Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins competes in saltwater fishing tournament
Apr 15, 2023, 5:00 PM | Updated: 5:08 pm
(Arizona Sports Photo/Jeremy Schnell)
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins usually focuses on catches.
For one day, he instead focused on catch-and-releases, participating in a made-for-television fishing competition.
Sport Fishing Championship (SCP), the governing body of saltwater tournament fishing, staged The Catch Presented by Fritos on Saturday.
It teamed the SCP’s top tournament anglers with NFL stars – Hopkins, A.J. Brown, Justin Herbert, Dalvin Cook, Chris Jones, Matthew Judon, Patrick Surtain II and Quinnen Williams.
Using SFC’s billfish catch-and-release scoring system, the event featured four teams in head-to-head competition.
Hopkins was teamed with Brown. The star receivers competed on Team Polarizer, which placed fourth in the contest with 50 points.
Team Gypsea, with Judon and Cook, won the contest with 425 points.
Final #FritosTheCatch Standings:
1. Team Gypsea – 425 Points
2. Team Quantified – 300 Points
3. Team Rising Son’s – 75 Points
4. Team Polarizer – 50 PointsCongratulations to @man_dammn, @dalvincook, and Captain Taylor Sanford for winning The Catch!
— Sport Fishing Championship (SFC) (@TheSFC_official) April 15, 2023
The event was held in Miami Beach and nationally televised by CBS for two hours.
“Interest in The Catch has been unprecedented,” Mark Neifeld, CEO and commissioner of SFC, said in a press release. “It is almost unheard of to see so many notable brands that typically don’t use offshore fishing as a platform to promote their brands, get behind an event like this.
“We are grateful to all of our partners and sponsors for helping us create a one of-a-kind experience for angling enthusiasts and those who will experience the sport for the first time. It’s going to be action-packed for participants and we’re confident that the format we’ve created is going to be exciting to watch.”