Cardinals may trade receiver Hopkins
After months of having his name bantered about in ongoing trade rumors, Arizona Cardinals star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins finally spoke about the subject publicly on Wednesday.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of trade talks, but I take things day for day,” Hopkins said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee show. “I don’t look forward to the future; I live in the present moment. Right now, the Arizona Cardinals is the team and the roster that I’m on. I’m preparing myself for whatever the future holds.
“I don’t really look forward to the future. I’ll let you guys do that talking.”
Considering no one with the Cardinals has come out and said Hopkins will definitely be on the roster next season, it’s becoming more and more likely that Hopkins will be dealt. And it could happen as early as Monday, when the legal tampering period begins in advance of the start of free agency, which begins on Wednesday.
That’s when any signing or trade can become official and Hopkins, 30, is sure to have plenty of interested suitors for his services. Multiple teams, including the Cowboys, Patriots, Chiefs, Jaguars, Giants and Bears have been linked to trade rumors involving the five-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection.
It's been speculated that the Cardinals are hoping to fetch a second-round draft pick and a conditional pick or player in exchange for Hopkins, who turns 31 in June.
Hopkins sounded enthusiastic about hearing some of the teams that have been connected to him regarding a potential trade.
That was evident when he was asked if there were any specific deadlines looming on a possible move.
“I would love to give you as much information as I can,” he said, “but right now, we’ve just been keeping our heads down, obviously been paying attention to the headlines and tabloids and stuff like that because you have to. When you hear some of those trade rumors, you would hate to think that all of those things are lies.”
Hopkins revealed during his appearance with McAfee that he’s hired an agent after negotiating his present contract with the Cardinals by himself two years ago.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Hopkins is also willing to restructure the remaining two years on his deal, which in base salary, will pay him $19.4 million in 2023 and $14.9 million in 2024.
“I didn’t have an agent when I did the
contract in Arizona,” Hopkins said. “I went out and hired my lawyer, who is an agent, to represent me who’s going to help me not get the short end of the stick. Hopefully, he’s going to do his job the best he can to help me not get the short end of the stick.
“I’ve always took the backseat. I’ve never talked down on teams. I never talk down on what’s going on around the organization. I kept my head down. Hopefully, me being patient and me going to work, hopefully it pays off in the next couple years. I think me hiring an agent to handle this process right now I think hopefully, we’ll get the results that we want.”
Hiring an agent will help facilitate a trade, which apparently is something both the Cardinals and Hopkins want. Hopkins wants to win now and knows that Arizona, coming off a 4-13 season, is in rebuilding mode. He’d rather spend his next few years chasing a Super Bowl with a contender.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, don’t want to tie up a significant portion of their payroll on one player who probably isn’t going to turn them back into a winner overnight. Especially with a starting quarterback (Kyler Murray), who won’t be ready for the start of the season as he recovers from ACL surgery.
The problem is, Arizona would be on the hook for $22.6 million in dead money next season if Hopkins is traded before June 1. By waiting until a post-June 1 transaction, it would allow the team to spread that dead money over two seasons – $11.3 million this year and $11.3 million in 2024.
The Cardinals acquired Hopkins from the Texans in March 2020 in a trade that sent running back David Johnson and a second-round pick to Houston and involved a swap of fourthround picks.
In his first season in Arizona, Hopkins set a franchise single-season record with 115 receptions. He also finished third in the league with 1,407 receiving yards.
Injuries, however, derailed a better part of his past two seasons, as did a six-game suspension this past year for violating the league’s policy regarding performance enhancing drugs.
Because of that suspension, it should be noted, Hopkins lost his notrade clause that was written into his current contract.
When asked last week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis whether they expected Hopkins to remain on the roster, new general manager Monti Ossenfort would only said Hopkins is on the team “right now,” and hew head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “I’m not sure.”
The Cardinals made Gannon’s assistant coaches on offense available during a news conference on Wednesday and, needless to say, many of them were asked about Hopkins’ future with the club.
“Ultimately, that’s going to be a decision for Jonathan and Monti,” offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said. “My expectation is he’s on the roster and I’m looking forward to working with him. … He loves football, has performed in this league at a high level and I’m looking forward to getting that going here in the offseason.
“I know there’s a lot of other stuff that goes into this business. I’ll let those guys handle it and we’re just going to make sure the guys we’ve got here are ready to roll.”
Drew Terrell, the Cardinals’ new wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator, said he, too, is looking forward to “the opportunity to coach” Hopkins. He acknowledged, however, that he has no idea whether Hopkins will be on the team.
“I do not have an answer on that at this point,” Terrell said. “I have no clarity on that.”
Terrell, though, sounded as if he and the Cardinals are expecting a Hopkins trade to happen, especially when being asked how the team would find receiver help if Hopkins is gone.
“When we sit down and have those discussions, we’ve got to assess how you fill the void and whether that’s through free agency or the draft,” he said, adding,
“Those discussions are still ongoing right now. … That’s an ongoing process we’re going through here.”
In 2021, Hopkins led the Cardinals with eight receiving touchdowns on 42 catches for 572 yards despite only playing in 10 games.
Despite only playing in nine games this past season, Hopkins led the Cardinals with 717 receiving yards and finished second with 64 receptions.