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 Chris Meck:
I don't think you are paying any attention at all to the fact that we already won a SB, setting a record with a QB or any other single player taking up over 13% of the cap-and Mahomes was 17%. Nobody else has ever done that. And next year it goes up to 23%. Not only can we not go on a spending spree, we're going to have to be pretty thrifty to keep the guys we've got and developed as they come up for extensions.
If we traded for Hopkins, and gave the expected new deal, you've got like a fourth of your ENTIRE CAP tied up in two guys. That's madness, especially considering you just won a SB with the #1 offense in football with a WR corps consisting of good but not great WR's.
It's not good cap value. Hopkins is a good player, no doubt, but not worth the percentage of our cap that we'd have to pay to have him, and it's not smart to do a multi-year deal and backload it because he's already over 30. This is not the way.
We may well sign a Paris Campbell type. We'll almost certainly bring back Watson. I'd just about bet the farm that Hardman will come back on a one year deal to try to improve his stock in '24 since he missed half of the season. You've already got MVS under contract. And you've got Toney, and Skyy.
But mostly, yeah, for the next couple of seasons, we'd be wise to lean heavily on the draft. In '25, Mahomes starts to be less of the cap, and then we can start taking some bigger swings.
Now, I'm not expecting 6 or 7 studs from every draft, but there's no reason to think Veach is suddenly going to start striking out when it appears he's just got into a lockstep with the coaching staff.
Brett Veach said recently that due to financial reasons, we'd be leaning on the draft. Because, yeah, duh, it's obvious when you're paying an elite QB elite QB money. Andy Reid said that Toney and Moore would be taking bigger roles next season.
So you guys can ignore the financial truths, you can ignore how bad of an investment it historically is to pay top market money to over 30 players in the NFL, and you can ignore what your GM and coach are literally telling you in interviews if you want to. You can ignore the last two years of team building, and you can ignore that signing a guy like Hopkins means UNDOING a chunk of what you've built to be able to afford it.
But this is dumb. Really dumb, it's not going to happen, and it's like arguing with children who want to have their cake and eat it too.
The thing about the cap is, Veach keeps making a mockery out of it. So I've stopped worrying about the cap number.
And what if I told you that I saw an article that described a way for Veach to make up to $22M in cap space, by cutting Frank but otherwise keeping everyone else, including OBJ and CJ? Now, it apparently would require restructuring at least CJ's deal, and putting OBJ on the tag, which I get it, not easy things. But it shows that there's at least one other way to skin a cat.
But at least you admit DHop is a good WR. it's a start. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
The thing about the cap is, Veach keeps making a mockery out of it. So I've stopped worrying about the cap number.
And what if I told you that I saw an article that described a way for Veach to make up to $22M in cap space, by cutting Frank but otherwise keeping everyone else, including OBJ and CJ? Now, it apparently would require restructuring at least CJ's deal, and putting OBJ on the tag, which I get it, not easy things. But it shows that there's at least one other way to skin a cat.
But at least you admit DHop is a good WR. it's a start.
I never said he wasn't good. I say he's too expensive, and at his age, not a wise investment.
And I find it interesting that you assume Veach can keep making a mockery of the cap, but not continue drafting well. It's kind of picking and choosing what you want to believe, isn't it?
I see two very concrete, easily understandable reasons why we've been killing the draft:
Continuity. The Chiefs have a very strong foundation in both offensive and defensive schemes, with well established coordination and coaching at every level. Normally, successful teams have new coordinators every year. We have continuity and exceptional communication between the front office, scouts, and coaching staff. THAT is why the last few drafts have been successful, and why I expect it to continue.
Andy Reid: the man loves to tinker, and probably his greatest attribute is his ability to look at what he's got to work with, and figure out how to use it to beat you. I mean, does Hopkins somehow get MORE open on 'corndog' or something? Just give the guy good football players, and he'll be fine. Diverse skillsets in particular are great, because it allows you to scheme all sorts of routes to clear out other routes and put guys in position to succeed. [Reply]
Man, did you guy see SNL? Crazy. Trav was great though. Especially for a football player.
Dealing with the salary cap is math. Just creative math.
Drafting is a lot more than math. There's an alchemy to it that defies the raw numbers. If it wasn't, Ryan Leaf would've been a superstar.
But so far anyway, Veach hasn't exactly hit it out of the park as far as drafting WRs go. Some good ones (and I'm having to include Toney here), but nothing great. Yet.
So, let's not pretend that Veach hasn't had a couple misses. Like Kinnard. He's human, so shit happens. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Man, did you guy see SNL? Crazy. Trav was great though. Especially for a football player.
Dealing with the salary cap is math. Just creative math.
Drafting is a lot more than math. There's an alchemy to it that defies the raw numbers. If it wasn't, Ryan Leaf would've been a superstar.
But so far anyway, Veach hasn't exactly hit it out of the park as far as drafting WRs go. Some good ones (and I'm having to include Toney here), but nothing great. Yet.
So, let's not pretend that Veach hasn't had a couple misses. Like Kinnard. He's human, so shit happens.
So all trades/FA signings are successful? Has Veach missed on any trades or FA signings? I'm sure he has.
I'm not sure why you are presenting that drafting a player is a crap shoot. But not giving that same reasoning to trading/signing for a player isn't always a success story. There are plenty of examples of failures for both scenarios. [Reply]
When you have 1 of the greatest offensive coaches of all time + QB + tight end and a top 5-10 offense line I fail to see why you need to go out and get an elite WR. They proved that this past season.
Trading a 2 for a guy who probably has a 2 or 3 year window and probably wants a new contract seems more like a Carl Petersen move not a Veach move.
Now if we could get him for a couple middle round picks and perhaps a new contract that softens the cap hit at the end (if that's even possible) I would support it but I'd rather sign a veteran WR and use those middle round picks to either stay put at and add depth or use as capital to trade up for someone Veach targets on his board. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Abba-Dabba:
So all trades/FA signings are successful? Has Veach missed on any trades or FA signings? I'm sure he has.
I'm not sure why you are presenting that drafting a player is a crap shoot. But not giving that same reasoning to trading/signing for a player isn't always a success story. There are plenty of examples of failures for both scenarios.
If you draft a second round player, he's under a rookie contract and counts almost nothing against the cap.
A FA at least doesn't take draft picks.
If you trade pick(s) for a player that also takes a big contract...
...that is going to hurt if it goes south. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Abba-Dabba:
So all trades/FA signings are successful? Has Veach missed on any trades or FA signings? I'm sure he has.
I'm not sure why you are presenting that drafting a player is a crap shoot. But not giving that same reasoning to trading/signing for a player isn't always a success story. There are plenty of examples of failures for both scenarios.
Wth? Did you see that list of 2nd round picks since 2000? 2nd rounders are supposed to be decent, right? That's why you drafted them in the 2nd, I presume. There's a lot of straight shit in KC's 2nd round drafting history, my friend.
Look, skip the procedure for how the player got here. Skip the compensation. Deandre Hopkins somehow lands in KC and his contract is for zero dollars, no picks for one year. As is.
Is he good enough for you to put him in a uni? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Titty Meat: When you have 1 of the greatest offensive coaches of all time + QB + tight end and a top 5-10 offense line I fail to see why you need to go out and get an elite WR. They proved that this past season.
Trading a 2 for a guy who probably has a 2 or 3 year window and probably wants a new contract seems more like a Carl Petersen move not a Veach move.
Now if we could get him for a couple middle round picks and perhaps a new contract that softens the cap hit at the end (if that's even possible) I would support it but I'd rather sign a veteran WR and use those middle round picks to either stay put at and add depth or use as capital to trade up for someone Veach targets on his board.
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
GB management for nearly 20 years.
This is a false equivalency. Green Bay drafted poorly and didn't really sign any free agents. This isn't the case in KC we literally saw it last season [Reply]
