Monti Ossenfort‘s first draft as Cardinals GM brought Thursday’s two biggest trades. The team moved down nine spots from No. 3 and then parted with some assets to come back to No. 6 for Paris Johnson. Hours before Day 2 of this draft, however, the Cardinals had not made a long-rumored trade. DeAndre Hopkins remains on their roster.
The Cardinals are believed to have shopped the former All-Pro wide receiver for weeks, but no worthwhile offer looks to have been made. While the prospect of a Hopkins trade should not be discounted, Ossenfort offered the strongest pushback yet against what would be the second trade of the accomplished wideout’s career.
“I don’t foresee that happening,” Ossenfort said of a Hopkins trade, via ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss. “I don’t know what is going to happen here in the next couple days. Right now, I don’t foresee that happening, no. … DeAndre’s a Cardinal, and we’re moving forward.”
This could be translated as, “Make us a better offer,” and no Hopkins trade was going to involve a first-round pick. Two of the teams connected to the 11th-year receiver, however, did make first-round augmentations to their respective pass-catching groups. The Ravens chose Zay Flowers, and the Bills took tight end Dalton Kincaid. The latter move would not necessarily take Buffalo out of the mix, and Kansas City addressed its pass rush over its wide receiver situation. The Chiefs have been connected as a Hopkins suitor throughout this process.
Beyond some teams’ first-round pass catcher investments, it is unclear what has changed about this situation. Hopkins, 31 in June, remains tied to a monster cap number ($29.88M) and is attached to a $19.45M base salary. Teams have wanted the Cardinals to eat some of that money, and potentially interested parties have expected Arizona to eventually cut Hopkins. Designating Hopkins as a post-June 1 release would create nearly $20M in cap space. The Cardinals are in decent shape, cap-wise, with $20.6M before accounting for draft pick signings.
The Cardinals improved their situation Thursday night, though their moves are geared more at 2024 and beyond compared to radically changing their 2023 outlook. Obtaining the Texans’ 2024 first-rounder (in the Will Anderson Jr. trade) could be a game-changing move for the Cards, considering Houston’s record has produced a top-three pick in each of the past three drafts. And Johnson will be expected to become a fixture on Arizona’s line. But Kyler Murray may not start the season on time. And the team still has a number of roster holes going into Day 2 of this draft. The Cards also swapped third-round picks with the Eagles, dropping from No. 66 to 94 as a result of a tempering violation.
It is interesting the Cardinals would shift from a seemingly certain separation from their top wideout to envisioning him back in the fold under a new regime. But this marks the strongest stance yet from Ossenfort regarding Hopkins’ Arizona future.
More must-reads: