Patriots need DeAndre Hopkins

It is not like Santa is coming to town, but it is close. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, who once worked the Patriots' beat, free agent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will be visiting Foxboro and the New England Patriots next week.

Former #AZCardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins is set to visit the #Patriots next week, sources say. This is after his #Titans visit, as Hopkins’ free agent market heats up. New England could add a top pass-catcher for Mac Jones. pic.twitter.com/ip2KCk2pLN

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 9, 2023

The Patriots have long been linked to Hopkins. Patriots fans have often been obsessed with acquiring star wide receivers that have never materialized. Patriots fans have been obsessed with wide receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith Sr., and Odell Beckham Jr. over the last two decades. Hopkins is the latest obsession and Patriots fans have been crying for Belichick to go out and get him for a couple of years now.

Hopkins certainly isn’t the same receiver that he was when he caught over 100 passes in four different seasons. Hopkins just turned 31 this week. Let's have Belichick and Kraft give him a nice birthday gift. The Patriots have a history of signing star receivers far after their prime - players like Chad Ochocinco, Josh Gordon, Joey Galloway, Michael Floyd, tight end Alge Crumpler, and Antonio Brown. All of them struck out in their times with the Patriots.

Will Hopkins join that list? I’d at least like to see him in a Patriots’ uniform and try to avoid that list. Unlike the other names listed, Hopkins still has some gas left in the tank.

Free agency is pretty much over. Sure, players like Hopkins and Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook are out there now and there will be other salary cap casualties in the future, but for the most part, teams can’t count on quality players like this becoming available. Hopkins is there, and he fills the Patriots' top need of a WR1.

Just a couple of months ago, Patriots’ fans were discussing what it would take to pry Hopkins away from the Cardinals. Some were willing to give up the Patriots' first-round draft pick, 14th overall, in order to acquire him. Most fans were willing to, at least, give up a package which included their second-round pick. Now they don’t have to give up anything!

If the contract is an issue, Hopkins’ price has come down dramatically. The Cardinals signed Hopkins to a 2-year, $54 million contract in 2020. The Patriots or any other team won’t have to come close to paying $27 million per year. The thinking a few months ago would be that it would take at least $20 million per year to sign him to a multi-year contract. But the price has continued to drop. The monkey wrench in the whole thing was when Odell Beckham, Jr. signed with the Baltimore Ravens for one-year, $15 million, despite not having played all last year due to an injury.

There was some thought, prior to the Beckham signing, that Hopkins could have been had for somewhere around $12 million on a one-year “prove it to me” contract. That would have been right in the Patriots’ wheelhouse. They signed JuJu Smith-Schuster to a contract which averages out to $11 million per year. The Patriots didn’t re-sign Jakobi Myers for the same dollar amount. The Patriots don’t seem to be willing to go much further than that $11 million per year threshold. Twelve million would have been doable. But now with Beckham’s contract, Hopkins will, assuredly, be expecting over $15 million. And why should that stop the Patriots?

It would only be a one year contract. They don't have to save the money for anything else that is out there. There is nothing else out there. There are no more "what if"s.

The Patriots should dump whatever cap space money they have left on Hopkins. I don’t care if it is $20 million. If they have it, spend it. There will be no more free agent wide receivers, and there is no more draft to supplement their wide receiver corps. That aspect of the GM job is done. Hopkins is the perfect remedy to cure any ills the Patriots may have made in free agency or the draft.

Hopkins met with Mike Vrabel and the Titans last week, but left town without a contract. AFC top contenders, Chiefs and Bills, are most assuredly interested but may not have the wiggle room in cap space to sign Hopkins, and there are no visits planned there as of yet. That leaves just the Patriots as the other serious suitor at this point. Hopkins should not be allowed to leave Foxboro next week without signing a contract to play for them. It is that simple. Make him an offer he cannot refuse.

The Patriots have fallen behind the Bills, Jets, and, possibly, Dolphins in the division they had dominated for two decades. Even the most ardent of Mac Jones supporters have to admit he is the third, and possibly the worst quarterback in his own division. He is in the bottom half of quarterbacks of a stacked conference. That is not to say Jones is a bad quarterback. He is just in a conference with the best of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

For Jones to have any chance of competing with these QBs, he needs to be surrounded by as much talent as possible. The defense is Super Bowl caliber. Jones should be able to score sufficient points with receiving options like Hopkins, Schuster, Parker, Bourne, Henry, and Gesicki. That is not a bad group right there. Toss in Tyquan Thornton and the two sixth-round draft steals the Patriots made. Hopkins is the missing piece.

It just seems like a no-brainer. Obviously, Hopkins would have to want to come to New England. Belichick obviously loves the player. He raved about him prior to playing against him in December of last year. The problem could be new offensive coordinator, Bill O’Brien, who coached Hopkins during his prime years in Houston. Things didn’t end well between the two. But, again, Hopkins had his best seasons playing under O’Brien and he should be familiar with O’Brien’s offense. Get over it and be a pro.

No brainer.