At least Andre Johnson is leaving Houston with a smile on his face.
More of the fallout between the 12-year wide receiver and the Houston Texans surfaced Tuesday, with the Houston Chronicle reporting that Johnson found Texans coach Bill O'Brien to be a funny guy when the two met last week.
An Andre Johnson-coach Gary Kubiak reunion with the Denver Broncos a possibility?
"I just laughed," said Johnson, the team's all-time leading receiver. "They gave me my role, and I just laughed at them. How do you tell a guy who is used to catching 80 balls a year that he was going to catch 40?"
As if finding wide receivers capable of catching 80 passes a year is as easy as kicking an extra point in the NFL, these days. The absurdity of the statement was not lost on the Chronicle.
Disgruntled Andre Johnson reacted to Texans' midseason change at quarterback with apathy?
It is one thing for a player's skills to erode and his production to drop. It is another for the team to tell him in February what he will do in September, October and November.
If Johnson, 33, were going to have a lesser role on the team, which by itself isn't an unreasonable assumption, that should be determined by his play, not by some six-months-before-the-season plan.
It's only natural for Johnson to feel a little disappointed not to be able to finish his career with same team he started, but the agreed release to which he and the Texans agreed if he can't find a trade partner could be a blessing in disguise.
On Monday, the Chronicle mentioned the Denver Broncos as a possible destination for the seven-time Pro Bowler. Denver's new coach, Gary Kubiak, was Johnson's coach for eight years in Houston.
Q.usatoday.com on Tuesday listed the five best fits for Johnson, who will be 34 next season, and there wasn't a bad team in the bunch.
The five, in order, are the two-time NFC defending champion and Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks, the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, then the two other league championship teams from last season - the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers, and finally the Cincinnati Bengals, another playoff team.
Seeing Johnson as a member of the AFC South Colts would be interesting because they would play the Texans twice, and Johnson would have to be hoping to catch 40 passes in just those two games alone.
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