DeAndre Hopkins Reportedly Was Targeted by Patriots in Jamie Collins Trade Talks

Before the New England Patriots traded Jamie Collins to the Cleveland Browns in October, the AFC champions attempted to deal the linebacker to the Houston Texans for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. 

According to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport, before finalizing the trade with Cleveland, the Patriots called the Texans to ask if they would put up Hopkins. 

The Texans declined the deal. Rapoport also noted the Patriots tried to tempt them by offering Collins for cornerback Johnathan Joseph but were again rebuffed. 

It's easy to figure out New England's logic in this scenario. Collins was due to become a free agent at season's end and was going to take on a reduced role because he wasn't performing well against the run, Rapoport reported in November (h/t NFL.com's Austin Knoblauch).

Hopkins, who has one more year left on his rookie contract, saw a drop in production last season due to the struggles of Houston's quarterbacks. He still finished with a respectable 78 catches for 954 yards and four touchdowns, but he was coming off 2,731 yards and 17 touchdowns combined in 2014 and 2015.

It's because of the Texans' inability to field a solid quarterback that they couldn't trade Hopkins. Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage need all the help they can get, so they couldn't trade from an area of weakness to upgrade a defense that was already strong and led the league in yards allowed. 

The Patriots aren't in a bad position without Hopkins, playing in their seventh Super Bowl since 2001, but the addition of Hopkins would have helped ease the sting of losing All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski to a back injury. 

Things still worked out well for the Patriots, as they always seem to for this franchise since Bill Belichick took over in 2000.