DeAndre Hopkins, Brandin Cooks, Full List of Bill O'Brien's Trades with Texans

Even Madden players who love to make trades on franchise mode may be jealous of how many times Houston Texans head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien has pulled the trigger on moves since the start of the 2019 campaign.  

Field Yates of ESPN shared a list of the various trades O'Brien has completed since Aug. 31:

In all, the Texans have acquired 15 players/picks and gotten rid of 12 players/picks, which would seem like a net positive in a vacuum. However, it is difficult to live in a vacuum when players such as DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney are on the way out.

Hopkins is on the shortlist of the best wide receivers in the league and is coming off three straight Pro Bowl seasons with more than 1,100 receiving yards. He was an ideal threat for quarterback Deshaun Watson and someone who could beat single coverage by high-pointing passes in the end zone.

Houston traded the 27-year-old and a fourth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.

"The Hopkins thing was a joke," one executive said, per Mike Sando of The Athletic. "How the David Johnson contract was included in the deal just astounds me."

Johnson is set to make $10.2 million in base salary with a cap hit of $11.2 million in 2020 and $7.95 million in base salary with a cap hit of $9 million in 2021, per Spotrac. That's a notable contract to take on, especially at a position that has been devalued in today's pass-happy NFL.

O'Brien took on another head-turning contract Thursday when the Texans reportedly traded a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for wide receiver Brandin Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick, per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

While there is a potential out in Cooks' deal in 2021, he has a cap hit of $8 million this year, $12 million in 2021, $13 million in 2022 and $14 million in 2023, per Spotrac.

Cooks is a talented playmaker, but he is no Hopkins. It is safe to assume most NFL teams would rather have Hopkins than the Cooks and Johnson combination, but O'Brien has proved he is not most general managers with the sheer number of recent moves.