Cardinals Release WR DeAndre Hopkins [Titans, 2yr/$26 million]

[Dante84]

Interesting

Cardinals released DeAndre Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/c0f9UaabYA

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 26, 2023

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

To expect Toney to play a full season is probably unrealistic. If he goes down for several weeks, there will be some confusion for certain.

Even if he doesn't, as CZ said, these guys will be moved all over formations, given more route combinations, etc. Skyy will be given a lot more responsibility than just blocking assignments.

Skyy struggled most of last season, it's just a fact. It's a fact that he caught 1 or 0 balls in 11 games last year. it's a fact that this isn't that unusual for 2nd year WRs in Andy's offense either. To expect Skyy to just blossom into his prime this season is probably a little optimistic. i expect he'll be better in 2023, but not 100% polished. Sorry, but I just don't see him becoming Larry Fitzgerald in 2023.

MVS will do exactly what he's been doing for about four years now.

Rice will do rookie things, make some mistakes, probably drop a few balls which will draw the ire of GDT CPers all season, because they'll inevitably turn a couple drops into a career-long issue. But he'll be brought along slowly, just like everyone else.

James will have a decent but not exceptional season.

Watson will do pretty much what he did last year.

No one else in the WR room is worth mentioning at this point.


This isn't pining for DHop, or being pessimistic; it's called being realistic.

The floor is Toney plays 7 games and doesn't come back for the playoffs. Skyy repeats his less than stellar performance from last season. Rice can't separate, can't hang onto the ball. James is no more than advertised; a rotational slot WR. Watson is really just a ST guy masquerading as a WR. Neither Ross pans out. That's the worst case scenario. Which I haven't gotten near in my posts.

The best case is:

Toney plays the full season and the playoffs, goes for 1,600 yards/16 TDs.

Skyy=1,400 yards/8 Tds

Rice=800 yds/6 TDs

MVS=900 yds/6 TDs

Justyn Ross=700 yds/6 TDs

John Ross=800 yds/7 TDs

blahblahblah


Quite clearly, I've chosen to believe that our WR group will achieve something in the middle.

If that comes across as pessimistic, that's a 'you' problem, friend.

Come on man nobody thinks the WR room is going to put up like 6000 yards.

I don't have a 'me' problem. I'm a Chiefs fan and have the best GM, head coach, and QB in football and when they all tell me we're in good shape with a deep WR room, I'm relaxed.

Some of you guys, not so much. You haven't adjusted your 'because Chiefs' meter yet.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I don’t think people will be this laid back if we haven’t worked out our wr kinks by the time we face Philly, buffalo, cincy.

If someone isn't laid back by now, they never will be.

[RINGLEADER]

If all of our returning receivers just did what they did last season we have 4,000 yards banked already. That’s with nothing from Rice or James. We’re fine either way as I don’t subscribe to the notion that JJSS was the one responsible for opening up most of those catches. I like to believe Skyy and Toney will contribute much more this season. If we get Dhop that’s icing on the cake but still wouldn’t overlay him and make it impossible to keep some of the other key pieces that we’ll have to pay in the next season or two.

[RunKC]

Kinda feels like Toney staying healthy is the major differentiator here. He’s got such a high ceiling that none of the other WR’s have.

The guy was barely here for a minute when he got here, was ****ing around before he knew the offense and straight up embarrassed defenders. The flashes are there and he’s got “it”.

If he can just stay on the field, I think he’s gonna be a guy who demands double coverage, which will **** defenses.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

No, we will be fine. Not at all in a panic. But our offense didn’t get better because we lost tyreek. It got better because we finally addressed WR depth. People forget that once teams tripled down on kelce and tyreek, not only were our WRs not getting open, they were killing drives with drops and an absurd number of dropped passes leading to INTs. These WRs are now barely hanging on to other rosters. I don’t think we should be so casual to accept that mahomes can just elevate talent around him. We just know that this offense has a much higher ceiling than we realize.

As far as I can tell, only you and Megatron ( oh, and Billy) think the team is 'settling' for JAGS when they've invested in a first round WR and two second round WR's in a span of 12 months. Oh, and two of those guys are in year two of this offense and know what to do now.

This is a bunch of hand wringing nonsense.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by TRR

I don’t believe anyone is saying that. Going into last year, you could lean on the fact that while new to the offense, Juju and MVS were veteran receivers to pair with Kelce and Hardman. Going into this year, nearly every receiver has a large question mark. Toney = Injury. Skyy = Relatively Unknown. MVS = AFC Championship or Super Bowl? Rice = Unknown + Reid doesn’t play rookie WR’s.

Could it work out like the DB’s did last year? Sure. But it would be nice to have another proven vet WR to lean on especially early in the season.

There are absolutely people in this thread saying that. Note I said brink of disaster not disaster. Several posters seem to think we're razor thin at WR and are in trouble if anyone gets hurt/disappoints. As if we didn't have injuries and disappointments last year with a similar group. James and Hardman are basically a push so we're looking at JJSS versus Rice and more development for Moore.

That is nowhere near the loss of value we experienced losing Tyreek and our offense got BETTER. If our offense has a slight regression, let alone stands pat, we will be a better team overall this year. If these young WRs hit we'll be substantially better than last year. If Hopkins joined I'd be as pumped as anybody, but everyone saying we aren't ready for the season with our current WRs is just typical off-season panic.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Exactly. But some people’s expectations for Skyy, Justyn, Rice, etc., are already approaching that level of hyperbole.

Already someone has compared Skyy to Antonio Brown.

Someone as decided that Rashee Rice is the next Hopkins.

MVS is a better WR than Sammy.

James is Edelman.

Justyn Ross is Randy Moss?


I mean, what's next, lol? "John Ross is the next Jerry Rice!!!"

What? No.

There's been some comparison in style of play and RAS scores and whatnot but nobody is seriously saying any of these kids are the equivalent of hall of famers in June of 2023.

Rice, for example, has a similar style of play, and I remarked that if people love DHop, they should want to draft Rice because he's a very similar style and skill-sets. That's not the same thing as saying he's DHop's equal day one.

You're getting more and more hyperbolic here, and it's getting silly.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

What? No.

There's been some comparison in style of play and RAS scores and whatnot but nobody is seriously saying any of these kids are the equivalent of hall of famers in June of 2023.

Rice, for example, has a similar style of play, and I remarked that if people love DHop, they should want to draft Rice because he's a very similar style and skill-sets. That's not the same thing as saying he's DHop's equal day one.

You're getting more and more hyperbolic here, and it's getting silly.

Yeah, I exaggerated quite a bit to illustrate my point.

But there's already people saying Skyy is going 1,000 yards/10 TDs. That Rice will be a large part of the offense. And so on.

I have to go to my nephew's graduation right now, so this has to be cut short, but I hope my point has been made.

Yes, there's a lot of POTENTIAL with these guys, but I'm not silly enough to believe that they'll be one of the most dangerous WR rooms in the NFL in 2023. Maybe/probably in 2024. But Skyy, Rice, and Toney still have a lot of growing up to do, and it's not all going to get done this season, that's my point.

[smithandrew051]

I give the Chiefs about a 1 in 31 chance

[gordonelloyd]

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER

If all of our returning receivers just did what they did last season we have 4,000 yards banked already. That’s with nothing from Rice or James. We’re fine either way as I don’t subscribe to the notion that JJSS was the one responsible for opening up most of those catches. I like to believe Skyy and Toney will contribute much more this season. If we get Dhop that’s icing on the cake but still wouldn’t overlay him and make it impossible to keep some of the other key pieces that we’ll have to pay in the next season or two.

I think this is the most sensible way to look at this issue. The Chiefs are going to be fine. They will have another 5000 yard passing season or very close to it.

Everybody got all excited [including me] about the prospects of adding Hopkins. but it’s pretty clearly not going to happen. He’s probably going to go to Cleveland or someone else that pays him more than Kansas City Will.

But just because our excitement didn’t pan out last night drop into despair. I don’t think there was anywhere near this level of angst about the wide receiver situation before the Hopkins option started getting discussed.

This isn’t our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is that the Eagles and the Bengals, who were basically as good as the Chiefs last year. [with the difference, been more luck than anything else] which seem to have improved a lot more than we have. But we’re still close enough that we can still be in the hunt and if we continue to be lucky, we can win another Super Bowl.

[Skyy God]

“KPRC's Aaron Wilson reports there's a "strong possibility" DeAndre Hopkins signs with the Browns.

Wilson is a longtime Texans insider who covered Hopkins and Watson in Houston. In Cleveland, Hopkins would reunited with Deshaun Watson, who tore up opposing secondaries with Hopkins as his No. 1 wideout in Houston before his legal troubles. Hopkins, released by the Cardinals last week, is reportedly considering a range of teams, including the Bills, Chiefs, and Texans. If he were to land with the Browns, Amari Cooper's fantasy prospects would take a major hit. A target magnet for his entire NFL career, Hopkins would certainly have top-12 fantasy upside in a Browns offense widely expected to be more pass-heavy in 2023.”

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Yeah, I exaggerated quite a bit to illustrate my point.

But there's already people saying Skyy is going 1,000 yards/10 TDs. That Rice will be a large part of the offense. And so on.

I have to go to my nephew's graduation right now, so this has to be cut short, but I hope my point has been made.

Yes, there's a lot of POTENTIAL with these guys, but I'm not silly enough to believe that they'll be one of the most dangerous WR rooms in the NFL in 2023. Maybe/probably in 2024. But Skyy, Rice, and Toney still have a lot of growing up to do, and it's not all going to get done this season, that's my point.

What the Chiefs need is ONE of Skyy Moore, Richie James, Rashee Rice, and Kadarius Toney to step up and be as effective as Juju Smith-Schuster. One.

And they need one more guy to step up and be as productive as Mecole Hardman was last year.

And you’re standing pat, basically, from a WR room that was good enough a season ago to post a super efficient, league-leading total that was without true weakness/hole based on coverage type.

And you have some lottery tickets in the Ross’s in the mix, too.

They’re throwing numbers at it.

I don’t think it’s going to be one of the best rooms in the league by any means, but I think the floor is similar to last year, with quite a bit more upside.

[Rainbarrel]

Originally Posted by Skyy God

“KPRC's Aaron Wilson reports there's a "strong possibility" DeAndre Hopkins signs with the Browns.

Wilson is a longtime Texans insider who covered Hopkins and Watson in Houston. In Cleveland, Hopkins would reunited with Deshaun Watson, who tore up opposing secondaries with Hopkins as his No. 1 wideout in Houston before his legal troubles. Hopkins, released by the Cardinals last week, is reportedly considering a range of teams, including the Bills, Chiefs, and Texans. If he were to land with the Browns, Amari Cooper's fantasy prospects would take a major hit. A target magnet for his entire NFL career, Hopkins would certainly have top-12 fantasy upside in a Browns offense widely expected to be more pass-heavy in 2023.”

Hopkins likes his fudge maker massaged too. Most of 30 fan bases were oiling him

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Rainbarrel

Hopkins likes his fudge maker massaged too. Most of 30 fan bases were oiling him

I would love that.

Stack another tough obstacle in the AFC North. North and East have gotten very difficult.

The Browns with Hopkins and Watson and Cooper are not a true threat to beat KC in a playoff game, but it makes it more likely they trip up the Ravens and Bengals.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

We didn't have a 'WR1' last season. Seemed to work out ok.

You guys are acting like this is a Todd Haley team quarterbacked by Matt Cassel and we're going to be lucky to get a wildcard.

Juju was a veteran WR who played most games. First, our offense last year good as it was is nowhere near the ceiling of what we’re capable of. Second, you act like tom brady spent his entire career without a WR1. Like brady, mahomes proved he CAN do it but that doesn’t mean they should have to. Especially for mahomes we undermine his greatness not the other way around by not surrounding him with talent.