compensation when dealing a proven multi-first-team All-Pro and wideout who was ascendent even before Deshaun Watson arrived.
If the Texans could have netted a first-round pick as part of their compensation package for Hopkins, it could have offset the hole the franchise was in due to the Tunsil trade. In some ways, it made the chasm expand.
According to O’Brien on April 16, 2020, the Texans had to find a trade partner willing to give Hopkins the pay raise he desired.
“Any time you make a trade, each trade is unique unto itself,” O’Brien said. “So, when you’re trading a player like DeAndre Hopkins who has three years left on his deal and you’re trying to find a trade partner, you’re not talking to 31 other teams. I’m not going to get into all the details of this, but you’re finding a trade partner, No. 1, that’s going to be able to pay DeAndre Hopkins. That was a big part of it. Once we found that team that could afford DeAndre Hopkins in the future, now we then began to negotiate what the value of the trade was.”
Compare that to Caserio, who was willing to hold on to Watson for a year and remained committed to the baseline of three first-round picks. O’Brien caved quickly and it cost the Texans.
Some of the blame for O’Brien’s bad decisions as general manager fall upon chairman and CEO Cal McNair, who should have kept O’Brien sequestered in his role as coach and not expanding into a front office role. McNair appears to have learned that lesson, which is why the Texans have made the commitment they have to Caserio and his vision.