5 players fantasy football owners should hope are traded this offseason

2. DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Arizona Cardinals

There’s no question the Cardinals will trade Hopkins this offseason, even as team brass gives non-answers about his future. The six-game suspension he served to start last season eliminated his no-trade clause, according to Joel Corry of CBS Sports, so the Cardinals can send him wherever the best deal is.

Hopkins was one of the most productive wide receivers in the NFL when he returned from that suspension, with 64 receptions for 717 yards in nine games before an injury sidelined him for the final two. From Week 7-Week 14, the game Kyler Murray suffered his torn ACL in, Hopkins led the league in receptions (56) and had the fourth-most receiving yards (653) over the span.

Over that Week 7-14 stretch, Hopkins was WR5 in full PPR fantasy scoring and top-10 regardless of scoring format (WR9 in standard, WR6 in 0.5-PPR).

Murray will of course be out well into next season, and it’s hard to know what the Cardinals will do to replace him in the meantime. Hopkins was productive despite some ugly pre-Deshaun Watson quarterbacking as a Houston Texan, but that was when he was a younger player. Not that he’s decrepit or incredibly diminished now coming up on 31 years old. But playing with a very bad quarterback has a “been there, done that” feel he should not repeat.

Hopkins won’t be able to choose his trade destination, which would have practically guaranteed he was going to head to a far better situation. But the natural list of potential suitors pushes the idea he will have a good, healthy quarterback next season, and a return to WR1 status in fantasy over a full season is well within the range of possibilities.