Cowboys Urged to Make Blockbuster Trade for $54 Million Star by Ex-DAL Starter

Getty Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones throws up a thumbs up before an NFL game.

Longtime Dallas Cowboys defender Marcus Spears is telling owner Jerry Jones to prove he wants to bring another Super Bowl to Big D by making a blockbuster trade for star receiver DeAndre Hopkins. The five-time Pro Bowler is expected to be on the trade market this offseason, and the ESPN analyst believes Dallas should be at the front of the line for teams pushing to strike a deal with the Cardinals. Few individuals know the Cowboys quite like Spears who played eight seasons in Dallas from 2005 to 2012.

“If Dallas wants to show me that they’re serious about trying to go to a Super Bowl, they better be in the trade market for DeAndre Hopkins,” Spears explained on a February 14, 2023 edition of ESPN’s “Get Up.” “They better be thinking about, ‘How do we get DeAndre Hopkins on this team? What do we have to sacrifice?’

“You just saw your quarterback take a regression. You just saw offensively you [only] had two guys that people respected in CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard. If you really serious about it, DeAndre Hopkins might want to be out of Arizona and if you can make that move, that’ll tell this fan base and me you serious about it.”

The Cardinals Will Explore a Blockbuster Trade for DeAndre Hopkins This Offseason: Report

The Score’s Jordan Schultz reported that the Cardinals are expected to explore potential trades for Hopkins this offseason. It remains to be seen what Hopkins’ trade value will be given the wideout has missed significant time in two straight seasons.

“Sources: AZCardinals plan to try and trade All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins this offseason,” Schultz tweeted on January 10. “[Hopkins] has 2 yrs and $34.36M left on his contract and is likely to seek a new deal. Owner Michael Bidwill plans to express this to GM candidates.”

The three-time All-Pro posted 64 receptions for 717 yards and three touchdowns during nine appearances last season. Hopkins missed 15 games over the last two years due to a combination of injuries and a suspension.

Hopkins Is Slated to Have a $19.4 Million Salary for 2023

It remains to be seen if the Cowboys will get back in the big-money receiver business after trading Amari Cooper last offseason. Hopkins is slightly more affordable than the $60 million Cooper was owed when the wideout was traded by Dallas.

The star Cardinals playmaker has two seasons remaining on a $54 million contract. Hopkins is slated to have a $19.4 million salary next season but this number drops to $14.9 million for 2024.

CeeDee Lamb to Cowboys: ‘Add More Weapons’

The pressure on the Cowboys to add more offensive weapons appears to be mounting internally with CeeDee Lamb becoming the latest player to weigh in on the team’s offseason needs. During the Pro Bowl festivities, Lamb admitted that Dallas needs to bolster their offensive attack in the coming months.

“Always just gotta, of course, add more weapons,” Lamb told NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe during a February 5 interview. “I feel like in that situation you can always be better. There’s never enough, you can never run out of ammo. We just gotta finish.”