Getty Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins continues to be linked to the Ravens.
The Baltimore Ravens have been linked as a possible trade destination for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins well before the onset of this offseason and even after signing Odell Beckham Jr. to a sizable one-year deal, the rumors and reports persist.
A day after reporting that the five-time Pro Bowler coming to Baltimore “could still happen” on the Pat McAfee Show, retired Pro Bowl cornerback Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones doubled down with another bold report stating that the likelihood of a deal actually happening is a strong one.
Our source(s) have said that there’s still a chance DHop ends up in Baltimore..
“It’s a skrong possibility” ~ @REALPACMAN24
THAT’S BREAKING NEWS #PMSLive
“My source(s) says this is a skrong possibility,” Jones said.
While the information he gathered from his source(s) wouldn’t allow him to speak on whether this latest development also means that the likelihood of starting quarterback Lamar Jackson returning the team is strong as well, he remains confident that the team acquiring both star wideouts in the same offseason is realistic.
Despite appearing in just nine games as a result of injury and serving a six-game suspension to start the year, Hopkins recorded 64 receptions on 96 targets for 717 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns last season according to Pro Football Reference.
Yeah @DeAndreHopkins is BACK.
📺: #AZvsMIN on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ t.co/Tc7CqisiVw
He has recorded six seasons of 1,000-plus receiving yards and is two years removed from logging a 1,407-receiving-yard season in his first year with the Cardinals in 2020.
How Could Ravens Make it Work?
The most prohibitive factor that has delayed Hopkins getting traded is his bloated salary relative to his age and recent production. According to spotrac.com, the soon-to-be 31-year-old is slated to make $19.45 million in base salary this year with a salary cap hit of $30.75 million.
Those figures dip slightly to $14.9 million in base with a cap charge of $26.2 million in 2024 which is the final year of the two-year extension worth $54.5 million he signed three years ago in September of 2020.
As it currently stands, the Ravens have just over $3.9 million in available cap space. They still need to make room for their incoming rookie class that will likely include more than the five picks they’re slated to make as well as what certainly be a sizeable number of undrafted free agents if they don’t accumulate any more picks via moving back or player transactions.
The easiest and most conceivable way that the traditionally fiscally responsible organization could possibly swing this trade would require them to either trade away or finally agree to terms on a long-term with their two-time Pro Bowl quarterback in addition to getting the Cardinals to pay a portion of his sizable 2023 salary.
Since they used the non-exclusive franchise tag on the former unanimous league MVP, he is slated to count $32.4 million against their salary cap this year. Doing so forced them to restructure a number of deals to players, release six-time Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell, trade stalwart safety Chuck Clark, and let several free agents walk in free agency.
According to reports gathered by Kyle Barber of Baltimore Beatdown/baltimoreravens.com, the most the Cardinals are willing to pay Hopkins’ 2023 salary is $8 million which would still leave the Ravens on the hook for over $11 million.
The team could also explore possibly throwing in a player or two as a part of a potential trade package that would create more cap flexibility. However, given that the market for Hopkins has been so slow to develop outside of active and retired players as well as national media pundits naming ‘best fits’ for him, pulling off this move seems unlikely unless Jackson and the Ravens end their negotiating stalemate.
Ravens Bring Back Former Jets WR
An actual addition that the team made at the position ahead of next week’s draft was re-signing of big-bodied wide receiver Tarik Black who spent the final week of the 2022 season in their practice squad.
We have signed WR Tarik Black.
The 6-foot-3 and 217-pound went undrafted out of the University of Texas in 2021 but has ties to the Harbaugh family as he played for head coach John Harbaugh’s brother Jim at the University of Michigan from 2017-2019.
He originally signed with the Indianapolis Colts and spent the first 11 weeks of this rookie season on their practice squad before being waived and signed to the New York Jets practice squad where he remained until being activated for the regular season finale where he hauled in one of two targets for his lone career reception that went for 10 yards. He spent the majority of the 2022 season on the Jets practice squad before being released on December 6, 2022.
Ehlinger launches one to Tarik Black! 🚀
📺FOX/NFLN
Injuries hampered Black from having much of a consistent impact in college with the Wolverines and in his one year with the Longhorns, he averaged a career-high 24 yards per catch and finished with 10 receptions for 240 receiving yards and a touchdown in six games per Sports Reference.