After 12 mostly frustrating seasons in Houston, Andre Johnson appears headed for a messy divorce with the only NFL team he’s ever known.

As John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reported late Monday, the Texans have given Johnson permission to seek a trade after informing him that he would have a reduced role on the team if he were to return for a 13th season. Upset by the team’s decision, Johnson, who had 85 receptions for 936 yards and three touchdowns in 15 games last season, asked to be traded or cut instead.

“I don’t know how you tell a guy who catches 85 balls that he’ll only probably catch 40. I just didn’t feel like it was a role for me to fit in,” Johnson told FOX26 Sports in Houston. “So I felt like why sit there and be miserable when I can go somewhere else and be able to show my talents. I feel like the role they were trying to put me in, I would be held back from maximizing my talents. I feel like that was the best thing for both sides.”

Despite a lack of team success, including just two playoff appearances and four playoff games in 12 seasons, Johnson has crafted a Hall of Fame résumé during his tenure with the Texans. Picked third overall in the 2003 NFL Draft out of Miami, Johnson had a few modest seasons early in his career, before breaking out in 2008, when he led the league in catches (115) and receiving yards (1,575). He nearly matched that total when he led the NFL in yards again in 2009 with 1,569 yards.

He is a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time First Team All-Pro, who currently ranks ninth in NFL history and second among active players in catches with 1,012 receptions, and 12th all-time and second among active players in receiving yards with 13,597 yards. That’s all despite a seemingly revolving door at the quarterback position during his 12 seasons in Houston, a span over which he has played with 13 different quarterbacks. But he continued to produce at a high-level through 2014, again leading the team in receptions and nearly cracking the 1,000-yard club despite playing on a team that used four mostly poor quarterbacks in 2014 alone.

Though the team success has never been there, and there isn’t a solution to Houston’s quarterback problem in sight, Johnson professed a desire to finish out his career with the Texans at the conclusion of the 2014 season. But he refuted claims he was likely to take a pay cut to do so.

Houston was reportedly seeking to lower Johnson’s salary to clear some more cap space and improve the team this offseason, but Johnson told multiple local media outlets on Monday that the subject of a pay cut was never even broached before he was informed that his role in the team’s offense would be reduced.

“It never got that far,” he said. “I don’t get how you can tell a guy [he] wouldn’t start certain games, especially knowing the team and the talent. I don’t see why I wouldn’t be a starter in this league. It didn’t make sense to me. I’m pretty sure it won’t make sense to a lot of other people.”

Nor does the idea that Houston will be able to trade Johnson, who turns 34 in July and is set to make $10.5 million in base salary in 2015 and count more than $16 million against the cap. Those numbers make a trade highly unlikely, and the Texans would also have no leverage in trade talks while trying to move the clearly and reasonably disgruntled receiver.

“People try to picture it the way they want to picture it, saying that I asked for a trade (but), there’s a reason I asked for a trade,” Johnson told Houston reporters. “I think if anybody else was in my situation they would have done the same thing I did.”

Teams will likely choose to wait until Houston makes the decision to cut Johnson to swoop in rather than take on the $21.5 million in guaranteed money he’s owed over the next two seasons. The Texans can save $8.8 million against the cap in 2015 by cutting Johnson immediately or $11.5 million by designating him a post-June 1 cut. Either way, they’ll also save $12 million of his $14.7 million cap hit in 2016 by parting ways.

Once Houston makes the inevitable decision to cut Johnson, he should be a highly sought after free agent as he hits the open market and would make a nice consolation prize on a short-term deal for a team that misses out on the high-profile free agents receivers such as Randall Cobb or Jeremy Maclin.

MANY STARS GO UNTAGGED

Monday marked the deadline for teams across the NFL to designate franchise players, and as interesting as that list was, perhaps even more intriguing was the list of players who went untagged and will hit the free agent market in a week.

Only six teams chose to use tags, and while four of those were put on star players: Dallas’ Dez Bryant, Denver’s Demaryius Thomas, Kansas City’s Justin Houston and Jason Pierre-Paul of the New York Giants, far more teams chose to let stars test the open market.

The biggest name among those was Ndamukong Suh, as the Detroit Lions passed up an opportunity to lock up their All-Pro defensive tackle for another year thanks to a nearly $27 million price tag caused by contract restructures. The franchise tag is worth the average of the Top 5 players at one’s position, or 120% of the player’s salary.

So after re-doing his contract to the point they were doling out $22.4 million to Suh in 2014, the tag for 2015 was a significantly higher total that would have hamstrung Detroit. The Lions and Suh do still have a week to agree to a long-term contract before the 2010 second overall pick officially becomes a free agent, but at the moment it seems he will hit the market, where the bidding will probably price him out of Detroit.

That’s also the case for another NFC North star, Randall Cobb, who was not tagged and allowed to hit the free agent market by the Green Bay Packers. The franchise tag at receiver, which the Cowboys used on Bryant and the Broncos used on Demaryius Thomas, is set at $12.8 million.

But the Packers, who already have Jordy Nelson making roughly $10 million annually after a four-year $39 million extension last summer, felt that price was too rich for Cobb who, at 24 years old, is coming off a 91-catch, 1,287-yard, 12-touchdown season. With so much of his prime still ahead, Cobb will certainly be highly sought after on the free agent market.

He’ll be one of two receivers at the top of the list of those looking to cash in on the open market, along with Jeremy Maclin, who the Philadelphia Eagles declined to tag by Monday’s deadline. Maclin is fresh off a standout 2014 season in which he caught 85 passes for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns, fitting perfectly into Chip Kelly’s offense after a knee injury cost him all of the 2013 season. Maclin has stated he’s still open to signing a long-term contract with the Eagles, but is also excited to see what the market bears for him.

“I’ve always said I want to be here in Philadelphia, but I’ve also always said I understand it’s a business. Both sides have made it known that we both want each other back…if it’s supposed to happen, it’ll happen,” Maclin told the Philadelphia Daily News. “You don’t really know what’s out there until free agency starts. I know on paper what teams look like they need receivers. I also understand, this is the place I want to be. We’ll see what happens.”

Another untagged NFC East star who will lead the market at his position is Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, after Dallas used their lone tag on Bryant. Murray is coming off a breakout season in which he led the league in rush attempts (392), rushing yards (1,845), yards per game (115.3) and rushing touchdowns (13). He also just turned 27 years old, as he prepares to enter his fifth NFL season with a few prime years likely ahead of him. But it remains to be seen how much Murray can make on a market that has recently vastly devalued the running back position.

The Cowboys continue to claim that they’d like to retain Murray, but they appear to have a price point in mind and are willing to let the All-Pro running back find out his value on the open market, and hope he comes back to them to give them a chance to match if they choose to do so.

“He is probably going to get some peace and see what’s out in the market and then we’ll talk and see,” Cowboys VP Stephen Jones told FOX Sports. “I do believe deep down he’d love to stay in Dallas.”

The Broncos are in a similar position with tight end Julius Thomas after using their tag on Demaryius Thomas. The tight end played in just 13 games, and started just 10 in 2014 due to injury, but still hauled in 43 passes for 489 yards and logged 12 touchdowns for the second straight season. He has established himself as one of Peyton Manning’s favorite targets over the last two seasons, but the Broncos had no desire to pay him the more than $8 million associated with the tight end tag, and he’ll likely find a home elsewhere for 2015 and beyond.

There are plenty of outstanding impending free agents on the defensive side as well, including defensive end Jerry Hughes, who the Buffalo Bills opted not to hit with the tag that the Giants placed on Pierre-Paul, which carries a $14.8 million price for 2015. After spending the first three years of his career in Indianapolis, Hughes got a chance to shine the last two years in Buffalo and produced back-to-back 10-sack seasons as a cornerstone of a much-improved Bills defense. Buffalo has been looking to ink Hughes to a long-term extension for weeks, but never got close and it appears now that the market may set Hughes’ price tag.

Also untagged and headed for free agency is Patriots safety Devin McCourty, who is set to hit the market after the Pats used their tag on kicker Stephen Gostkowski. At just 27 years old, coming off a season in which he spearheaded New England’s Super Bowl winning defense, McCourty is expected to be highly sought after on the open market, and he seemed to be under the impression the tag was coming his way, as he told ESPN’s Josina Anderson.

“There was no real information from them on if it was going to be me or [Gostkowski]. So I was kind of going off of what everybody else was going off, with what people were reporting as far as sources and all that. So, I guess it’s more realistic now that…I might not be back there. Or there’s still a chance that I will, but I guess more of a chance now with the franchise tag going to Steve that I could be playing in a different place. Still, keeping an open mind and trying to enjoy the process.”

With so many standout players hitting the market, 2015 promises to be the best class of free agents in some time, which will make for an interesting few days, starting on Saturday, when the negotiating window opens. Teams can officially begin to sign players on Monday, March 10th.

FINS CUT FINNEGAN, TITANS RELEASING POLLARD

Two more secondary players are set to join McCourty on the free agent market, though not entirely of their own volition.

The Miami Dolphins announced early Monday that they are parting ways with veteran cornerback Cortland Finnegan after just one season. Later in the day it was reported that the Titans will release veteran safety Bernard Pollard.

It’s the second straight year hitting the open market for Finnegan, who signed a two-year, $11-million contract with Miami last offseason after he was cut by the St. Louis Rams. He started 12 games for the Dolphins in his only season with the team, but was mostly disappointing in Miami and recorded just 44 tackles and no interceptions, though he did find the end zone on a 50-yard scoop and score.

Releasing Finnegan saves the Dolphins, who have been on a cutting spree in the last several days, nearly $5.5 million against the cap in 2015. Finnegan told the Miami Herald in December that he was contemplating retirement, especially if he didn’t return to Miami.

“I would love to come back, but I understand the business side of it, too,” he said. “If you have to walk away from it and it’s no more, I can’t be mad. I’ve accomplished every goal I wanted to.”

Pollard is more focused on continuing to play after he suffered a ruptured achilles in Week 5 of 2014 that cost him the rest of his second season in Tennessee. The nine-year veteran was due to make $3.2 million in 2015, which the Titans will save by letting him go.

Pollard made it clear after two disappointing seasons in Tennessee that he wanted to move on, telling The Tennessean, that he hoped to be released by the team. He’ll get his wish, though it remains to be seen how much of a market there is for a safety on the other side of 30 coming of such a serious injury.

“I am a little ticked off to be honest because we didn’t do as well as anyone wanted,” Pollard said. “I wish we could have won more games and made the playoffs. When I came here, I wanted to be a part of a turnaround, so it is a letdown. But I don’t have that much time left, and for the time I do have left, I want to go out with a bang.”