NFL Rumors: Patriots Had This ‘Concern’ About DeAndre Hopkins

By all accounts, the Patriots lost the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes because they weren’t willing to make the proper financial commitment.

But the question remains: Why didn’t New England open up its wallet for a player who could have dramatically improved its offense?

After all, the Patriots had the cash to sign Hopkins, who reportedly will join the Tennessee Titans on a two-year, $26 million deal worth up to $32 million with incentives. The reported contract isn’t all that different than the one New England recently gave to Nelson Agholor, whose résumé pales in comparison to Hopkins’.

It’s probably a fool’s errand to theorize why the Patriots didn’t make a stronger push for Hopkins, as Bill Belichick hasn’t been a stranger to head-scratching moves over the last two decades. But NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran relayed a potential factor Monday during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

“There were reservations voiced to me from folks within the building of, ‘OK, how’s the culture fit going to be?'” Curran told Eisen. “This is important that this gets clipped: Not in the way of he’s a bad guy. Not in the way of he’s going to be an irritant, but more of he doesn’t like to practice. He’s not on all the details, he’s not the most precise player and that happens a lot. You bring in a player who’s so thoroughly established elsewhere and say, ‘OK, you’re going to adhere to the rules and the regulations we have here,’ and they can be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t do it that way.’ So, there was concern about that. Maybe the Patriots didn’t want to go that far, but he had a two-day visit with them.”

New England’s subdued pursuit of Hopkins also could be due to the organization’s confidence in the offense, which improved over the offseason and could be a good fit for Dalvin Cook. Maybe the Patriots will use their surplus of dough to lure the free-agent running back to Foxboro, Mass.

Regardless, Hopkins and New England clearly weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, and despite previous reports, it’s starting to sound like the sides were never all that close to coming to terms.