The Arizona Cardinals fired wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins on Friday. The NFL team was looking for a partner for a trade, but couldn’t find a buyer for its star receiver.
Already during the NFL Draft, a trade by DeAndre Hopkins was talked about everywhere, but in the end nothing happened. Hopkins stayed with the Cardinals despite speaking publicly about other teams. “Hopkins never publicly said he wanted to leave. But he never said he wanted to stay, either,” the Cardinals said in a release.
Earlier this week, when asked what he was looking for in an NFL team in club media, he was quoted as saying: “What I want is stable management upstairs, I haven’t had that in the last few years of my career – I came to Arizona from Houston. I want a quarterback who loves the game. One who brings everyone on board, not just himself but everyone around him… and a great defense.”
Apparently wishes that could not be fulfilled in Arizona. General Manager Monti Ossenfort was therefore looking for a trade partner, as stated in the press release. But apparently nobody wanted to take over Hopkins’ expensive contract. In 2023, it would have cost his new team $19.45 million. In 2024 it would have been $14.915 million again.
So the Arizona Cardinals decided to fire DeAndre Hopkins in a “roster reorganization,” according to the report. The franchise will face a dead cap of just over $21 million.
DeAndre Hopkins moved from the Houston Texans to Arizona for the 2020 season, when the Cardinals gave up running back David Johnson and there was also an exchange of two fourth-round picks. In his freshman season, he caught 115 passes for 1,407 yards. However, due to injuries, he did not even get more than 800 yards in the two following years. In 2021 there were at least eight strong touchdowns (only six in 2020) in ten games. In 2022, he played nine times, catching 64 passes for 717 yards and just three touchdowns.
