DeAndre Hopkins Rumors: Will Veteran Receiver Reunite With Former Texans QB?
Salary Cap Limitations Might Keep Teams from Pursuing DeAndre Hopkins

Will Change of Scenery Jump Start Career of DeAndre Hopkins?
The rumors are flying around regarding DeAndre Hopkins’ next team. Hopkins got his wish when the rebuilding Arizona Cardinals waived the veteran receiver. The DeAndre Hopkins rumors mill figures to be rather active until he signs on the dotted line.
Hopkins has played in just six postseason games in 10 NFL seasons, so it would make sense for Hopkins to land with a team that can make a playoff run.
Naturally, the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs would fit that bill. However, there seems to be some teams ahead of the Chiefs when it comes to signing Hopkins.
Another issue is that Hopkins has missed 15 regular-season games over the last two seasons. While Hopkins surpassed 1,000 receiving yards six times in his career, will that injury history for a player who celebrated his 31st birthday on Tuesday scare away potential suitors?
Hopkins had more than 1,400 receiving yards in his first season with the Cardinals. However, he finished with less than 1,300 receiving yards in the last two seasons. He has four 100-catch seasons and that is among the best according to the NFL record book
Here’s a look at some possible landing spots.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns have one thing that no other team can bring to the table as some of Hopkins’ best seasons came with the Houston Texans and Deshaun Watson was the starting quarterback for the Texans.
With Watson now the QB with Cleveland (and has gone on record) that he would love to be throwing passes to Hopkins again. That has played a role in the Browns being priced at +125 to sign Watson.
When looking at the DeAndre Hopkins rumors, the Browns seem like a natural place for Hopkins to land.
Detroit Lions
Amon-Ra St. Brown has been a productive receiver during his brief NFL career and the hope that former Alabama receiver Jameson Williams would prove to be the perfect player to take some of the pressure off St. Brown. Williams is among the Detroit players being suspended as a result of gambling allegations so that could put Detroit in the market for a veteran receiver.
Detroit would appear to have the salary cap space to bring in Hopkins and Detroit is certainly a team on the rise.
The Lions come in at +380 in the odds to bring Hopkins aboard, but things have been pretty quiet when it comes to Detroit and the DeAndre Hopkins rumors.
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo has been knocking on the door as a Super Bowl contender. The prospects of Josh Allen throwing to Stefon Diggs and Hopkins. It would take some front-office maneuvering since the Bills don’t have much wiggle room when it comes to bringing in a receiver like Hopkins.
Buffalo is already using 6.5% of its salary cap on Diggs. Can the Bills afford to bring in Hopkins? With +550 odds, perhaps the Bills will take that chance, even if it would require either restructuring contracts or releasing players.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs won the Super Bowl last season without Hopkins and it would be hard to find a team in a worse position to add Hopkins’ contract than Kansas City.
Nearly 25% of the salary cap space is devoted to quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Another $11M is being spent on Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Opposing defensive coordinators would not sleep well the night before the game if Hopkins joined the Chiefs. It seems hard to imagine that happened despite +750 odds to sign Hopkins.
New England Patriots
The Patriots did just fine when they signed Randy Moss after a quiet season with the Raiders. From 2007-2009, Moss had 47 touchdown receptions for the Patriots. Will New England go down that road again?
There’s not much salary being spent on pass catchers with Kendrick Bourne, DeVante Parker, JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Mike Gesicki have been signed for 10% of the salary-cap space so perhaps another receiver could be brought in.
Having somebody like Hopkins to throw to could help quarterback Mac Jones bounce back from a disappointing second NFL season.
The Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans come in at +1600 in the odds to sign Hopkins. The Ravens used a first-round pick in April’s NFL Draft on Boston College receiver Zay Flowers and signed veteran Odell Beckham Jr., so adding Hopkins seems unlikely. There have been reports that Houston will not be pursuing the player who was a top pass catcher for the franchise from 2013-19.
When taking a look at the NFL receiving leaders, among active players, only Julio Jones has more receiving yards than Hopkins does. A 1,000-yard season would put Hopkins in the top 25 in career receiving yards in NFL history. Hopkins is already in the top 30 in career receptions.
He appears to have more football to play and it remains to be seen where that football will be played.
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