The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl without a star wide receiver, but they could reportedly make an elite offense even scarier by acquiring DeAndre Hopkins.
NFL insider Benjamin Albright told PHNX Cardinals that Kansas City is the "primary suitor" for Hopkins. He doesn't know the draft compensation the Cardinals would receive, but he said it's more likely they get a second-round pick than a first.
After the 2022 season, theScore's Jordan Schultz reported that the Cardinals plan to trade Hopkins this offseason.
Arizona hired a new general manager and head coach after a disappointing four-win season, and Hopkins is set to make $19.45 million (with a $30.75 million cap hit) in 2023. The Cardinals could seek a clean slate by moving the three-time All-Pro wideout, who turns 31 in June.
Hopkins began his Cardinals career by tallying 1,407 yards and six touchdowns in 2020. However, multiple lower body injuries limited him to 10 games in 2021, and he served a six-game suspension to start the 2022 season for violating the NFL's PED policy.
Yet he remains an impact player when on the field. Hopkins totaled 474 receiving yards in six full games with quarterback Kyler Murray last season.
Now imagine what he can accomplish when catching passes from Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs flourished without a star replacement for Tyreek Hill, but they could still benefit by solidifying the position this offseason. JuJu Smith-Schuster is a free agent after garnering 78 catches for 933 yards on a one-year deal. The depth chart features several talented question marks in Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Adding Hopkins could be great news for Kansas City, but terrible for all opposing defenses.
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And just a reminder that paying a guy, say, $20m per year on a 2 year deal is not the same as paying a 5-year deal at $20m/year bonus driven deal. Thank you for attending my TED talk. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
We have $9M in cap space and Veach has already visited Bank of Mahomes.
There are more ways to create cap space, like a Jones extension, and they can lower the cap hit for this year with a restructure like Cooks.
I don't think it's a "must", but it's also not out of the realm of possibility by any means. It's just a matter of whether or not Veach thinks it's worth it in comparison to other options. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
Give them a 4th and CEH. Dhop says he’s willing to renegotiate the last two years. Get it done Veach. This is as good as it’s going to get.
I'm not sure anyone sees CEH any differently than we do. I'm sure most teams would rather have the lotto ticket draft pick. [Reply]
Originally Posted by staylor26:
There are more ways to create cap space, like a Jones extension, and they can lower the cap hit for this year with a restructure like Cooks.
I don't think it's a "must", but it's also not out of the realm of possibility by any means. It's just a matter of whether or not Veach thinks it's worth it in comparison to other options.
If they can get a deal done with CJ they can clear a boatload of space. [Reply]
Originally Posted by raybec 4:
I'm not sure anyone sees CEH any differently than we do. I'm sure most teams would rather have the lotto ticket draft pick.
Yep. would probably need to offer a little higher pick just to take his salary at this point. [Reply]
Originally Posted by staylor26:
There are more ways to create cap space, like a Jones extension, and they can lower the cap hit for this year with a restructure like Cooks.
I don't think it's a "must", but it's also not out of the realm of possibility by any means. It's just a matter of whether or not Veach thinks it's worth it in comparison to other options.
The more moving pieces, the less likely it becomes.
We're assuming $4M is what was offered to OBJ based on his tweets. We know JJSS was a base of around $3M.
$9M in cap space.
I don't see any clues that they're interested in paying 8 figures.
Until proven otherwise, im assuming they think Toney will be the featured WR followed by Moore. They'll draft a guy or two.
Avant/Jenkins/Avery...this team isn't immune to ignoring the position group.
I thought the Chiefs wouldn't give Mahomes the Rodgers treatment, but....i'm not so sure about that anymore. [Reply]
If anything, the Chiefs winning the SB as they did might further cement in their heads that Mahomes can just throw to guys they pluck off the street. Are we at the point where the Chiefs simply don't value the position much at all?
Maybe he can. I still don't think it's right though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
You think Veach can get Dhop to play for $4M a season?
Yea, me neither.
I'm done putting any more thought into this. On to the draft.
Hard for me to take obj too seriously. The chiefs aren’t gonna waste their time with all the attention and attending his workouts only to offer that kind of offer that would be laughed out of the room. I’ll file this under obj being an unreliable narrator. [Reply]
JFC man relax. There's a plan, you just have to wait and see what it is.
One thing is for sure, they absolutely are not going to ignore the position. They have expressed their desire to always surround Mahomes with weapons. The first move they made before Mahomes took over was signing Watkins to load up on weapons.
They were immediately in on A.J. Brown after the Tyreek trade. They signed JuJu, MVS, drafted Skyy in the 2nd, and traded a 3rd for Toney last year.