Houston Texans: Is trading Lonnie Johnson Jr. a good idea?

If the Houston Texans decide to trade cornerback Lonnie Johnson Jr. before the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 2 would that be a good idea for the franchise to make that decision?

Johnson still has one more season left on his contract following this current season, and unless the pick given to the Houston Texans is a pick that makes sense in a deal, then should the cornerback should stay with the franchise?

The Texans can’t just give up on Johnson and give him away after less than three full seasons, right?

There is so much potential with Johnson in the Houston Texans secondary, and isn’t it getting old watching the Texans trade or not re-sign defensive backs, only to see them have more success elsewhere?

This season Johnson has collected two interceptions in the past two games, and he has three passes defensed in four games in ’21. To be honest the cornerback is showing improvements into his game, and can eventually be a strong force for the Texans secondary.

In 13 targets against him this season Johnson has allowed seven receptions for 133 yards. Allowing receptions on 53.3-percent of passes against him is an improvement of the 73-percent allowed last season, and 63.6-percent allowed as a rookie in ’19. Improvement is the key with Johnson, and for the Texans during this current rebuild.

With this being the first year for Johnson having Lovie Smith as his defensive coordinator, one must also realize that Johnson has had three different defensive coordinators in his first three seasons in the NFL. In ’19 it was Romeo Crennel, in ’20 it was Anthony Weaver, and now Smith holds that position.

The main reason to keep Johnson on the Houston Texans is this franchise needs to keep players and develop them in the secondary. A few seasons ago they had Tyrann Mathieu on a one-year deal after his time with the Cardinals was over.

Mathieu had a great season with the Texans, but they let him leave and didn’t re-sign him. Mathieu could have done wonders in helping teach and prepare others in the Texans secondary, but lucky for him he joined the Chiefs an won a Super Bowl championship.

Imagine if Mathieu stayed with the Texans and was playing along side Johnson this season. It is a guarantee the Texans wouldn’t be 1-4 overall, with a four-game losing streak.

Houston Texans: Can they actually catch the Titans for the AFC South lead?

Crazy enough, the leaders of the AFC South are the Tennessee Titans at 3-2 overall, so with the Texans at 1-4 they are only two games back of the division lead, which sounds crazy, and it has to be even crazier to read.

The truth is no team in the AFC South is very good. With two games still remaining against the Colts and Titans, plus one left with the Jaguars, who knows what can happen if Houston is the team that puts things together in the division the quickest.

Johnson could be an important part of the defense in this current rebuild and a chance to chase the top spot in the division, but Houston is a fan of draft picks, and maybe general manager Nick Caserio wants to have his own players on the roster since he didn’t draft Johnson.

It would be a shame if the Texans trade Johnson mid-season with so much untapped potential to see with his overall play. The feeling from reading NFL insiders is trade talks are taking place, and at least within this article, it isn’t a great idea to trade the third-year cornerback so quickly.