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Deshaun Watson made a public pitch to DeAndre Hopkins earlier this week at a charity golf outing but the Cleveland Browns quarterback maintains it wasn’t part of a larger plan to lure his former pass-catcher.
Watson responded to a tweet from Hayden Grove of Cleveland.com speculating why Watson spoke to the media at length about the Browns potentially landing Watson.
“We were all wondering why Deshaun Watson was going to talk at the Browns Golf Outing. Seemed like he wanted to make a public play for DeAndre Hopkins,” Grove tweeted. “We’ll see if it works out.”
Watson called “cap” on the idea that he was making a public play for Hopkins, maintaining that he was just speaking off the cuff about the situation.
“Cap. I was asked by the team to talk,” Watson tweeted in response. “But yeah that’s my brother.”
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Even if it wasn’t planned, Watson made quite the appeal to Hopkins, who is seriously considering a reunion with his former quarterback, per a recent report from Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2.
“Of course we would love to have him,” Watson said on Tuesday. “He knows that. We had a lot of connections, but that’s kind of out of my range of things, of kind of coordinating things. So all I can do is make a call and see what happens and let (Browns general manager Andrew Berry) do the rest.”
Browns Check Boxes for DeAndre Hopkins
Prior to being released by the Arizona Cardinals, Hopkins joined the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast and broke down what he’s looking for at his next stop.
“What I want is stable management upstairs,” Hopkins said. “I think that’s something I haven’t really had the past couple years of my career coming from Houston and then to Arizona. I’ve been through three or four GMs in my career, so a stable management. A QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him and pushes not just himself but everybody around him … and a great defense. A great defense wins championships.”
The Browns check those boxes, which Watson pointed out. He added that if Hopkins wants an opportunity to win, Cleveland should be his choice.
“I’ll just say this, D-Hop, DeAndre Hopkins would love to be in a place where the opportunity is there for us to win,” Watson said Tuesday. “We check all those boxes and I think for us to know and make sure we check all those boxes on the national stage, we’ve got to go out there and prove it and I think D-Hop would love to be a part of that.”
Hopkins caught 264 passes for 3,343 yards and 25 touchdowns with Watson as his quarterback with the Houston Texans. That chemistry they’ve already built would go a long way if a reunion is indeed in the works.
DeAndre Hopkins Pursuit Not Distracting Browns
The Hopkins talk has been hard to avoid this week for the Browns but they’re still hard at work preparing for the season. Players were in Berea for OTAs this week and cornerback Denzel Ward sent a clear message on the situation.
“I mean, you guys see the resume that D-Hop has in this league. He’s a premier receiver, and we’ll definitely welcome him with open arms if he were to come here,” Ward said from OTAs on Wednesday. “So if he comes, cool, but we’re going to continue to take a day at a time and do what we’re supposed to do, get better and get ready for the season.”
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski also doesn’t want the rumors to take away from the players the team currently has on the roster at the wide receiver position.
“I really, really like our wide receiver room,” Stefanski told reporters when asked about Hopkins. “I love the guys that are in there. [General manager Andrew Berry] and his crew are always looking at every avenue and that type of thing. So I won’t comment specifically on the player, other than to say I really like our roster.”
It’s a delicate line Watson has to walk while talking about Hopkins without alienating his current group of receivers. Amari Cooper is the team’s top option and Donovan Peoples-Jones is also coming off a solid year as the No. 2 option in the Browns offense. Cleveland also put in work adding some new weapons for Watson, including Elijah Moore, Marquise Goodwin and rookie Cedric Tillman.
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