The New England Patriots have found themselves tied up in quite a few wide receiver rumors over the past few weeks, thanks in large part to the fact that they hosted star free agent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins on a visit after he was released by the Arizona Cardinals. In a sense, many fans were likely teased a bit when they saw that the Pats had signed DeVante Parker to an extension on Wednesday night.
The Patriots locked up Parker on a three-year extension that could see him earn up to $33 million if hits all his incentives and bonuses in the deal. With New England clearly in on Hopkins, some folks had speculated that Parker could get the ax in order to free up cap space, and a spot on the field, for the star wideout.
Instead, New England committed to Parker for the future, and seemingly ruled themselves out of the running for Hopkins. What actually ended up happening, though, is the Pats made a big move that solidified their current core of wide receivers, while also strengthening their pursuit of Hopkins, rather than hampering it.
How DeVante Parker's extension helps the Patriots pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins
At first glance, yes, it does seem like handing Parker $33 million would seemingly rule out the Patriots in the race for Hopkins. But you don't have to be a contract or NFL salary cap guru to understand that there are a handful of ways to create cap space in the NFL nowadays. Given their interest in Hopkins, it would have made no sense for New England to sign off on this deal if it ate up more cap space this season.
Parker's deal, which doesn't actually kick in until next season, guarantees him only $14 million, which means there are tons of incentives that he is going to have to fulfill if he wants to make all $33 million he can. Given how Parker has been a solid player when he's on the field, but consistently struggles with injuries, this makes sense.
Early reports indicated that this deal saved the Patriots $3.7 million in cap space, but until the full details of Parker's deal are made public, there's no way to tell if that's true or not. However, given what we know about this deal early on (more specifically, the $14 million in guarantees) it's safe to say that this deal will open up more cap space for the Patriots, rather than take away from it.
New England already had around $14 million in cap space available, which is enough to make a competitive offer for Hopkins. But with the Tennessee Titans also being heavily involved in Hopkins, and other dark horse suitors lurking, this could be a power play from Bill Belichick to up the ante and make Hopkins an offer he can't refuse.
It goes without saying that creating more money to potentially offer to Hopkins is a good thing. Hopkins wants to get paid what he believes he deserves, while playing for a playoff contender. The Patriots may be the worst team in the AFC East, but the addition of a star playmaker in Hopkins could shake up the entire division.
What really makes this extension such a home run in the team's pursuit of Hopkins is that they didn't make themselves worse in an effort to create more money to bring him on board. By keeping Parker around, the Patriots are solidifying their wide receiver corps, while also keeping space for Hopkins available. Releasing Parker, which was a possibility, would not have made this team better.
Parker's numbers for his debut season with the Pats (31 REC, 539 YDS, 3 TD) aren't great, but he missed four games and played sparingly in two others, which makes his production look worse than it actually is. When you factor in the offense's overall struggles as well, it's not hard to see why Parker didn't have an explosive 2022 season. It's also easy to see why he could have an explosive 2023 season if he stays healthy.
Hopkins wants to win wherever he lands, and the Patriots are showing a commitment to win, even if it may not seem like it. They did not make their team worse at the expense of adding Hopkins; they are indicating that they intend to provide a team geared towards winning with Hopkins should he join them.
Extending Parker was not the move that Patriots fans were hoping to see get announced, but it may end up becoming the move that helps the team land Hopkins. Has a top competitor like the Titans done anything similar to indicate to Hopkins that they mean business when pursuing him? It's a strange development, but if the Pats land Hopkins, they may want to send Parker a thank you card for signing off on this extension.
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