The Arizona Cardinals probably won’t be able to bring in a king’s ransom if they trade DeAndre Hopkins this NFL offseason.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer broke it all down in a column published Wednesday. Breer pointed out that Hopkins is frequently injured, which limits his ability to practice in addition to being unavailable for gameday. The star wide receiver also is owed north of $34 million across the next two seasons, which is a significant price for a skill player who turns 31 in early June.
For those reasons, Breer doesn’t believe the Cardinals will be able to fetch a first-round draft pick in exchange for the five-time Pro Bowl selection.
“I think it’s going to be hard for (Monti) Ossenfort to get great value for Hopkins, maybe even to the point where keeping him is a better idea than dealing him,” Breer wrote. “As it stands right now, if I had to ballpark it, I’d say a Day 2 pick would be what Arizona would get in return in a trade.”
For Patriots fans curious, New England is set to have two Day 2 picks this spring: a second-round selection and a third-rounder. However, if you factor in the compensatory process, Bill Belichick and company could very likely end up with eight Day 3 picks, including three fourth-rounders. So the Patriots have the capital to make a Hopkins trade happen this offseason without jeopardizing their 2023 draft at large.
Another factor working in New England’s favor is Ossenfort, who has Foxboro roots and still deeply admires the Patriots organization.
