Getty Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins #10 of the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on October 10, 2021.
The Buffalo Bills kicked off their voluntary offseason workouts this week and during a press conference on Tuesday, April 18, superstar linebacker Von Miller made a bold statement on the rumored reports linking the team to landing Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Instead of attending the Cardinals’ voluntary workout program, Hopkins has been doing his own conditioning at a different gym, but it was unclear which facility he was working out in. Miller, who’s spent the offseason rehabbing from ACL surgery, revealed the five-time Pro Bowler has been working out with him in Dallas, Texas, and the two have been chatting it up.
“Hop says he wants to be a Buffalo Bill,” Miller said, per SI. “I would love to see DeAndre Hopkins be here and I would love to have his skill set on our offense with Josh Allen Stefon Diggs and Dawson Knox and Gabe Davis. How could we lose with those guys?”
Last month, Hopkins shared a photo of himself on his Instagram Stories with Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” playing in the background and during an appearance on of CBS Sports “All Things Covered Podcast” shared on April 16, his body language did the talking when asked about possibly joining the Bills.
In the viral video interview, CBS Sports’ Bryant McFadden asks Hopkins not to verbally answer his questions but to use his body and facial expressions to share his feelings on which team he’d like to be traded to this offseason. While it seems like an odd request, Hopkins clearly expresses his thoughts without using any words.
DeAndre Hopkins knows how to use his body language to make a statement about where he may wanna head next 👀👀 @ATCoveredPod
Based on his body language, Hopkins has zero interest in joining two of the Bills’ AFC East rivals, the New York Jets or the New England Patriots. When asked about the Patriots, he looks down and away with an unimpressed smirk on his face. As for the Jets, Hopkins shakes his head no and appears to stifle a laugh.
When asked about the Bills, Hopkins looks up straight to the camera with a smile on his face and raises his eyebrows with interest. He made a similar type of reaction when asked about joining the Kansas City Chiefs.
Von Miller Is Hoping to Avoid Another Odell Beckham Jr. Situation
GettyVon Miller speaks on radio row ahead of Super Bowl LVII at the Phoenix Convention Center on February 9, 2023.
Miller seems to have learned his lesson about hyping up a player’s seemingly imminent move to Buffalo after the Odell Beckham Jr. situation. “You just never know until you get that DeAndre Hopkins signature on the contract,” Miller noted on Tuesday.
Last year, Miller continuously publicly campaigned to get his former Los Angeles Rams teammate to join him in Orchard Park, and at one point claimed that it was already a “done deal”. While the Bills did host Beckham for a free agency visit, it later became clear that the three-time Pro Bowler wasn’t healthy enough to contribute on the field, nor was the receiver willing to take a heavily discounted, one-year prove-it deal.
Term update: Odell Beckham Jr. and the Ravens reached agreement on a one-year deal worth up to $18 million, per source.
While the Bills are still in the market for an elite No. 2 receiver to back up Stefon Diggs, Beckham eventually got the contract he was looking for. The 30-year-old inked a one-year, $15 million with the Baltimore Ravens last week, a deal which includes incentives up to $18 million.
DeAndre Hopkins Tweeted & Deleted a Strong Message About His Salary Demands
In a since-deleted tweet on April 16, the veteran wrote, “Hopkins doesn’t want a raise” – Nuk.” While this doesn’t mean the Clemson alum, who signed a two-year, $54.5 million extension in 2020 is willing to take a pay cut, it does seem to indicate he’s willing to negotiate his contract with whichever team wants to sign him.
While the cost to land Hopkins via a trade won’t cost too much, managing the $19.45 million he’s owed for the 2023 NFL season, and the $14.92 million he’s due in 2024, would be an issue not just for Buffalo, but any interested team. CBS Sports analyst Jared Dubin, in an interview with former Cardinals general manager Steve Keim, wrote that while “that’s extremely affordable for a player of his caliber… it seems highly likely that a trading team would want to rework the deal in some form or have the Cardinals pick up part of the tab for his salary.”
Keim agreed. “They’re probably going to have to come to understand that they’re probably not going to get as much as they would if he was a younger player or his contract was considerably lower, where you could get him for a second-round (pick),” the former GM said. “It could end up being a second- or third-day draft pick to really get it done. Probably (need to) get a new deal done.”
According to Spotrac.com, the Bills have approximately $6.5 million in cap space, a bulk of which needs to be reserved for the draft, so reworking Hopkins deal would be crucial.