By Jordan Long
The Arizona Cardinals are in voluntary OTA’s (offseason team activities). They will then focus their attention to team minicamp from June 13th to 15th. Arizona made a curious decision to cut wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins instead of trading him.
Hopkins has been with Arizona for the past 3 years. In 2020, Hopkins surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for receiving yards, totaling 1,407 yards and 6 touchdowns. In 2021, Hopkins’s production dropped to 572 receiving yards, the worst in his career. Hopkins caught 8 touchdowns.
Last year, Hopkins hauled in 64 passes for 717 yards. He also added 3 touchdowns, Hopkins’ lowest total since his rookie year with the Houston Texans in 2013 when he had 2. Arizona was looking to trade him during the offseason to get something back for him. It never materialized so Arizona cut him, costing the franchise $22.6 million in dead cap space for this year.
It seemed like Hopkins was productive in Arizona. Hopkins even wanted to stay with Arizona. They let him go because, in the last two games of last year, Hopkins sat out even though he was healthy. Arizona lost both games. In week 17 Atlanta beat them by 1, 20-19. In week 18, they were drummed by San Francisco 38-13. Hopkins might have been the difference in week 17 but we will never know. It may have made things awkward if Hopkins stayed on the roster this season. Arizona felt this was the best time to let him go.
Hopkins is now a free agent. According to si.com ESPN’s NFL insider Jeremy Fowler said, “My money would still be on the Bills or the Chiefs working something out. I still suspect that you have two contenders in the AFC that are sort of trying to combat each other, make sure one doesn’t get Hopkins over the other, so it’s a little bit of an arms race there.”
Buffalo and Kansas City are Super Bowl contenders and would make sense as a landing spot for Hopkins. Buffalo has one receiver who is an All-Pro, Stefon Diggs. Diggs is a great receiver who quarterback Josh Allen throws the ball to, but he needs help. Adding Hopkins makes this offense even more dangerous. Allen would have two playmakers at the wide receiver position.
Kansas City doesn’t have a receiver like Hopkins. They have one of the better quarterbacks in the league, Patrick Mahomes. He looks for everybody. If Hopkins goes to Kansas City, Mahomes would finally have a number 1 wide receiver.
Both of these teams make sense. There may be more teams looking at Hopkins. It will come down to money and the best situation for Hopkins. He wants to be in a place where he can have the most success.
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