On Friday, the Arizona Cardinals released star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. At this point, the Cardinals are going full into tanking, it hasn’t even been preseason, and they’ve given up. Now that Hopkins is available for contact without negotiating with the Cardinals, here are five teams that could use Hopkins’ services.
1. Carolina Panthers
Is this just an excuse to put my team in here? Yes. However, the Panthers could use Hopkins. Their wide receiver core isn’t the best, so adding Hopkins will ensure the Panthers have another deep ball weapon. In addition, he would be great for their rookie quarterback Bryce Young and another veteran presence on a relatively young team on both sides of the ball.
2. Green Bay Packers
DeAndre would be good in Green Bay. They have a relatively young receiving core (headlined by Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs) and a quarterback that nobody knows about in Jordan Love. This is unfortunate because Green Bay seems allergic to signing premium free-agent wide receivers and instead goes for the washed or none. But who knows? Anything can happen.
3. Buffalo Bills
Imagine Josh Allen with another premium wide receiver that isn’t Setfon Diggs. What if I said that could happen if the Bills signed Hopkins? The bonus is they wouldn’t have to give up any draft capital. The receiver combo of Hopkins and Diggs would be deadly during the season and, luckily, into the postseason (I’m not trying to curse the Bills, they seem to be cursed during the playoffs already).
4. Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens did sign Odell Beckham Jr. recently. That’s precisely .why they could use Hopkins. OBJ may be out by week three for various reasons. If the Ravens have learned anything from the past three seasons, you can never have enough depth at every position. Hopkins would also be a tremendous weapon for Lamar Jackson, who hopefully will be able to stay healthy the whole season. Hopkins would provide veteran leadership as well.
5. Kansas City Chiefs
Now do the Chiefs already have enough weapons? That’s exactly why they would sign Hopkins-another weapon for Patrick Mahomes. Brett Veach is probably getting a deal done with Hopkins right now. If any team will most likely get Hopkins, it would be the Chiefs (As the rest of the AFC West screams in furry at the Chiefs). DeAndre would be a great fit, especially for the run-it-back type of season they are poised to have.
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Hopkins could go to any team and make an immediate impact. These are five of the more situated teams. Hopkins will probably ink a deal with a team in the upcoming weeks, ready to roll.
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