The Texans working on a trade to send their top cornerback Bradley Roby to the New Orleans Saints left some of his teammates in Houston bewildered.
Lonnie Johnson Jr., who played cornerback with Roby as a rookie in 2019 before moving to safety, said on Twitter in response to the news "S*** krazy and I don’t understand it but go spin bro."
Defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, who like Johnson was also a rookie in 2019 when Roby first arrived, called the cornerback a mentor.
"Been a real one since I got in the league mentor fr (for real)," Omenihu tweeted.
Players who spoke to the media after Wednesday's practice said what management wants them to say. They wished Roby well, acknowledged the business aspect of professional sports and talked about only focusing on what they can control.
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who's been traded three times in his career, said he did not know about the trade until he arrived at practice.
"It’s the business," Cooks said. "But the guy (Roby) is a great player, and I think he’s going to have success over there in New Orleans. You wish him the best of luck, for sure. ...
"It’s not hard to stay focused at all. We’re playing this game, we all know it’s a business. We just got to focus on doing our job, and those type of things, those decisions we got to leave in the hands of the organization and (general manager) Nick (Caserio) and his staff. We got to continue to focus on the task at hand."
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who head coach David Culley announced as the starter earlier this week, also spoke on players not really deciding who gets to be their teammates.
“I would say over my years in the NFL, you kind of learn to control what you can control, and that’s in the locker room as well, too," Taylor said. "Some of the things are above you. You have to trust management, trust the coaches that they’re doing the things that they need to do to make our team the best that it can (be). We rely on that leadership. Like I said, some of those moves are above us, and as players we just have to focus on going out, doing our job the best we can and executing. You can’t necessarily worry about, ultimately things that are out of your control."
Culley said the team is "comfortable with those guys" at cornerback in Roby's departure. Vernon Hargreaves III and Terrance Mitchell are now their top corners.
But Culley also spoke to the disconnect between players focusing on the moment, and management on the future.
"Players always look at it as if everything is now," Culley said. "Every time we go out to play a game, they’re going out to win. They feel like the guys we are playing with right now are good enough to do that with, and that’s how they see it. They don’t look at it from the big picture as sometimes maybe you do from an administrative standpoint or that kind of thing. They look at it as if they’re going to play. They’re going out to try to win the game, and they look at it and they see it that way."
"We feel like when we make those decisions, we feel like we make the decision that’s best for the football team," Culley added . "We feel like looking at the big picture. Looking at where we are right now, if this thing goes through, then we feel like it was the best thing that we needed to do for our football team."
Roby started in all 20 games in which he appeared for the Texans from 2019-2020. Hamstring injuries sidelined Roby for six games in 2019. He was left home on a road trip to Jacksonville last season after a dispute with coaches, then led by Romeo Crennel, who is still on the coaching staff in an advisory role.
Roby was suspended six games for violating the NFL's banned substance policy, missing the last five games of 2020 and serving the final game of the suspension in Week 1.
He was sidelined during Texans training camp after a bout with COVID-19.
In Roby's 20 games as a Texan, he had three interceptions, 15 passes defended and recovered a fumble.
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Brandon Scott manages digital content for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @brandonkscott.
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