Knowing the 2023 season wouldn’t be their year, the Arizona Cardinals finally gave in and released DeAndre Hopkins after trying to trade the three-time All-Pro receiver for months. Doing so now, ahead of June 1, means the Cardinals will be incurring a $22 million cap charge for Hopkins this season. Trading Hopkins would have presented the Cardinals with an opportunity for another team to be willing to foot part of the bill, yet, there were no takers.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. As Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated notes, the Cardinals held trade talks with both the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. His terminology suggests other teams were interested but didn’t get too far along in discussions. Meanwhile, Breer reports the Bills and Chiefs were the only teams who entered “substantive” negotiations for Hopkins prior to his release.
Their biggest obstacle was Hopkins and the $22 million cap number he held for 2023 and reportedly was unwilling to budge on. Now instead of teams having to part with draft compensation, they can simply negotiate with Nuk’s agent instead, which could benefit Hopkins more in the long run by being able to pick which franchise he’d like to join next.
- DeAndre Hopkins’ stats last season: 64 receptions, 717 receiving yards, 3 TD catches in nine games
Hopkins missed the first six games of last season for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Drug policy, but by recording 262 yards in his first two games back, Nuk showed he could still make a major impact on the field.
Now, at 30 years old, Hopkins enters free agency as a true No. 1 option, giving organizations a rare opportunity to add one of the best receivers in football to their offense just ahead of training camp.
Related: Ranking the 4 best DeAndre Hopkins landing spots in NFL free agency