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While the Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane attempted to cool the hotly-discussed reports linking the team to Arizona Cardinals star DeAndre Hopkins a few weeks ago, the wide receiver’s interest in landing in Orchard Park hasn’t wavered.
It’s sometimes hard to decipher an athlete’s cryptic posts on social media, but Hopkins was pretty straightforward when he shared a photo of himself on his Instagram Stories with Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” playing in the background last month, and during an appearance on of CBS Sports “All Things Covered Podcast” shared on Sunday, April 16, his body language did the talking when asked about possibly joining the Bills.
In the video, which quickly racked up over 450,000 views on Twitter, 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 can clearly express his thoughts without using any words.
Based on the five-time Pro Bowler’s 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.
Hopkins Tweeted a Strong Message After the Interview Went Viral
After the video made the rounds on Twitter, Hopkins sent tweeted out a strong statement. He 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.
The Market for Hopkins Went ‘Ice Cold’ in Recent Weeks
The prospect of Hopkins joining the Bills is incredibly exciting since the team is in need of a solid WR2 behind Stefon Diggs. However, several weeks have passed since news broke he’d be available on the trade market and there’s been no forward motion of Hopkins going anywhere.
Because the market for Hopkins has gone “ice cold,” Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay suggests the Bills could land the former first-round pick from the 2013 NFL draft for “pennies on the dollar” in a superstar trade.
Kay suggests the Bills can acquire Hopkins from the Cardinals in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick (No 91. overall), a far cry from the “Christian McCaffery package” Arizona was asking for last month, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, a price that was universally panned by analysts.
“The Bills should try to turn the No. 91 overall pick into a three-time All-Pro wideout who could take their high-powered offense to another level. If Hopkins returns to form, this move could help finally bring a Super Bowl to Buffalo,” Kay wrote.
“The 6’1″, 212-pound pass-catcher has been limited to only 19 games over the last two years because of injuries and a performance-enhancing-drug suspension, but he still managed to catch 11 touchdowns in that span. He looked great as recently as November before Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray went down for the year with a torn ACL. .. Landing with a contender like Buffalo could rejuvenate Hopkins’ career as he enters his age-31 campaign.”
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