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Cardinals, DeAndre Hopkins agree to 2-year, $54.5 million extension


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https://www.nfl.com/news/cardinals-deandre-hopkins-2-year-54-5-million-extension

Cardinals, DeAndre Hopkins agree to 2-year, $54.5 million extension

Published: Sep 08, 2020 at 12:37 PM
 

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Nick Shook
 

DeAndre Hopkins is in a new home, and he's getting the pay increase he sought with his former team.

The Cardinals have agreed to terms with Hopkins on a two-year extension worth $54.5 million in new money, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.

The new deal amounts to $27.25 million per year for Hopkins in 2023 and 2024, and includes $42.75 million guaranteed at signing.

Arizona acquired Hopkins in a trade that was influenced by his desire for a deal worthy of his play. At $16.5 million per year, Hopkins is the ninth-highest-paid receiver across the league, yet he's one of only two receivers in the entire league to be named a first-team All-Pro in each of the last three seasons. The other, Falcons receiver Julio Jones, makes the most money on average ($22 million per year) at the position in the NFL.

Simply, Hopkins wanted to be paid accordingly. Texans coach and general manager Bill O'Brien felt the team's financial outlook couldn't handle big deals for left tackle Laremy Tunsil, quarterback Deshaun Watson and Hopkins, so he sent him (and a fourth-round pick) to Arizona for running back David Johnson, a second-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round pick.

Hopkins becomes a key piece of an envisioned gridiron renaissance in the desert that also includes 2019 No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray, 2020 first-rounder Isaiah Simmons, safety Budda Baker, wideout Christian Kirk and running back Kenyan Drake. He's also joining a roster that includes future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, four-time All-Pro Patrick Peterson and two-time All-Pro Chandler Jones.

All of this is at second-year coach Kliff Kingsbury's disposal in 2020. Thanks to this extension, Hopkins will be available to keep racking up 1,100-plus-yard and double-digit touchdown seasons well into the decade.

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This might be the reason Hopkins came so cheap in the Texans' trade.  The minute the Cardinals dealt for him, they had zero leverage and were locked into paying him anything he wanted.  That ended up being substantially more than Julio Jones is getting.

Imagine what he would have tried to get here?  $30M per?  I still might have paid that, however....

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3 minutes ago, ljr said:

good for Hopkins ... he's worth it

Let's revisit that next season if the cap is $40M lower.  He's fantastic, but that contract brings their 2021 cap space down from $26M to roughly $12M and that's assuming the cap doesn't go down.  It's a LOT of scratch to pay a WR considering it's a huge jump over the next few guys.

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7 hours ago, nycdan said:

Let's revisit that next season if the cap is $40M lower.  He's fantastic, but that contract brings their 2021 cap space down from $26M to roughly $12M and that's assuming the cap doesn't go down.  It's a LOT of scratch to pay a WR considering it's a huge jump over the next few guys.

Actually it doesn't.  The 2 year extension tacks onto the back of his current deal, which ends after the 2022 season. 

The extension thus only impacts the 2023 and 2024 cap.  His annual salary will now look something like this:

  • 2020:  $12.5M
  • 2021:  $13.5M
  • 2022:  $13.9M 
  • 2023:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- $39.6M if final year voided
  • 2024:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- voidable
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44 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Actually it doesn't.  The 2 year extension tacks onto the back of his current deal, which ends after the 2022 season. 

The extension thus only impacts the 2023 and 2024 cap.  His annual salary will now look something like this:

  • 2020:  $12.5M
  • 2021:  $13.5M
  • 2022:  $13.9M 
  • 2023:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- $39.6M if final year voided
  • 2024:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- voidable

That's a good point although it's not quite that way for cap purposes.

One thing now known is that $27.5 million of the fully guaranteed money at signing is in a signing bonus. That total will be prorated in the salary cap each year, so the yearly cap charge will be $5.5 million.

If all of the $39.15 million remains intact, that would translate to $94.415 million, making the overall average $18.88 million.

So I think we would add $5.5M to the cap for 2020 through 2022.  Not as bad as I thought and the overall annual average is actually reasonable and does somewhat reflect the fact that he did have 3 years remaining on his last deal.  Not every player would take that into account so kudos to Hopkins for playing fair with ARI.  

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Good for Deandre, I’m happy for him.  He’s my favorite player to have come through Clemson in the last decade.  I’ve met him several times and he is just a great kid.  I still remember being at the Clemson spring game in 2013,  we were talking to Rex Ryan, who was there because his son was going to play at CU in the fall.   My son who was 12 at the time was begging Rex to draft Deandre that year, I’ll never forget that conversation, he made his Dad proud...Lol.   Sadly the Jets opted for Dee Milliner and Sheldon Richardson, they should have listened to my son. 

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10 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Actually it doesn't.  The 2 year extension tacks onto the back of his current deal, which ends after the 2022 season. 

The extension thus only impacts the 2023 and 2024 cap.  His annual salary will now look something like this:

  • 2020:  $12.5M
  • 2021:  $13.5M
  • 2022:  $13.9M 
  • 2023:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- $39.6M if final year voided
  • 2024:  $27.3M (approximately)  -- voidable

good point.  it's all about how long he will be playing on the contract.  this was a 2 year extension on top of his previous contract so when it's averaged out he will be in line with julio jones even if they opt out.  it's still an awful lot to pay for a wr.

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