Texans' Andre Johnson spends $16K on toys for underprivileged kids

Andre Johnson's shopping sprees are becoming a holiday tradition in Houston.

Andre Johnson's shopping sprees are becoming a holiday tradition in Houston. 

On Tuesday, Johnson took 11 Houston-area kids from the Harris County Department of Family Protective Services to Toys "R" Us to do some holiday shopping. He gave kids 80 seconds to pick out whatever they wanted from the store. 

After a minute and 20 seconds of scrambling by the kids, Johnson's bill came out to $16,266.66. 

Final bill paid for by Andre Johnson: $16,266.26 #Texans pic.twitter.com/PcDOGxjYFm

— Brian T. Smith (@BTSmithUK) December 2, 2014

Johnson said that the idea to let kids pick out gifts in Toys "R" Us came to him in a conversation with his uncle. From The Houston Chronicle:

“It’s crazy,” Johnson said. “Me and my uncle were sitting in the house one day. And I was like, ‘I want to do something for Christmas.’ And he was just like, ‘Have you ever thought about having kids go through Toys R Us and get what they want?’ And I was just like, ‘Naw, I never really thought about that.’

“He was like, ‘Give ‘em 80 seconds to run through the store and let ‘em just get what they want.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not enough time.’ And he was like, ‘They can grab a lot.’ So we did it the first year and when the kids came back, I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t think they could grab that much stuff in that amount of time.’ So we just rolled with it from there and we just kept doing it every year. And we just decided to give them whatever game system they wanted because they keep that stuff locked up.”

Johnson, who has gone on similar shopping sprees in the past, spent so much he earned a gift card back from the store.

The seven-time Pro Bowl receiver and two-time first-team All-Pro has 65 catches for 720 yards and two touchdowns so far this season. 

How many toys can you grab in 80 seconds?

$16,266 dollars worth, apparently... #AndreClaus: http://t.co/TwzHsEP8Er pic.twitter.com/37rS3P6eqc

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) December 2, 2014

[h/t Houston Chronicle]

- Phil Watson