WHAT TO MAKE OF THE PATRIOTS’ REPORTED INTEREST IN FREE AGENT WR DEANDRE HOPKINS

The old “Where there’s smoke there’s fire” does not always apply to the NFL. Will apply to the New England Patriots and DeAndre Hopkins, though?

The team of head coach Bill Belichick has been linked to the star wide receiver throughout the offseason, and with him recently released by the Arizona Cardinals there appears to be a chance that it will indeed go after him. And while there has been nothing concrete yet — like inviting him for a visit, for example — the rumor mill keeps working.

The latest report comes courtesy of NFL insider Dianna Russini, who appeared on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday to talk about Hopkins’ free agency experience. She did mention three teams by name who reportedly are interested in the 30-year-old.

One of them are the Patriots.

“It’s really going to come down to what he prefers and what he wants, as there are several teams — including the New England Patriots — who are interested in DeAndre Hopkins,” Russini said.

The Patriots showing interest in Hopkins does make some sense. As previously discussed, pursuing the five-time Pro Bowler does make sense from an Xs and Os perspective. Despite being on the wrong side of 30, he is coming off yet another productive season and could add another dimension to a New England passing game in need of all the help it can get.

That said, there are concerns about Hopkins as well. His age — he will turn 31 on June 6 — is one of them. The same is true for his asking price.

While no details are available about what he is looking for in his first ever trip to the open market, the expectation is that he does want to be compensated properly. As Russini pointed out, the fully-guaranteed one-year, $15 million contract Odell Beckham Jr. signed with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this offseason might have an impact on the veteran wide receiver market and Hopkins’ position in it.

“DeAndre Hopkins wants to get paid the type of money that we saw Odell Beckham Jr. get paid. Not that same exact amount, but money’s definitely part of this,” she said. “Financially, we’re looking at all the teams around the league that are interested in DeAndre Hopkins, it’s got to work financially. You look at teams like the Chiefs, the Bills ... Do they have the money, and would Hopkins maybe take less to play with a quarterback like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes?”

The Patriots do not have a player of that caliber at the quarterback position, but they do have something neither of those two teams has an abundance of: money. But just because they do have $13.1 million in salary cap space, according to Miguel Benzan, does not mean they actually want to use a hefty portion of it on Hopkins.

As a consequence, the reported interest might have more to do with gauging the market than actually committing to a plan to make an investment. Obviously, that does not mean that Hopkins joining the Patriots should not still be seen as an option.

However, it is probably best to temper expectations for the time being. That is especially true given that there is no universal understanding the team is really serious about going after the former first-round draft pick, or as long-time Patriots reporter Mike Reiss put it:

The Patriots could use a boost at receiver, but in a past appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast, Hopkins listed Josh Allen (Bills), Jalen Hurts (Eagles), Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs), Lamar Jackson (Ravens) and Justin Herbert (Chargers) as the top five quarterbacks he’d like to catch passes from. So if the Patriots were interested in Hopkins, they’d seemingly have to be especially convincing with a financial offer. My view is that seems like a longer-odds scenario.

What will happen remains to be determined. There might be fire after all, but at the moment all those outside of One Patriot Place can do is try to interpret the smoke.

2023-06-01T19:38:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd