Andre Johnson finished his career as the all-time leading pass-catcher for the Texans.
He dominated the league for 12 years in Houston, piling up seven 1,000-yard seasons and 64 touchdowns for the franchise. It's one of the club's current receivers, though, who Johnson believes has raised the bar.
"I definitely think he's arguably the best in the game," Johnson said of veteran DeAndre Hopkins, per the Houston Chronicle.
Hopkins was nothing short of sensational in 2017, catching 96 balls for 1,378 yards and a league-high 13 scores. Debates over the game's top wideout rage on, but there's no question Hopkins floats at the highest levels alongside Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham, Julio Jones and A.J. Green, among others.
Besides, as Johnson points out, Hopkins "finally has a quarterback that's pretty steady" in Deshaun Watson.
Watson is coming off a torn ACL, but if last year was a preview of what's to come, Hopkins has a chance to carve out monster numbers in 2018.
Hopkins was already doing that despite playing with a clown car of shoddy passers before Watson arrived. The list -- Tom Savage, T.J. Yates, Taylor Heinicke, Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Brandon Weeden, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum and Matt Schaub -- is concerning.
Johnson played with some of those half-baked passers, too, which only magnifies Watson's arrival.
"I tell people all the time when he got drafted here that's the most I've been happy about a draft pick that was made here," Johnson said of the Texans trading up to draft Watson last offseason. "It's no offense to the guys who've been drafted. I was just excited to see them bring in a quarterback like that."
He's not alone.
