Rumours have swirled all offseason about the possibility of the Arizona Cardinals trading or releasing DeAndre Hopkins and it has left many managers wondering what his ideal landing spot is for redraft fantasy football.
Many NFL experts anticipated a trade happening at the 2023 NFL Draft, but the draft came and went and Hopkins remained a Cardinal. The offseason of turmoil finally came to an end today as, after failing to secure a trade partner, the Cardinals opted to outright release the 5-time Pro-Bowl wide receiver.
Hopkins is in the final year of the deal that he signed with the Houston Texans and has a 2023 salary cap hit of $22,600,000 according to Spotrac. The Cardinals appear to be in the midst of a rebuild, especially when considering the uncertainty surrounding quarterback Kyler Murray’s health.
Arizona was expected to cut Hopkins after June 1st, as that would allow them to split up the cap hit over 2023 and 2024. Still, this move makes it very apparent that they realize they are going to be a bottom-of-the-barrel team in 2023 and are deciding to take the hit now allowing them more salary cap space for a future rebuild.
No teams were willing to give up assets and take on the hefty salary for 2023, but there are likely to be plenty of suitors out there who are willing to sign him at a significant discount. Hopkins has battled injury over the past two seasons, but a 5-time Pro Bowl receiver does not make it to the open market very often and this is undoubtedly turning into a bidding war.
So, with that in mind. Let’s take a look at the five best landing spots for his 2023 redraft fantasy football value.
The Pro: The reason this is a nice fit is obvious. The Lions are one of the league’s potentially elite offences and with Jameson Williams suspended for the first six games of the season, Hopkins could be the missing piece to the puzzle and put this team over the top.
They have tons of salary cap space to pull off a move like this, and with a relatively young roster could use a veteran presence in the lineup. I’m not sure that this fits with the way the Lions are building their team, but it would certainly signal an all-in move.
The Con: The biggest drawback here is that Hopkins doesn’t seem to fit the Detroit Lion’s blueprint for rebuilding. This is a young corps with loads of potential and bringing in the veteran doesn’t seem to fit with their build.
The other downside is that while Williams is suspended, it’s only for six games and after that, there are going to be a lot of mouths to feed in this offence. David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta should all figure into the game plan and adding a high-priced, injury-prone receiver seems like overkill.
The Pro: The Giants have a large collection of wide receivers, and none of them are very good. From aging, injury-plagued veterans to unproven rookies, they have a mix of everything and none of them profile to be anywhere near the talent of Hopkins.
Hopkins would walk into this wide receiver room and instantly be the target hog, alpha receiver for as long as he remains healthy. His contested catch ability would also make for a useful skill with quarterback Daniel Jones with struggles mightily with accuracy at times, he could easily throw YOLO balls to D-Hop all day and watch him haul them in.
The Con: The Giants have little salary cap space left, and with all the capital and money they have invested in these pass-catchers why would they bring in yet another injury-plagued veteran? He is certainly an upgrade over the likes of Shepard, Slayton and Waller, but all four are an injury waiting to happen.
Likely, the Giants are instead going to choose to simply ride Saquon Barkley and his franchise tag into the ground until he can handle no more. Between Darren Waller and this collection of misfit receivers, there are more than enough bodies here to figure out something without adding Hopkins.
The Pro: The benefits to a Packer’s landing spot are obvious. The receivers on this roster are all young and largely unproven. If Hopkins were to sign with the Packers he could see 150-plus targets and essentially walk into the role Davante Adams had for much of his career.
What better luxury to have for a quarterback that is essentially a rookie? If Jordan Love gets in trouble he can simply pepper Hopkins with target after target all season long. This landing spot may be scary, but it should be the largest target share of any spot in the league.
The Con: The case here is also obvious. Jordan Love. Love has seen little to no in-game action and remains a total wildcard about his talent. No one is expecting him to be the next Aaron Rodgers, but if he isn’t at least a league-average quarterback the Packers could opt to simply play an old-school, ground-and-pound style of football and lead the league in rush attempts.
This landing spot has the widest range of outcomes. A solid season from Love and a good connection with Hopkins could see him return immense fantasy value, while a bust season from Love would be a catastrophic disaster and would likely kill any remaining value in Hopkins.
The Pro: A signing with this high-flying offence would send his ADP skyrocketing into the stratosphere. If Buffalo signs him, he may end up being a second-round pick in redraft leagues.
The Bills have lacked a true dual threat to pair with Stefon Diggs for Josh Allen’s entire career and this would certainly solve that problem. With Allen throwing all over the field and with Dalton Kincaid and Gabe Davis also drawing coverage it’s entirely possible the Bills could finish with two top-12 receivers for fantasy if they signed Hopkins.
The Con: There may not be enough football to go around. As I mentioned above, there is no shortage of talent on this roster and when you add in Allen’s proclivity to rush the ball, it could simply be wasted money that they are in desperate need of.
To further that last point, the Bills rank second last in cap space for the upcoming season and with under $2,000,000 remaining it would be tough for them to find a way to fit Hopkins into this lineup without moving someone. It’s not impossible but would leave them insanely cap strapped.
The Pro: It’s the Chiefs. Not much more needs to be said. Just look at the impact Kansas City had on the rookie draft ADPs of Rashee Rice this season and Skyy Moore last. Fantasy managers have lost their minds in the past over the likes of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Mecole Hardman, so if DeAndre Hopkins were to sign with the Chiefs prepare for the hype train to go completely off the rails.
With no true receiver threat behind Travis Kelce, Hopkins could easily replace Tyreek Hill in this offence, although it didn’t seem to impact them last season.
If the Chiefs add the veteran receiver his ADP would creep very close to the first round, which is a scary thought at this point in his career and with his history of injuries. This landing spot is best if you are in a dynasty and want to sell high, but it likely makes him too expensive in redraft leagues.
The Con: The con here is named Travis Kelce. when Tyreek Hill was traded a year ago many experts assumed this offence would flounder, well it didn’t. Instead, they just hoisted everything onto the shoulders of Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes who carried them to another Super Bowl.
Hopkins could certainly replace the lost wide receiver production of Hill, but if it’s not broke don’t fix it and the Chiefs would likely use him as a glorified JuJu Smith-Schuster, not that they can even afford him with their limited cap space.
Want to read more about his dynasty outlook after this trade? Check out this article by Jeremy Shulman
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