Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss DeAndre Hopkins’ remarks about staying in Arizona and evaluate the likelihood of the WR leaving the Cardinals in the nearby future.

Video Transcript

MIKE FLORIO: Another item of unfinished business for the Arizona Cardinals-- DeAndre Hopkins. Not traded yet. Now I had heard the day of the draft, the Titans were trying to get up to number three to get CJ Stroud, and the Cardinals were pushing DeAndre Hopkins onto them as part of the package. And it's funny, when it didn't happen, everybody was like, oh, that was fake. Well, the Cardinals were trying to include-- if the Titans don't want him, that's a different issue than the Cardinals trying to include him. They're trying to move on from him. They're trying to unload that $19.45 million salary.

CHRIS SIMMS: Exactly.

MIKE FLORIO: And it all becomes moot when the Texans take CJ Stroud at number two because that's why the Titans were coming up to number three, to get CJ Stroud. So it was all meaningless. But the bottom line is DeAndre Hopkins, still not in the cards in Arizona, no pun intended. But here he is, now that no trade happened, acting like he never wanted a trade in the first place. Have a listen.

DEANDRE HOPKINS: I see everybody telling me to stay. Who said I wanted to go? Who said I wanted to leave? I'm out here working, baby.

MIKE FLORIO: Look, he wants his $19.45 million. And I think when you develop a sense the team is going to trade you, then you start thinking, OK, where am I going to be traded? They want to trade me. They want to move on. Where am I going to go? And if all of a sudden they don't want to trade you, OK fine, I'm here. Sometimes that's your best leverage. Fine, I'm here. Deal with me. I'm not going to go hide in the corner. I'm going to come here for off-season workouts. And oh, if I blow an Achilles tendon during phase three, you owe me my full salary and you've got to deal with my $30 million cap charge.

So sometimes that can nudge things toward conclusion.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, no, exactly right. You know, I'm not going to fault him for-- he did hint at wanting to leave, but the world was hinting that all towards him. So I'm not mad. I don't think he was like, hey, I want out of here. I've had enough of this place. I mean, I haven't gotten that sense. He hasn't said that out loud.

Right, he's flirted with the eye stuff, with the Chiefs and the Bills, right, at the golf tournament a few weeks ago and all that. That was cool. But yeah, all the--

MIKE FLORIO: Fishing.

CHRIS SIMMS: Fishing. Oh, it was fishing. Exactly. Sorry. But yeah, all those rumors--

MIKE FLORIO: Fishing. Get your non-sports sports right.

CHRIS SIMMS: How dare you? That's a lot of physical activity reeling that thing up. How dare you say that? I mean, geez. Beer in one hand, reeling it up with the other.

MIKE FLORIO: I love fishing.

CHRIS SIMMS: I do too.

MIKE FLORIO: I love fishing.

CHRIS SIMMS: I do too.

MIKE FLORIO: It ain't a sport. Go ahead.

CHRIS SIMMS: OK. But I think as we go here-- and we discussed this a lot leading up to the draft and before all this went down. I don't know if a trade with DeAndre Hopkins happens. There's a lot of things that are at play here. You know? Like we discussed a few weeks ago, one, it's a receiver who's getting up there in age. Two, he's missed a number of games the last two years, whether it's injury or the PED suspension. That's still concerning, it doesn't matter either way. Three, it looks like, oh wait, if he has a good year, he's going to ask for more money and another contract. So wait. What are we going to trade for him? So there's a lot of confusing, in-depth things that go into trading for DeAndre Hopkins, if you're one of the other teams out there in football.

MIKE FLORIO: Fishing is not a sport because it is basically hunting in the water. Golf is not a sport because you can drink beer and smoke cigars while doing it. All right. That's my opinion.

CHRIS SIMMS: Wow.

MIKE FLORIO: Come at me you disagree.

CHRIS SIMMS: I think they're going to come at you. They're coming. The golfers are definitely coming at you.

MIKE FLORIO: Apologies. Apologies.

Yeah, they're going to come at me with their nine irons. All right.