The Arizona Cardinals have been shopping wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins this offseason. He has a cap hit of more than $30 million and is due more than $19 million in salary this coming season.
Among the obstacles to a potential deal, his salary seems to be a sticking point.
According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, teams would like the Cardinals to take on some of the money of Hopkins’ salary.
I couldn’t find a team at the meetings that sounded eager to bring him on without the Cardinals eating some of the money. And eating some of the money would seem to defeat the purpose of Arizona trading him.
If the Cardinals trade Hopkins, they will take on $22.6 million in dead money for prorated bonuses and restructures previously paid. They will save a little more than $8 million in cap space.
For the Cardinals to “eat” some of the money, it would require them to pay him a bonus before the trade.
Any amount they pay him in an attempt to “eat” some of his salary would reduce those cap savings further.
For example, if the Cardinals paid him $5 million before the trade, the new team would only have to pay him a little more than $14 million, which would also be his cap hit, barring any restructure they do with his contract. However, paying Hopkins another $5 million would mean they only save about $3 million in cap space and carry nearly $28 million in dead money.
If that is all they are going to save, they would be better served keeping him on the roster until the trade deadline and getting the production that would come from him catching passes.
A healthy Hopkins is worth the $19 million he is due to make this season. Other teams know that.
The problem is the uncertainty with his age and missed games the last two seasons.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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