He makes a ton of money and no real indication he was willing to re-work anything. I think the only team who wouldn't have either needed him or somebody else to restructure was CHI, otherwise getting him meant pushing a lot of money into future year giarantees
Yeah, anytime it seems befuddling that a big name is available, it's like 99% of the time because of the contract.
Probably a 30% overlap with “his performance and / or skills have diminished due to injury and / or age, so the contract no represents longer good value.” Edit: or hunger
He may not be prime Hopkins, but his performance in games where he had an NFL level QB was still #1 receiver level.
Would change the perception of the Patriots' offense almost overnight, even if the on field impact would probably be nothing too special. I'd love to have him. Add him to JuJu, Bourne, Parker, Thornton, and you've got a pretty nice group with some intriguing draft flyers as depth.
I would guess Parker would be cut or someone traded, I guess they could cut both of the rookies but not sure that makes sense over saving 6M by letting Parker go
Agreed - it would definitely create some nice depth and options. If Hop miraculously signed here, you’d have some really nice veteran chain movers in he and JuJu with TT hopefully emerging as a deep threat and Bourne as another reliable guy as well.
My sentiments exactly. Hopkins isn't 2015-2020 DHop anymore but he's still a productive NFL WR and would certainly help this offense. I doubt we're at the top of his list but the fact that he's coming to Foxboro has to be an indication that he's at least considering it. If they're lucky enough to sign Hopkins, I don't really worry about the fit with Parker since odds of them both playing full seasons (if both here) are pretty low at their age. BB may opt to deal Parker in this scenario but I doubt he would get much so it would probably be more about needing to free up the cash to sign Hopkins and have money left over for other things.
I think the guy DHop replaces is Bourne not Parker. Parker was used as a down the field deep ball specialist winning 1-1 jump balls as indicated by his 15.7 ADOT last year. DHop is more of an intermediate sideline specialist with a career high ADOT of 12.3.
If nothing else, Hopkins visiting shows that there’s at least some belief that any bad blood he supposedly had with BOB can be worked through.
It also shows that the league doesn't think Mac is a complete joke. I think.
Probably worth noting that 6 of the 8 he missed last year were suspension not injury (honestly the other 2 may have been "injury" as well, basically sitting down a guy while trying to lose).
Feel like DHop, Parker, Juju is one of the slowest WR corps of the last decade, like a less talented version of last year's Chargers.
I agree with your final verdict - sign him, he's still really good - but I think people here keep viewing him as a significantly inferior version of his prime. I've repeated myself a few times on this and I hate to do it again, but people keep posting this same info and its without context.
Im sure he's still good. But counting on a WR his age to play every game seems like a stretch. The question is whether he's worth it (no monetarily, just in terms of availability and disruption) if he misses 3-6 games.
So are the Chargers guys (better honestly), I have concerns about how defenses play slow WR corps, especially since 2 of those guys get basically no separation at this point. If they sign Hopkins a Parker cut or trade wouldn't surprise me. While he's good, I think you're better off with someone like Bourne who can separate or Thornton with elite deep speed. Otherwise it's gonna get awful crowded in the middle of the field with no real threats, especially given that teams have made it clear they don't think Mac can make the deep out throws with the kind of juice you need to punish that.
True but the simple reality is we’re going to have a slow unit outside of TT this year so might as well get the best possible route runners/hands you can to compensate for that.
At least Bourne gives you a YAC threat. Parker and Hopkins, eh.
Yeah, if this low probability event actually occurs, I am jettisoning Parker before Bourne. Obviously, downside of doing so is that you're relying on TT to make some kind of leap in year 2, which is obviously possible but far from a given.
He was saying he wasn't sure what day the visit is. Albert Breer reported that Hopkins would be coming in tonight, but that obviously is contingent upon him leaving the building in Nashville without a deal. Bill is probably just being vague by design which is shocking for him I know.
Yeah--I originally just saw the first tweet. After the clarification it seemed better, but figured I'd post it.
Best shape of his life!
