NFL Rumors: Why Patriots should forget a DeAndre Hopkins trade
The New England Patriots have a lot of needs this offseason. One is for a true need a No. One wide receiver. No one is doubting that. But they have other needs and the top one is offensive tackle.
Pundits have floated the idea of the once-great receiver DeAndre Hopkins coming in a trade from the Arizona Cardinals. It may sound good on the surface but it’s a bad idea.
The New England Patriots have flopped decidedly in trying to revitalize or re-energize older wide receivers. One thing you can’t escape is Father Time. It creeps inexorably on all professional sports players as well as the rest of us.
Examples are Chad Johnson, Donte Stallworth, Reggie Wayne (who didn’t even make it through camp), Torey Holt, Austin Collie, etc.
It seldom works and it’s not the way to go for a Patriots team that needs a younger top talent. In addition, draft capital like the suggested second-round pick for a player like Hopkins would be grand theft larceny by the Cardinals.
Let’s explore why this is a bad idea a bit more.
New England Patriots need to bolster the offensive line before anything else
If you can’t provide protection for your immobile quarterback, Mac Jones, you can have 10 top wideouts and you’ll still fail. Hopefully, the New England Patriots learned that lesson last season.
The team needed an offensive tackle last offseason and they punted. It cost them a playoff berth. The same need is around this season and it’s even more intensified with Isaiah Wynn’s imminent departure.
Meanwhile, top free-agent tackles like Mike McGlinchey are coming off the board and they sit still in free agency. After a nice move trading Jonnu Smith, should this malaise continue they’ll be right back in the soup in 2023.
That being restated, why not Hopkins? For one, he’ll turn 31 in June. That’s long in the tooth for a wide receiver.
Then, his last two seasons have been poor. In 2021 he had 64 catches for 717 yards and three TDs. That was in only nine games. In 2021 he had a paltry 42 for 572 yards and eight TDs. That was in 10 games.
That’s two seasons in a row his production has been off having played fewer games. Nostalgia for the 2020 season when he had an amazing 115 catches for 1407 and six touchdowns is just that, nostalgia.
Hopkins had major hamstring issues in 2021 and added knee problems to the hamstring in 2022. Those are red flags. That ship has sailed. Stay away.
Patriots should use their second-round pick on a young player
The New England Patriots can use their second-round pick much more productively on a young player than wasting it on Hopkins. The offensive tackle need has to be addressed in free agency perhaps in the draft.
They have needs for that wide receiver or a cornerback hopefully after snagging a defensive tackle or end. They have (had?) a lot of options if they secure a top tackle like Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency or with their first pick in the draft.
They should trade up for a young receiver who may have slipped (the team has 11 picks as we stand today) rather than use it on a player who’s on the downside of his career and who may have a year or two left, at best.
In addition, Hopkins won’t come cheap salary-wise either. His cap hit is $30.75M in Arizona this season. If that doesn’t keep the Patriots away nothing will. And forget restructuring, that’s throwing good money after bad.
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Trading for DeAndre Hopkins is a bad idea. The player is older, has a serious injury history of late, and is on the downside of his career. He’ll also cost a fortune.
The easy answer to the question of whether the Patriots should trade for Hopkins is this, NO. The pundits have it wrong on this one. Hopefully, the New England Patriots will weigh the reasons and just go elsewhere. We’ll see.