Bills Considered A “Long Shot” To Sign DeAndre Hopkins

Tim Graham of The Athletic, citing three NFL executives on other teams, reports the Bills are a “long shot” to sign free-agent WR DeAndre Hopkins. 

Graham writes Buffalo doesn’t have enough salary cap room with currently around $1.4 million available. 

Two of Graham’s sources expect Hopkins to demand a similar contract to the one-year, $15 million guaranteed contract that Odell Beckham Jr. received from the Ravens. 

According to Graham, Buffalo is interested in Hopkins and has been closely monitoring him over the past six weeks.

Now that he’s a free agent after being released by the Cardinals, Hopkins is expected to have multiple suitors with the Chiefs and Bills named as potential options. However, it seems less likely he’ll wind up in Buffalo unless they find a way to free up a lot of cap space. 

It will be interesting to see what financial market develops for his services, however, after teams were reluctant to take on the $19.5 million he was owed in 2023 in a trade. 

Hopkins, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Texans back in 2013. Houston later traded Hopkins to the Cardinals in return for David Johnson and draft picks. 

Hopkins was in the third year of his five-year, $81 million extension that included $49 million guaranteed when he agreed to a two-year, $54.5 million extension with the Cardinals. 

Hopkins was owed base salaries of $19,450,000 and $14,915,000 over the final two years of the agreement when the Cardinals opted to release him. 

In 2022, Hopkins appeared in nine games for the Cardinals and caught 64 passes for 717 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

We have him included in our Top 100 – 2023 NFL Free Agents list.