On Friday, the Arizona Cardinals shockingly released wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. After the DeAndre Hopkins release, any NFL team is now free to sign the three-time All-Pro. There will be plenty of suitors for Hopkins, but the best fit is the Buffalo Bills. Why? Well, here are three reasons that a DeAndre Hopkins-Bills signing is an absolute must for Buffalo.
3. Gabriel Davis is a disappointment
Stefon Diggs is one of the best wideouts in the league, and he’s even stepped it up a notch since moving from the Minnesota Vikings to the Buffalo Bills in the 2020 NFL offseason. He’s caught at least 100 balls and put up over 1,200 receiving yards while scoring 29 touchdowns in each of his three seasons in Western New York.
Diggs can’t do it alone, though.
He and Josh Allen need a No. 2 WR on the other side of the formation to take pressure off of Diggs. And when that doesn’t happen, Allen can’t throw Diggs the ball, and that’s when Doggs loses his cool on the bench like he did multiple times last season, including during the team’s season-ending playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals (and their trio of talented wideouts, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd).
Last season, third-year WR Gabriel Davis was supposed to be that WR2 that the Bills need.
He ended the 2021 campaign with a staggering eight-catch, 201-yard, four-touchdown performance in the playoffs vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. And with that, Davis seemed poised to have a breakout campaign in 2022.
That never happened, though.
Davis had just 48 catches last season for 836 yards and a respectable seven touchdowns. He also made some big drops in key spots, which hurt his value further. In the end, it was clear at the end of the 2022 season that Davis is a WR3 at best.
After the DeAndre Hopkins release, the Bills now have a chance to pick up a true WR1 for nothing more than money, and Hopkins is still a true WR1.
2. DeAndre Hopkins is still one of the best WRs in the NFL
It seems like DeAndre Hopkins has been in the NFL forever. He was the No. 27 pick of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Clemson and spent seven seasons with the Houston Texans. But even after three seasons with the Cardinals, Hopkins will come into 2023 at just 31 years old.
That’s plenty young to produce several more solid seasons in the pros.
Hopkins is now two seasons removed from his last Pro Bowl campaign (2020) and three from his last first-team All-Pro efforts (2019). However, he can still produce good numbers in the right situation.
Last season, he was not in the right situation.
After serving a six-game PED suspension — which he still claims was a complete accident — Hopkins returned to the Cardinals and played in nine games. In a bad Kliff Kingsbury offense with a wildly inconsistent and then hurt Kyler Murray, the WR still put up solid numbers.
With all that going against him, Hopkins still produced a similar stat line to Gabe Davis, who played 15 games. The Cardinals WR’s final numbers for the 2022 season were 64 catches for 717 yards and three touchdowns.
Stretch those out to a full season, and Hopkins is likely close to 100 catches and over 1,000 yards. Give him a better QB like Josh Allen and a WR across from him like Stefon Diggs, and who knows how far those numbers could climb with a DeAndre Hopkins-Bill pairing next season.
1. It’s Super Bowl or bust these next two seasons
There are plenty of other reasons that the Bills should snatch the WR up after the DeAndre Hopkins release, not the least of which is that he’s suggested on multiple occasions that the Bills are at or near the top of his list and he loves Josh Allen.
That’s not the biggest reason for a DeAndre Hopkins Bills’ signing, though.
The biggest reason is that the Bills' Super Bowl window is rapidly closing. Buffalo hasn’t been able to get past the Chiefs yet, and the Bengals may now have surpassed them, too, from a talent perspective. And now, Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence are coming on, and Aaron Rodgers has moved to their division.
Plus, the team has already committed to several older players across the roster such as Diggs, Von Miller, and Jordan Poyer.
The Bills are all-in to get to and (they hope) win a Super Bowl in the next two seasons. Signing the former Cardinals WR after the DeAndre Hopkins release not only fits that timeline, it helps it dramatically.
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