NFL rumors: DeAndre Hopkins draft weekend fate revealed

Will Cardinals’ DeAndre Hopkins get moved by the end of draft weekend? The team’s general manager Monti Ossenfort provides some answers.

The tallest dominoes of this NFL offseason have cascaded in a line leading up to the highly anticipated draft: Aaron Rodgers got his trade, Lamar Jackson got his bag, and the looming question of what the Panthers will do with the first pick has finally been answered. Carolina got its short king.

While Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft hold plenty of intriguing scenarios, one scenario that has been left wide open is DeAndre Hopkins’ potential trade. The Arizona Cardinals veteran was rumored to be on the market months ago with a feeble asking price of a second-round pick, plus perhaps something else of value.

With the second round of the NFL Draft quickly approaching, what do the Cards themselves have to say about the possibility of moving D-Hop this weekend?

It’s going to be a firm no from Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort.

After the first round of the draft on Thursday night, Ossenfort told reporters:

"“I don’t foresee that happening. 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.”"

Cardinals plan to hold onto DeAndre Hopkins during draft weekend

The Cardinals waded into a sticky situation early on when they got into a dispute with the Philadelphia Eagles over tampering. Prior to the draft, the Cards and Eagles settled the tampering charges against Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon by swapping third-round picks; the Cardinals also received a 2024 fifth-rounder from Philly.

This whirlwind of a draft picks swap could have served as a precursor to the Cards trying to offload Hopkins to another team, but Arizona ultimately decided to hold onto its veteran wide receiver.

The franchise did, however, make another pick-based trade. Arizona traded away the third overall pick and the 105th pick to the Houston Texans in exchange for the 12th and 33rd overall picks along with a first-rounder and third-rounder in next year’s draft.

And then, another: the Cards gave up the 12th, 34th, and 168th picks to the Detroit Lions in exchange for the sixth and 81st picks.

One has to wonder if Hopkins could have been thrown into either of those trades, but it’s likely that the Cards prioritized draft capital over getting rid of Hopkins’ hefty 2023 $30 million cap hit.

If Ossenfort stays true to his word, D-Hop is primed to remain in Arizona for the upcoming season. The franchise made arguably wise moves on Thursday to select its desired offensive tackle (Paris Johnson Jr.) as well as securing valuable future compensation, and so the Jonathan Gannon era has begun.

With the tampering incident behind him, Gannon has more choices to make to bolster his team’s roster this draft, and even though Hopkins still poses as one of the more interesting trade pieces, it seems like he’ll be staying with the Cards for now.