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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Originally Posted by BossChief:
All these scenarios we run through concerning Hopkins are assuming Veach/Reid are operating from a place of desperation regarding the WR position when in reality they aren’t.
The best guys in the business see Toney, Skyy, MVS and Ross daily in meetings and practices (not during this part of the year but you know what I mean) and seem to be comfortable without making a panic/desperation move to add OBJ or Hopkins. I love the confidence to move on from Juju and Mecole and not make any major moves to replace their roles in free agency.
Pure confidence move for Skyy/Toney.
This is where I'm at as well. We saw what MVS can be and he will only be better with a year under his belt in the system, and Skyy & Toney were both very high picks who are playmakers. This is what great organizations do; they groom young players and then let them play. If they both stay healthy they can be big time players. You also have Richie James in the mix and can always bring Watson back. Plus, there's still the draft.
Andy & Brett aren't panicking, so I sure as hell won't. I'd love to have D-Hop but we're already looking at fielding a better overall roster than we did last year while the Bills and Bengals both took small steps back. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt what these guys are doing anymore, so I won't. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BossChief:
All these scenarios we run through concerning Hopkins are assuming Veach/Reid are operating from a place of desperation regarding the WR position when in reality they aren’t.
The best guys in the business see Toney, Skyy, MVS and Ross daily in meetings and practices (not during this part of the year but you know what I mean) and seem to be comfortable without making a panic/desperation move to add OBJ or Hopkins. I love the confidence to move on from Juju and Mecole and not make any major moves to replace their roles in free agency.
DeAndre Hopkins is playfully evasive when asked about Chris Jones' recruitment of him to the #Chiefs & won't answer about Justyn Ross when he learns we are from Kansas City. pic.twitter.com/n5jLFSbCBM
Could KC make another SB run with Toney/MVS as lead guys? Sure. But it would take a lot more consistency from MVS, a healthy season from Toney, and a big step year one to year two from Skyy to do it. You could certainly see the difference in KC’s offense when Juju and Hardman were both banged up. Still explosive at times, but not as consistent. And who doesn’t miss rolling into games with Hill, Watkins, Hardman to go along with Kelce?? Just felt a bit different…
A long rant to simply say I would love to see DHop finish out his career in KC. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TRR:
Would love to see this get done.
Could KC make another SB run with Toney/MVS as lead guys? Sure. But it would take a lot more consistency from MVS, a healthy season from Toney, and a big step year one to year two from Skyy to do it. You could certainly see the difference in KC’s offense when Juju and Hardman were both banged up. Still explosive at times, but not as consistent. And who doesn’t miss rolling into games with Hill, Watkins, Hardman to go along with Kelce?? Just felt a bit different…
A long rant to simply say I would love to see DHop finish out his career in KC.
This type of thinking is what narrows the window in the Mahomes era. Unless DeHop gets cut and wants to ring hunt on a reasonable deal, he won't be Chief. Veach is too smart for anything else...
Not trying to bust the idea that he wouldn't be amazing on the Chiefs, just not for the price he demands... [Reply]
Originally Posted by TRR:
Would love to see this get done.
Could KC make another SB run with Toney/MVS as lead guys? Sure. But it would take a lot more consistency from MVS, a healthy season from Toney, and a big step year one to year two from Skyy to do it. You could certainly see the difference in KC’s offense when Juju and Hardman were both banged up. Still explosive at times, but not as consistent. And who doesn’t miss rolling into games with Hill, Watkins, Hardman to go along with Kelce?? Just felt a bit different…
A long rant to simply say I would love to see DHop finish out his career in KC.
Losing JuJu, Toney’s injury issues and the possibility that Kelce, who will be 34 in October, may not be able to maintain his elite level of play from last year are all reasons for why the Chiefs still need to make an aggressive move at WR. [Reply]
I'd say between trading for Hopkins and picking Hyatt in the 1st round of the draft, there are no other moves the rest of the league fears our Chiefs will make more. [Reply]
Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief:
This type of thinking is what narrows the window in the Mahomes era. Unless DeHop gets cut and wants to ring hunt on a reasonable deal, he won't be Chief. Veach is too smart for anything else...
Not trying to bust the idea that he wouldn't be amazing on the Chiefs, just not for the price he demands...
There's a very good chance we see a Kelce regression in a few years and I'm not as convinced as others Reid has more than a few years left coaching.
Load up for a run while the iron is hot. Agreed that doesn't mean we do something stupid. But we can’t sit and build for 5 years from now when our window right now is wide wide open [Reply]
The ONLY way I’m even entertaining a trade for Hopkins is if he will play on his current deal and Arizona restructures his contract by converting 15m of this years salary to a bonus so his cap hits for the next 2 years is only 20m.
I’d be willing to give them a third in that scenario…and it would benefit both teams and give DHop a fat check in his pocket.
If he wants a new deal for top dollar, nobody will give him that.