Former Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
NFL Rumors: 3 teams that should drop everything and sign DeAndre Hopkins
The Cardinals were the laughing stock of NFL Twitter for failing to find a trade partner for DeAndre Hopkins and releasing the star receiver for nothing.
For months the NFL rumor mill has been filled with the possibility of DeAndre Hopkins finding a new NFL home via a trade.
Instead, on Friday, the Cardinals released the wide receiver, ending the saga with nothing but a cap hit to show for it.
Apparenly, Arizona couldn’t find a suitable trade partner for Hopkins. Now he’ll get to have his pick of teams while the Cardinals move on with a $21 million dead cap hit for 2023 but a significant chunk of extra cap space for 2024 with the contract off their books.
NFL Twitter saw the move as yet another sign of the Cardinals general incompetence.
Best memes and tweets after Cardinals release DeAndre Hopkins
arizona cardinals are football purgatory.
— smalls (@StephieSmallls) May 26, 2023
The Arizona Cardinals just released a top 10 NFL WR (when healthy).
— Alex Clancy (@ClancysCorner) May 26, 2023
Arizona could have gotten a late round pick before the draft and decided to put on a show and cut him for nothing
— Nate Geary (@NateGearySports) May 26, 2023
Things are off to a fantastic start for Jonathan Gannon in Arizona.
1) Budda Baker requests a trade.
2) Cardinals forced to trade with the Eagles due to a tampering violation.
3) Gannon doesn’t appear in post-draft pressers.
4) Cardinals lose DeAndre Hopkins for nothing.
— DiBirds (@DiBirdsBlog) May 26, 2023
As a cardinals fan, at this point.. I think a successful year would be winning 4 games
— LC (@laurencowling) May 26, 2023
It’s not clear if the Cardinals ever had any concrete trade offers for Hopkins on the table. If they did, this really would be a monumental mess up for the franchise.
They traded running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round pick to the Texans for Hopkins and a 2020 fourth-rounder in a deal that was considered a huge victory for Arizona.
Of course, the Cardinals didn’t realize they’d only get one full season out of the pass catcher. He had 1,406 yards and six touchdowns in his debut with the team. However, he wasn’t able to suit up for more than 10 games in either of the last two seasons while dealing with injuries and a six-game PED suspension.
The team might have gotten a steal in landing Hopkins, but it didn’t pay off and they didn’t get anything in return for him just three years later. Now the whole NFL is laughing at them.
