DeAndre Hopkins Notes: Bills, Cardinals, Chiefs

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer empties the notebook on what he’s hearing about former Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins. The general theme from Breer is that Hopkins’ trade market was tepid due to his salary and his free agency market could start out similar if his asking price doesn’t come down. 

There are conflicting opinions on how much the soon-to-be-31-year-old Hopkins has left in the tank. Breer asked three front office evaluator sources that question and got differing responses. One was blunt; “Not much. He can’t run anymore.” Another disagreed; “He’s still a good player. Good route runner, big, physical target that can play a ball in the air. He’s still a threat.” 

“Still great hands, he is not going to separate, not much of a deep threat, but very strong, and makes contested catches as well as anyone in the NFL,” the third source, an AFC executive, said. “Does not love to practice — I can’t imagine that’ll get any better. And when things don’t go well, you’re always gonna be leery, ‘All right, what kind of drama are we gonna get from this guy?’ When things are great, he’s great. When things go south, his true colors show a little bit. But he always shows up on game day. He’s gonna have to go to a team that knows what they’re getting. You cannot expect a perfect-attendance type of worker.”

Breer’s best guess is that teams will at most be willing to pay Hopkins half of the $19.45 million he was previously scheduled to make in 2023, if that. The deal will likely be heavy on incentives to provide Hopkins some upside. 

Bills

• According to Breer, the Bills and the Chiefs were the only two teams to engage in actual trade talks with the Cardinals for Hopkins. Both teams were in a similar spot in terms of what they wanted to give up, with contracts tilted toward a pay for play structure (bigger per-game bonuses and incentive-heavy).
• Breer adds his sense is both teams need Hopkins’ asking price to come down to sign him now that he’s a free agent. 

Cardinals

• Breer mentions that by the end the Cardinals would have been willing to considering eating money in a trade involving Hopkins if it boosted the draft pick coming back to a top 100 selection.
• He adds overall their asking price dropped significantly from where things began this offseason but there just wasn’t trade interest.
• Breer notes Hopkins’ camp pushed Arizona to pay more of the salary to facilitate a trade but that was a non-starter. The Cardinals didn’t have any incentive to eat cash since none of Hopkins’ salary was guaranteed. They saved all $19.45 million by cutting him. 

Chiefs

• Breer says the Chiefs made the most progress on a trade for Hopkins but the Ravens’ one-year, $15 million deal for WR Odell Beckham Jr. derailed things because in Hopkins’ view it set a new salary floor for him, since Beckham didn’t even play in 2022. 
• The Chiefs moved on and signed LT Donovan Smith to a contract structured similarly to what they had been offering Hopkins, per Breer. He signed a one-year deal with $2 million guaranteed, another $1 million in per-game roster bonuses and a max value of $9 million via incentives. 
• Breer adds his sense is both the Bills and the Chiefs would need Hopkins’ asking price to come down to sign him now that he’s a free agent.