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Anatomy Of A Great Route: How Andre Johnson Is Molding DeAndre Hopkins Into A Monster

One year ago a lot on this board thought we should have drafted Cordarelle Patterson instead of Hopkins. Six weeks ago it was considered blasphemy that Hopkins might be the best WR on the team at this point his career. One week ago Board members were getting flamed for saying that we shouldn't pay Andre Johnson 17 million dollars to come back next year.

I think today was the official changing of the guard. I love Dre but Hopkins is obviously the best WR on the team and has the brightest future. He may not be as good as Dre back in his prime but he definitely has WR1 talent and in my opinion makes Dre a luxury and not a necessity going into next season.
 
Dunno if it's just me, but it seems like DeAndre has that crucial step or half-step on the DBs when going deep this year more often than he did his rookie season. Still not a blazer by any means but he's had more separation than before, and can still make those contested catches.

I still think we struck gold on our first round pick with him.
 
dc_txtech said:
One year ago a lot on this board thought we should have drafted Cordarelle Patterson instead of Hopkins. Six weeks ago it was considered blasphemy that Hopkins might be the best WR on the team at this point his career. One week ago Board members were getting flamed for saying that we shouldn't pay Andre Johnson 17 million dollars to come back next year.

I think today was the official changing of the guard. I love Dre but Hopkins is obviously the best WR on the team and has the brightest future. He may not be as good as Dre back in his prime but he definitely has WR1 talent and in my opinion makes Dre a luxury and not a necessity going into next season.
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AJ doesn't have the speed he once did, but that doesn't make him superfluous. Who would you replace him with? Martin? Or a guy that hasn't been able to make the active list all year? A rookie that will take a year or two maybe to get up to speed? AJ is not what he once was, but we don't have a replacement for him yet. He's still the one that the defenses pay attention to.

htownfan32 said:
Dunno if it's just me, but it seems like DeAndre has that crucial step or half-step on the DBs when going deep this year more often than he did his rookie season. Still not a blazer by any means but he's had more separation than before, and can still make those contested catches.

I still think we struck gold on our first round pick with him.
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He's a year wiser on how to get off the line and how to run routes
 
Out of the 6 tds thrown by Fitz today I thought the most important one was for AJ. Right before that play I had a grim feeling we've lost AJ for the season. I mean Nuke was making plays all over the field while Dre looks like he's stuck in the lingering smoke from that fumble.
 
klockWork said:
Out of the 6 tds thrown by Fitz today I thought the most important one was for AJ. Right before that play I had a grim feeling we've lost AJ for the season. I mean Nuke was making plays all over the field while Dre looks like he's stuck in the lingering smoke from that fumble.
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That fumble was a great play by McCourty stripping the ball out. Rare for AJ to let someone do that tho
 
JB said:
That fumble was a great play by McCourty stripping the ball out. Rare for AJ to let someone do that tho
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3 fumbles this season, lost all 3. Both stats never happened to Dre in any season. Combine that with his steep decline in production, well there's only so much a man can take. That TD grab chase the wolves away from AJ.
 
dc_txtech said:
One year ago a lot on this board thought we should have drafted Cordarelle Patterson instead of Hopkins.
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I bumped a Hopkins' thread a few games ago to get your ideas on that topic.

dc_txtech said:
Six weeks ago it was considered blasphemy that Hopkins might be the best WR on the team at this point his career.
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Hopefully we'll never have to find out, but I'd hate to have Hopkins & not Andre more than I'd hate to have Andre without Hopkins.

dc_txtech said:
One week ago Board members were getting flamed for saying that we shouldn't pay Andre Johnson 17 million dollars to come back next year.
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I don't remember that happening. I love Andre, want him to be here next year. I want him to retire a Texans when he's ready to retire.

But I don't want him to have a $10M salary next season & I don't want to take a $16M cap hit for the guy either.

dc_txtech said:
I think today was the official changing of the guard. I love Dre but Hopkins is obviously the best WR on the team and has the brightest future. He may not be as good as Dre back in his prime but he definitely has WR1 talent and in my opinion makes Dre a luxury and not a necessity going into next season.
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I'm not on the Colts board all the time, like I am here, but I do frequent it. I don't remember the "Marvin Harris is hot garbage & Reggie Wayne is our #1 receiver." threads, or the "Hate to say it but Reggie is done, it's TY's time." Threads.

We've never had two above average WRs on this team before & as soon as we do, y'all can't shove one of them out the door quick enough.

What difference does it make which one is better? Hop costs us next to nothing. Andre is slowly slipping into the history books. They're both Texans.
 
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thunderkyss said:
We've never had two above average WRs on this team before & as soon as we do, y'all can't shove one of them out the door quick enough.

What difference does it make which one is better? Hop costs us next to nothing. Andre is slowly slipping into the history books. They're both Texans.
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^^^^
This! MSR!
 
I'm WR greedy. Sometimes I wonder where this offense would be if we had drafted Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans...
 
htownfan32 said:
I'm WR greedy. Sometimes I wonder where this offense would be if we had drafted Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans...
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If we're gonna draft another WR, I want a guy with serious jets. Don't know that either of those has that

I also want a cover corner with TY Hilton speed or faster
 
JB said:
If we're gonna draft another WR, I want a guy with serious jets. Don't know that either of those has that

I also want a cover corner with TY Hilton speed or faster
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Diggs, Coates, or Duk Williams in the 3rd round would be awesome. Williams isn't a blazer, but would be great in this offense. We definitely need a burner though whether its in the slot or on the outside. A guy that can consistently command the respect of the defense outside of AJ and Hop would be crazy.
 
htownfan32 said:
I'm WR greedy. Sometimes I wonder where this offense would be if we had drafted Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans...
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Me too. I miss the days of Givins, Duncan, Slaughter, Jefferies, and Tony "Warp Speed" Jones. Those were the damn days man! There's nothing like having multiple threats at WR.

Every year I hope that the Texans will draft a bad ass WR to go along with Dre, and now Nuk, so we will have a triple threat. :freakout:
 
JB said:
If we're gonna draft another WR, I want a guy with serious jets. Don't know that either of those has that

I also want a cover corner with TY Hilton speed or faster
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Odell Beckham Jr. was stolen with the 12th overall pick by the Giants. Imagine that guy playing with Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins? Hindsight is 20-20. Or is it 50-50 like Cam Newton always says? Could have traded down and picked up extra picks along with a speedster with exceptional hands. People are just frustrated that Jadeveon Clowney is always hurt and doesn't have that "I must play through the pain" mentality like some of the all-time greats.
 
htownfan32 said:
I'm WR greedy. Sometimes I wonder where this offense would be if we had drafted Sammy Watkins or Mike Evans...
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I wanted Evans here more than Watkins. I thought Evans could be really good in this offense, and he has good enough size to where he'd cause match up problems in the slot here like a TE. Really it would have been hard for teams to match up against the pass and run.
 
xtruroyaltyx said:
I wanted Evans here more than Watkins. I thought Evans could be really good in this offense, and he has good enough size to where he'd cause match up problems in the slot here like a TE. Really it would have been hard for teams to match up against the pass and run.
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I'd rather have a small speedy guy (5'11 ish) who can be a deep threat and stretch the field. We need a guy like that playing with Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins. Those small dudes can get open too. Mike Evans reminds me of former wide receiver out of Texas named Roy Williams. He'll have a couple of good years early in his career, maybe make a pro bowl or two, but he could flame out eventually. I don't think he's the next Calvin Johnson or anything special. He's good don't get me wrong.

A wide receiver I really love, that I think we can snag in the second round in the 2015 draft, who reminds me a lot of Odell Beckham Jr. is Tyler Lockett out of Kansas State. He can also improve our return game on special teams. He's been highly productive at K-State this year.
 
Speed at the WR position is highly overated in my opinion. I take a crafty physical quick separation step type receiver like our own Nuk over a track star any day. Because line up against a well coached physical cb all it take is a basic jam to sputter a speedy WR in their track. And speedy WR don't respond well after getting hit. They get rattle easily as opposed to someone like anquon boldin who jumps back up and ask for more.

I want a wrecking ball out there with clutch hands.
 
htownfan32 said:
Dunno if it's just me, but it seems like DeAndre has that crucial step or half-step on the DBs when going deep this year more often than he did his rookie season. Still not a blazer by any means but he's had more separation than before, and can still make those contested catches.

I still think we struck gold on our first round pick with him.
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While speed can get you separation, so can running a good rout with good fakes. Perhaps this is the cause of the greater separation. (half a step is huge in the NFL.)
 
eriadoc said:
If he didn't hit on some of his picks, we'd be blasting him way worse than we do.
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Of course, as a board we can't come to a conclusion if he has much of a role in, or responsibility for, the picks, good or bad, anyway, right?

I have now used my daily quota of commas; I'll move on to semicolons.
 
Runner said:
Of course, as a board we can't come to a conclusion if he has much of a role in, or responsibility for, the picks, good or bad, anyway, right?
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Oh, I definitely think we can come to a conclusion regarding his responsibility for those picks. He has none. Well, maybe accountability is a bit more precise to say.
 
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