Not liking the offseason decisions made by the Houston Texans, Andre Johnson sounded his displeasure and told everyone he wouldn’t be at the team’s OTAs. The day came, and true to his word, the Pro Bowl wide receiver didn’t arrive to the voluntary workouts.

Johnson hasn’t participated in any of the Texans’ preseason program which began on April 7. Voicing his displeasure with the team’s direction, the 32 year old who has been with the team his entire career (since 2003) has also said he won’t be participating in the minicamp which begins in June, and is mandatory, even for accomplished guys like Johnson.

Johnson hasn’t stated what would make him happy. What has he said? That he’s not sure if Houston is the right place for him anymore, that he’s worried about playing for his third head coach on the team and that it bothers him that he’s only been a part of three winning seasons since aligning himself with the franchise on the second year of its existence.

Johnson hasn’t requested a trade or anything, but seems to be simply brooding and thinking about his next move after making threats. First-year head coach Bill O’Brien who isn’t used to dealing with NFL egos after a few years at Penn State has surprised everyone by saying that he and Johnson have been speaking.

I have a ton of respect for him. We’d love to have him here now. That’s up to him.

This is pretty much the first test for O’Brien – handling the hurt ego of a veteran star, although there isn’t a lot O’Brien can do except tell Johnson that this team isn’t in a rebuild, and that their goals of making the playoffs and maybe even challenging for the Super Bowl remain the same.

Whether or not he actually believes his own words is something else, as it doesn’t seem like the team’s quarterback situation has improved, and without that factor there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance for this team to make a good enough bounce back from last year’s disastrous season.

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