Laddie Morse
Should the Kansas City Chiefs sign DeAndre Hopkins or stick with the WR room they already have in house? That’s the big question facing K.C. right now. Why? Because the Arizona Cardinals released WR extraordinaire DeAndre Hopkins on Friday. Many Chiefs fans want to see D-Hop in K.C., but a few would prefer we stick with the one’s we already know and love and are ready to go. Plus, let Patrick Mahomes do his magic, much as he did in the 2022 season and we should still win it all.
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First Things First
June First Designation
First, we need to see what D-Hop being released prior to the June 1st deadline means? The simplest way to explain the June first designation is: any player released or traded after June 1st, will have their cap number spread between the current NFL season and the next one.
From CBSSports.com come this about DeAndre Hopkins salary upon release:
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“With the release, Hopkins is free to sign with any team he wants. Hopkins has a cap number of $29,988,890 in 2023 and $25,453,886 in 2024, the final two years of an extension he signed when he was traded to the Cardinals in 2020. Arizona will eat $21,077,776 in dead cap with the release of Hopkins, saving $8,911,114 in cap space.”
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Hopkins was suspended for the first 6 games of the 2022 season and then had his knee “flare up” (according to NFL.com) and he missed all of weeks 17 and 18 last season. Hopkins finished the 2022 season with 64 receptions for 717 yards with 3 – TDs.
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DeAndre Hopkins History
DeAndre Hopkins was timed with a 4.57 40 yard dash. That just goes to show that you don’t have to have the best ever 40 time to be a great WR. However, Hopkins does have injury issues and a history, so I’ve listed that below, from draftsharks.com:
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Chiefs WR Room
If K.C. signs D-Hop and he ends up spending half the season on the IR list… why sign him to begin with? Here’s a listing of the Chiefs current WR room:
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While the Chiefs WR Room is deep with talent, they appear to have a lack of top end talent on this list. Maybe. Thus, seemingly the whole Kingdom is calling for the addition of D-Hop. If we let the season play out, we may become aware of several of these current WRs stepping up and helping K.C. to a third Lombardi Trophy (in a five year period). If not… that may be the reason why fans are clamoring so loudly for D-Hop.
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DeAndre Hopkins has played in all of his teams games in 6 out of his ten seasons in the NFL. Also, he has surpassed the 1,000 yards receiving plateau in 6 (other) seasons, plus he had a 900+ receiving season and an 800+ yard plus receiving season to boot. He has hands of gold and has made the Pro Bowl five times and made the All-Pro team three times. You can certainly understand why fans would want him to join the Chiefs.
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By returning to 2021… meaning… if the Chiefs go to a primary WR system like they had with Tyreek Hill, then all the progress that Mahomes made last year with throwing to a multitude of WRs may be lost forever. I’m not so sure the Chiefs would do that.
So, if the Chiefs decide to say: Let’s go to the Hop?
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Or… should the Chiefs say: Love the one(s) you’re with:
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What do you think?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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