DeAndre Hopkins‘ tenure in Arizona came to a sudden end yesterday when the Cardinals released the veteran wideout. Throughout the offseason, Hopkins was one of the most popular names on the trade market, and there were whispers that a number of teams had engaged the Cardinals in trade talks. However, Albert Breer of TheMMQB tweets that only the Bills and the Chiefs had “substantive” discussions with the Cardinals.
[RELATED: Cardinals Release DeAndre Hopkins]
Breer adds that both cash-strapped teams had issues fitting in Hopkins’ cap hit. While the Chiefs believed they were making progress towards a trade and a resolution on Hopkins’ 2023 earnings, Odell Beckham‘s contract with the Ravens “more or less blew that progress up.”
While the Chiefs and Bills would still be worthy suitors for Hopkins, that aforementioned OBJ deal may have already priced some teams out of the ensuing bidding war. Mike Giardi tweets that Hopkins “wants money,” and OBJ’s ability to earn more than $15MM with Baltimore hasn’t done anything to change his mind. Breer tweets that the Chiefs and Bills are probably unlikely to sign the veteran unless he drops his asking price, and even then Hopkins would have to settle of an incentive-laden deal.
Of course, money won’t be the only deciding factor when it comes to Hopkins’ landing spot. Cardinals reporter Mike Jurecki tweets that the wideout also values stable management, a good defense, and a quarterback who can galvanize the squad. Yesterday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler released a list of best fits for Hopkins, with the Bills, Chiefs, Jets, Cowboys, and Saints all earning spots. The Browns, Giants, Falcons, and Patriots were listed as wild-card teams in the sweepstakes.
Either way, Hopkins won’t be able to officially sign a deal this weekend. Howard Balzer tweets that while the wideout is allowed to speak with teams, he can’t sign a contract until his name officially appears on the NFL’s personnel notice on Tuesday. Interestingly, Balzer also notes that when Hopkins hired new representation earlier this offseason, the NFLPA listed the agent as Eddie Edwards. Now, there’s no agent of record for the wideout. According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, the confusion is attributed to the fact that Saint Omni is “running the show” for Hopkins. Last year, the NFL warned teams not to discuss contracts with non-certified agents like Omni during the Roquan Smith negotiations.
As for the Cardinals, there were some pundits who wondered why Hopkins wasn’t designated as a post-June 1 cut, which would have spread his $22MM cap hit over the next two seasons. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe assumes (on Twitter) that the Cardinals just want to “take their lumps now,” and the reporter notes that while Arizona technically used their two allocated post-June 1 cuts, the team could have still cut Hopkins after June 2 and realized the same financial incentives.
He will go to whomever will pay the most. It’s that simple. Unlike the person writing this story..I very much doubt there will be any sort of bidding war. Im sure the Ravens have frantically already offered him twice as much as anyone else was even considering.
Lamar seems to be the acting GM in Baltimore.
Not happening, but would be cool to see him w Stroud back in the H
Stroud will be able to overthrow a much cheaper receiver than Hopkins
Him and Antonio Brown could sign together. 2 head cases for the price of one
How is Hopkins a head case?
According to Larry Brown Sports, he quit on his team last year. After a 6 game suspension for steroids to kick off the season. Enough to agree he’s a head case.
link to larrybrownsports.com
The venerable, legendary, vaunted LarryBrownSports.com with the scoop.
A head case? Because he took PED’s?
Getting suspended for 6 games for doing something he knew was illegal? What do you call that, a smart decision?
So everyone that got suspended is a head case? Brady? Myles Garrett? You used the word illegal, was he arrested? It was a legal product that was on the leagues list of banned products. I remember back in the day, I was buying and taking andro legally but baseball had an issue. Even today, I probably couldn’t pass a NFL pee test yet everything in my body is legal.
Id be excited about Hopkins, but Id rather some other team give a big contract to a 31 yr old receiver.
A 2 year 30 million-ish contact seems right ( half guaranteed), but I think its likely to be more- perhaps 3 years.
But this is an open market bidding war and despite what Hopkins has said, I think any reasonable team with a big enough offer gets him.
Im be certainly interested to a degree, but I would personally be out.
As great as he can be, his best days are behind him. The ROI risk is pretty high. For 2023, it could look great, but realistically his skill set isn’t one that inspires him to be an outlier into his close to his mid-30s.
I think D-Hop will be sorely missed by the Cardinals. He is an exceptional talent with not many years left to showcase his talents. Of course he is going for the money team. Wouldn’t You?
The Cardinals could have ate some salary in exchange for a pick – or made the guy play out his contract – but Monti Ossenfort took it in the shorts, as he has no experience. So far he has showed NOTHING as a GM, thus I wonder if Bidwell hasn’t taken the training wheels off yet.
Seems like the browns could have a shot with a substantial signing bonus and a 1st year deferred compensation. The cardinals are paying that.