Patriots are reportedly nonetheless within the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes

Patriots

“It could be the one which makes essentially the most monetary sense.”

It’s been near per week since DeAndre Hopkins was minimize by the Cardinals and entered free company. 

And based on a number of stories, the Patriots are nonetheless within the combine for the 30-year-old wideout’s companies.

“There are a number of groups, together with the New England Patriots, which are thinking about DeAndre Hopkins,” Dianna Russini mentioned on ESPN’s “Get Up” program on Thursday. “We’re going to see over the subsequent few weeks Hopkins taking visits with totally different groups, after which he’s going to decide.”

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter famous on his podcast that the Patriots are nonetheless an excellent match for Hopkins, due largely to their obtainable cap area and skill to outbid different groups.

“New England could possibly be attention-grabbing, New England has a necessity there,” Schefter mentioned. “However what I hold coming again to is that, in Houston, the person that traded DeAndre Hopkins was the then-Texans head coach Invoice O’Brien. I don’t assume these two people significantly cared for each other. So now it’s OK?

“It could be the one which makes essentially the most monetary sense, and whether it is, then after all all people could make it work. However I simply don’t assume we begin out pondering that New England goes to be a high choice, although in the long run it may find yourself being the place that he lands.”

A number of groups are anticipated to court docket Hopkins in free company. Russini additionally listed each the Chiefs and Payments as potential touchdown spots for Hopkins, with the first pitch centered on pairing the wideout with an elite QB in Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.

Mac Jones will not be Mahomes or Allen, however the Patriots can actually alleviate a few of Hopkins’ considerations with a heftier contract.

Whereas each the Payments ($1.4 million in cap area) and Chiefs ($652,557) have little fiscal flexibility, the Patriots have $14.1 million to spend, per OverTheCap.com. 

Tim Graham of The Athletic additionally reported on Thursday that the Payments stand as a “lengthy shot” to signal Hopkins. 

Despite the fact that Hopkins will seemingly not command the $19.45 million wage he was set to earn with the Cardinals this yr, Russini did add in her report that Hopkins “needs to receives a commission the kind of cash that we noticed Odell Beckham Jr. receives a commission.”

Beckham finally signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the Ravens earlier this offseason.

“Not that very same actual quantity, however cash’s positively part of this,” Russini mentioned. “And once you’re taking a look at all of the groups across the league which are thinking about DeAndre Hopkins, it’s set to work financially for them.”

Despite the fact that he’s set to show 31 in lower than per week, Hopkins remains to be an elite expertise at his place.

Regardless of being restricted to simply 9 video games final yr with the Cardinals, Hopkins reeled in 64 catches for 717 yards and three touchdowns.

Hopkins completed his third season in Arizona with 79.7 yards per sport, the Tenth-highest mark amongst all NFL broad receivers in 2022. Jakobi Meyers, the highest Patriots receiving risk in 2022, ranked thirty second in that very same area at 57.4 yards per sport.