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 O.city:
Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes history together says this room ends up going which way?
This is by far the most unknown room they've had...unless your process is well they started Justin Watson several games last year and we're fine.
No matter how good Mahomes and Reid are if Skyy Moore is a jag Toney misses a lot of games and Rashee Rice isn't ready, it's gonna be ugly out there. I mean you hedge those bets with odds well chances are at least 1 of these things will go our way. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
This is by far the most unknown room they've had...unless your process is well they started Justin Watson several games last year and we're fine.
No matter how good Mahomes and Reid are if Skyy Moore is a jag Toney misses a lot of games and Rashee Rice isn't ready, it's gonna be ugly out there. I mean you hedge those bets with odds well chances are at least 1 of these things will go our way.
So JJSS was the difference between this year and last year and it's going to implode?
Originally Posted by staylor26:
Exactly. This just makes no sense coming from people who weren't even high on JuJu.
I thought he was a good signing for the most part, but he's exactly what they are a missing a high floor consistent performer. You can "expect" one of the other guys to take on that role but right now none of them are that.
MVS has never been a consistent performer and the other guys don't even have enough reps to make a judgement. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
I thought he was a good signing for the most part, but he's exactly what they are a missing a high floor consistent performer. You can "expect" one of the other guys to take on that role but right now none of them are that.
MVS has never been a consistent performer and the other guys don't even have enough reps to make a judgement.
At absolute worst, I think Richie James can give you a high floor guy that is at least 75% of what JuJu gave you production wise.
I just don't understand how this group isn't significantly better. [Reply]
Originally Posted by staylor26:
JuJu and MVS weren't good moves? Hardman was a lot closer to a good move than a bad move. And you keep switching from "offensive skilled players" to "WR". Every time you say offensive skill players, you're ignoring Pacheco.
What about Toney? Was that not a good move?
OBJ was a rock solid move, even if it didn't result in a second contract. They turned Wylie into a legitimate starting RT that got paid.
This is basically all about one thing, you crying about the lack of a true WR1, and your inability to be patient with the young guys that they've invested in.
You're absolutely clueless dude.
Center/guard/RB are widely agreed to be positions you can fill in the late draft.
Mvs and juju are underwhelming players propped up by mahomes and Reid. Toney is solid but it doesn't fix the wr room given his inconsistent availability. And obj and Wylie were not good.i get the urgency behind obj but it was a very expensive experiment
I've been plenty patient and complimentary. But you cannot act like OT and WR are anything but very uncertain. And that we are in this spot because we spent years not fixing the problem.. That's why we replaced an entire WR room in one off-season. Thats why we are still playing musical chairs with mahomes' most crucial protectors, including another gamble that a RT is going to end up being great with the awesome responsibility of protecting mahomes' blind side.
I like the potential of our young guys. But no, I'm not going to pretend veach deserves blind faith when we've struggled mightily at these 2 positions specifically. No I don't think we should just accept throwing mahomes into chaos just because he's really good. And yeah I think we should be solving these problems before they occur instead of waiting for the dam to break creating fire drills to fix critical spots on offense in a hurry. [Reply]
When you aren't even going to give credit where it's due in regards to JuJu and MVS being perfect short term moves that helped win a SB last year, there's really no point in continuing to have this discussion... [Reply]
I'm totally with you guys that this receiver room has a lot of talent and could work out.
But also I'd be extremely happy if we somehow added Hopkins to this group. It would be an embarrassment of riches with Hopkins. Justyn Ross would be on the bubble which is remarkable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Kiimosabi:
I'm totally with you guys that this receiver room has a lot of talent and could work out.
But also I'd be extremely happy if we somehow added Hopkins to this group. It would be an embarrassment of riches with Hopkins. Justyn Ross would be on the bubble which is remarkable.