DeAndre Hopkins should look to stay in the NFC with his next team following his release from the Arizona Cardinals, ESPN’s Harry Douglas believes.
DeAndre Hopkins, a man who was arguably one of the best receivers in the league during his peak years, currently finds himself on the NFL’s unemployment line following his release last week from the Arizona Cardinals. Whether it was his salary that was going to be an issue for them, or perhaps they didn’t feel that he fit into the system as they try to rebuild, only they know.
But following the NFL Draft, a draft in which 32 wide receivers were taken, teams have probably more or less got their options and depth chart roughly where they want them right now, so adding someone like Hopkins, talented though he still is, might be a bit tricky for them.
Obviously as the preseason ramps up and players get injuries or are seen to not be as good as teams thought they were, then Hopkins’ stock might go up and teams might take an interest in him. If that does happen, then Harry Douglas claims that the Detroit Lions should be a team to take an interest in him.
DeAndre Hopkins on his way to Detroit?
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take (starting at 0:01), Douglas pointed out to the cap space that the Lions have, as well as the players and system that they have in place, suggesting that Hopkins would fit in very nicely into their system right now and that he could take them to the next level:
We're going to hear about the Kansas City Chiefs, we're going to hear about the Buffalo Bills, but the team that I think should go after DeAndre Hopkins is the Detroit Lions. And this is an NFL team that’s surging right now coming off the season that they had a year ago, went 8-2 in their last 10 games. But I'll start with the cap space, the Detroit Lions at the moment have about $23 million in cap space, so the money is there.
Then you look at the wide receiver room. Aman-Ra St. Brown is their number one guy, 1,100 yards last year, six touchdowns, but their second-leading receiver was Kalif Raymond, nothing against Kalif Raymond, but you look at that being a category where the Detroit Lions need to upgrade. We can't forget that Jameson Williams is going to be suspended for the first six games I believe so he's not going to be there.
I look at DeAndre Hopkins in this offense being very feasible, but also being productive. And when you have a guy that can, line up outside and defenses have to account for, that's going to open up more things for Aman-Ra St. Brown to be able to eat within that slot.
If Hopkins does move to the Lions, then you would sort of have to insert them as the favourites for the division because coming off a year in which they were top 5 in both points and yards, to add someone of Hopkins’ quality, even as a #2 or #3 receiver should do more than enough to keep them there or thereabouts in 2023.