Arizona has released DeAndre Hopkins. Now let’s see where he goes. He’s been a dominating receiver, but he also turns 31 next month and it seems he’s been difficult to work with.
I see three possible landing spots:
Baltimore. Hopkins says he wants to play with Lamar Jackson. Jackson says he wants Hopkins. Ravens want to open up their offense, passing more. But they’ve already added three other notable receivers (signing Odell Beckham and Nelson Agholor and drafting Zay Flowers).
Buffalo. Stefon Diggs flipped out in the playoff loss against Cincinnati. He’s not at the current OTAs. If there’s some kind of issue with Diggs, Hopkins would be a natural replacement. Hopkins has identified Buffalo as a team he’d like to play for.
Kansas City. Hopkins has identified Kansas City as a place he’d like to play. It’s a team that doesn’t have a proven, reliable wide receiver. It doesn’t seem like a particularly likely fit, but it’s a team that’s been more willing than most to give second chances to players.
To me, those look like the only real options. If we squint, then maybe Denver, Detroit, New England, Tennessee or the Giants might be a possibility. But I don’t think so. And I believe the rest of the league would be in the “hell, no” category.
Hopkins is a declining player, but he’s still productive, with more ability than the vast of receivers to come down with contested balls. Over the last two years, he’s averaged 5.6 catches for 68 yards in his 19 games, with 11 touchdowns. Using PPR scoring, those are the 12th-best per-game numbers in the league among wide receivers who’ve started at least half the time.
| RECEIVERS; PER-GAME PRODUCTION (last 2 years) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | Run | TD | PPR |
| Cooper Kupp | 26 | 8.5 | 106.1 | 2.7 | .90 | 24.7 |
| Davante Adams | 33 | 6.8 | 93.0 | .0 | .76 | 20.6 |
| Justin Jefferson | 34 | 6.9 | 100.7 | 1.1 | .57 | 20.5 |
| JaMarr Chase | 28 | 5.9 | 88.4 | 1.0 | .79 | 19.6 |
| Tyreek Hill | 33 | 6.9 | 89.3 | 3.9 | .52 | 19.3 |
| Stefon Diggs | 33 | 6.4 | 80.4 | -.1 | .64 | 18.2 |
| Deebo Samuel | 29 | 4.6 | 70.2 | 20.6 | .66 | 17.6 |
| Chris Godwin | 29 | 7.0 | 73.3 | .9 | .32 | 16.3 |
| Keenan Allen | 26 | 6.6 | 72.7 | .3 | .38 | 16.2 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 33 | 5.6 | 74.6 | 3.7 | .45 | 16.2 |
| A.J. Brown | 30 | 5.0 | 78.8 | .2 | .53 | 16.1 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 19 | 5.6 | 67.8 | .0 | .58 | 15.8 |
| Mike Evans | 31 | 4.9 | 69.6 | .3 | .65 | 15.7 |
| Jaylen Waddle | 33 | 5.4 | 71.8 | .9 | .45 | 15.4 |
| Tee Higgins | 29 | 5.1 | 73.1 | .0 | .47 | 15.2 |
| Tyler Lockett | 32 | 4.9 | 69.0 | .3 | .53 | 15.0 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 33 | 5.9 | 62.8 | 4.7 | .38 | 15.0 |
| Mike Williams | 29 | 4.8 | 70.4 | .0 | .46 | 14.6 |
| Amari Cooper | 32 | 4.6 | 63.3 | .0 | .53 | 14.1 |
| DK Metcalf | 34 | 4.9 | 59.3 | .2 | .53 | 14.0 |
| Diontae Johnson | 33 | 5.8 | 61.9 | 2.4 | .27 | 13.9 |
| Michael Pittman | 33 | 5.7 | 60.8 | 2.2 | .31 | 13.9 |
| Marquise Brown | 28 | 5.6 | 61.3 | .2 | .32 | 13.7 |
| Christian Kirk | 34 | 4.7 | 61.5 | .6 | .38 | 13.2 |
| DeVonta Smith | 34 | 4.7 | 62.1 | .0 | .36 | 13.1 |
| Terry McLaurin | 34 | 4.5 | 66.0 | 1.2 | .29 | 13.0 |
| Brandin Cooks | 29 | 5.1 | 59.9 | 1.0 | .31 | 13.0 |
| DJ Moore | 34 | 4.6 | 60.1 | 3.0 | .33 | 12.9 |
| Hunter Renfrow | 27 | 5.1 | 50.7 | .1 | .41 | 12.7 |
| Adam Thielen | 30 | 4.6 | 48.1 | .2 | .54 | 12.7 |
—Ian Allan