What an off-season for the Arizona Cardinals.
Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim are gone. Kyler Murray is less than a month away from ACL surgery and the team are reportedly looking to trade DeAndre Hopkins sometime during the offseason, according to The Score’s Jordan Schultz.
Hopkins, who has Arizona’s top-cap hit for next season at $30 million, will “probably” seek a new contract, according to Schultz. According to Spotrac, only Tyreek Hill ($31.45 million) has a major cap hit at the receiver position for 2023.
Maybe a split will be good for both sides. The Cardinals could be looking to hit the reset button this offseason, and Hopkins — toward the end of his career — might want another opportunity to place himself elsewhere.
New general manager Monti Ossenfort was due to speak to Hopkins this week, but nothing has come out on that front.
In a separate report from Schultz, Hopkins reportedly wants to play for either the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Los Angeles Chargers. Both teams have made the playoffs, have young quarterbacks and are playing in warm-weather locations.
However, both are already investing large amounts of change in their separate wide-receiver rooms.
A swap for Hopkins won’t be easy given his age and contract status. Hopkins also has a no-trade clause that allows him to veto any potential deal he doesn’t like.
We’ve seen receivers like Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, and AJ Brown get dealt out lately, but it appears that for the reasons outlined above, getting top pay will be far more difficult.
When it comes to what exactly Arizona might expect, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer thinks a Day 2 pick in the NFL Draft (round two/three) could be a deal for both teams. He gave four different reasons:
- injuries: “He has played in 19 games out of 34 over the last two seasons, having shown plenty of struggle as he struggled through a series of injuries to only miss two games in his first eight seasons as a pro.”
- Practice Ability: “If you have a strong veteran squad that has won, you can do it. But when you’re younger or haven’t won yet, it’s more difficult when one of your best players is missing during long weeks of practice, both from a functional and a cultural point of view.”
- Money: “He is due $19.45 million in cash next year and $14.92 million in 2024.
- Age: “He will be 31 years old on opening day. On the surface, that doesn’t seem to disqualify any recipient. But that’s how old AJ Green was when he went from Cincinnati to Arizona, and he’s had just 78 catches for 1,084 yards and five touchdowns in 31 games since then.”
Breer finished with:
“So add that in and I think it’s going to be difficult for Ossenfort to get great value for Hopkins, maybe even to the point where it’s a better idea to keep him than trade him myself.” would say a Day 2 pick would be what Arizona would get in return in a trade.”
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