Texans star WR DeAndre Hopkins not at training camp

In the final year of his rookie deal, Hopkins has a base salary of $1 million and a signing bonus of $981,673. His current deal runs through 2017, as the Texans picked up his fifth-year option in April. Part of his contract is a $445,000 roster bonus due to him on Wednesday, however, Hopkins will not receive the money if he continues to hold out past that date. I have expressed my honest position regarding my contract status and I, too, with sound mind have expressed my stance to the Texans’ organization. “Our focus is on the 2016 season and all of our collective efforts and attention will be centered on that endeavor”. Hopkins has been a bright spot on a lackluster Houston offense, and the Texans can’t afford to lose him. After all, he was among the top three wide receivers in the league previous year, hauling in 111 passes for 1,521 yards with 11 touchdowns, despite having the ball thrown his way by a slew of mediocre quarterbacks. Teams never like giving in to holdouts, but I think Hopkins has the leverage here. Their best defensive player, J.J. Watt, will miss training camp as he recovers from back surgery and now their best offensive player, DeAndre Hopkins will be missing training camp as well. Their offense is at a precarious position as they break in new quarterback Brock Osweiler, and the rapport between the QB and guys like Hopkins will be crucial moving forward. Since then, the dynamic duos from the class of ’10 (Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas) and ’11 (Julio Jones, A.J. Green) have broken the bank.

Hopkins will holdout for a new contract.

“I’m not looking for a certain range”, Hopkins said a week ago. “I just want to be treated for what I’m worth”.

Rapoport said the team had agreed to work on a new contract for Hopkins if he returned. “That’s fair to say, right?”

We’ll see where Hopkins’ mindset is. Paying Hopkins what he wants seems like the most logical thing to do, given that the team extended their 2011 and 2012 first-round picks – J.J.