DeAndre Hopkins trade talks heating up, per report
Mar 21, 2023, 7:37 AM
Arizona Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins. (Arizona Sports Photo/Jeremy Schnell)
(Arizona Sports Photo/Jeremy Schnell)
DeAndre Hopkins trade interest is “ramping up” among the teams interested in trading for the Arizona Cardinals receiver, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The Cardinals and Hopkins have in their own ways remained patient about the 30-year-old’s future with the team. Hopkins sat down with new boss Monti Ossenfort shortly after the GM was hired but the sides did not hint at what they discussed about the receiver’s future.
Hopkins has two years remaining on his contract and carries a cap hit of $30.7 million next season before it drops to $26.2 million in 2024.
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Rapoport adds Hopkins will likely have a restructured contract in any trade, and the receiver himself suggested as much two weeks ago when he told The Pat McAfee Show that he’d hired his lawyer as an agent in preparation for a revised deal.
Hopkins played nine games in 2022 and piled up 64 catches and 717 yards, but it was his second year in a row missing a significant number of games. Six of those came on the front end of the season as a PED suspension, but Hopkins also was shut down to end 2022 due to knee issues.
He played in only 10 games in 2021 and required MCL surgery.
Prior to that campaign, Hopkins had posted four straight 1,000-yard seasons, including 1,407 receiving yards compiled in 2020, his first year playing with the Cardinals.
Hopkins spent his first seven seasons with the Houston Texans.
He has 11,298 receiving yards and 71 touchdown receptions in his career.
The Cardinals would free $8.1 million in cap space but take a dead-money hit of $22.6 million if he is traded before June 2.
If a deal comes after June 1, they will open $19.4 million in space for 2023 and $14.9 million in 2024 but take a dead-money hit of $11.3 million in each of the next two seasons.
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