Head Coach Bill O'Brien would not discuss the trade for Cleveland Browns Duke Johnson after the Houston Texans first preseason game. Now that a physical with the team doctors are complete including the paperwork filed with the league, O'Brien was ready to discuss his new addition to the offense.
Since the start of the off-season, the Texans were in discussion with the Browns and general manager John Dorsey about Johnson. The timing was right for the Browns, and more importantly, the compensation was too.
"Well, to be honest with you, these types of trades, they take a long time," O'Brien said of the timeline to land Johnson from the Browns.
"They take a long time to complete. We worked well with John Dorsey in Cleveland, and it didn't just happen overnight, so these are things that we've been thinking about for a while, along with a hundred other things that are going on this time of the year, just like every other team."
O'Brien leaned on former Miami Hurricane players Andre Johnson and Lamar Miller to find out more about Johnson. Especially what type of worker he is and his potential fit inside the locker room. Miller worked out with Johnson multiple times during different off-seasons, and Miller said he was "Excited" being teamed up with Johnson for the coming season.
Johnson arrived at the facility on Friday to finish up the final hurdles to officially make him part of the Texans. The most important thing for the Texans is to get Johnson healthy who is working back from a hamstring injury he suffered on the third day of Browns training camp.
According to O'Brien, Johnson has already been ruled out for the work week against the Detroit Lions.
O'Brien is pleased to have Johnson teamed up with Lamar Miller as a vital part of the offense. O'Brien felt that Johnson was a missing piece for the offense that needed a skill set of his and O'Brien already has a vision for his role in the offense.
"We have a vision for how we want to use him, we're excited about it, we've got to get him rehabbed," O'Brien said of Johnson. "He hasn't missed any games in the past, I think, three years. Played 16-game seasons, been very productive, has played on special teams. We just have to get him out on a field and try to start seeing him within the vision that we have for him."
O'Brien continued, "Duke's a first-, second-, third-down running back, he's played on special teams. Good in the running game, good in the passing game, good professional. Really excited to have him on board and just really look forward to working with him."