Arizona Cardinals star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been paying attention to two teams when it comes to all of the trade speculation: the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots.
Hopkins claims he never spoke with either team directly about their interest in acquiring him, but those were the two teams he specifically kept on his radar throughout the entire process.
“I’ve heard a lot of rumors of people calling,” said Hopkins, during an appearance on “I AM ATHLETE” podcast. “I would definitely say the Patriots were one of the teams. Obviously, I would say the Bills were one of those teams that I heard.
“I didn’t have direct conversations, but just seeing what’s on Twitter, what’s on Instagram, you’ve got to pay attention to some of those things. Really, those are the only two teams that I paid attention to that I was like, ‘All right, let me see if social media’s right.'”
Hopkins has been a no-show at the start of the Cardinals’ voluntary organized team activities.
It’s been a turbulent situation between the sides that could ultimately lead to a split at some point. If that point comes, would the Patriots still be one of the interested teams?
Hopkins seemed disinterested in joining the Patriots back in April, but so much can change in such a short time. New England had a strong draft and continued to build on the defensive side of the ball. Couple that with the arrival of Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator and they could potentially be a team on the rise in 2023.
There’s also the possibility that the walls could be closing in on Hopkins, who is still on the Cardinals’ roster heading into OTAs, despite all of the swirling trade rumors.
Maybe New England doesn’t sound so bad after all for the five-time Pro Bowler.
“What I want is stable management upstairs,” said Hopkins. “I think that’s something that I haven’t really had the past couple years in my career, coming from Houston and then being in Arizona. I’ve been through three or four GMs in my career. So stable management, a QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him and pushes, not just himself but people around him.
“I don’t need a great QB. I’ve done it with subpar QBs. Just a QB who loves the game like I do. And a great defense. I think defense wins championships. For me, I think that’s the key. You’ve got to have a great defense. You’ve got to have a great D-line.”
The jury is still out on whether Mac Jones is consistently a great quarterback, but with competent offensive play-calling, he proved he’s capable of being exactly that in his rookie season, when he earned a Pro Bowl nod.
As for the Patriots defense, they just added arguably the best corner in the entire 2023 draft class in Christian Gonzalez, along with coming away with a pair of future destroyers in linebacker Marte Mapu and edge rusher Keion White. They have everything Hopkins needs at this point.
But is Hopkins what the Patriots need?
New England has JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne and Tyquan Thornton, who could be much-improved this year. The team also took a couple of sixth-round fliers on two of the more interesting receiving prospects in the draft with Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas.
Unless the price tag is incredibly generous, the Patriots seem far less likely to fork over a premium draft pick in exchange for Hopkins at this point.
