Bills 'Want to Sign DeAndre!' Hopkins Priority: Contract or Super Bowl?
The easy joke response to the latest report on the Buffalo Bills being involved in the DeAndre Hopkins Sweepstakes is all about dreamy, unreachable wishes. "Yeah, and I want a million bucks!'' (Or chose your amount.) "Yeah, and I want a date with Hailee Steinfeld!'' (Or, pick somebody who is not already involved with Josh Allen.)
And that is where we are truly at with the Bills and their chance to sign the coveted free-agent receiver: The "offer'' seems to be less about offering money and more about offering a better chance at winning than the Patriots or Titans can offer.
NFL insider Jeff Darlington was among the first to present this concept. During a Monday appearance on the "Rich Eisen Show," Darlington said still believes Hopkins has a spot in Buffalo if he wants it.
"My understanding with the Bills is, yeah, they love DeAndre Hopkins, and he'd be a great addition, but they're not gonna pay him," Darlington said. "If he wants to ring chase, there's a spot for him."
And now comes a follow-up from Pro Football Talk ... which as so often happens is claiming to have "new information'' when in fact it mirrors what NFL Network has already reported ... and then adds its own pretzel-twisty analysis.
From PFT: "If Hopkins wants to win a championship, maybe he’d take less. Or maybe he wouldn’t. There’s no guarantee that joining the Bills will put them over the top, and Buffalo’s interest seems perfunctory unless and until they make an offer that competes with the offer made by their division rivals in New England. So while Buffalo isn’t out of the question, it’s not likely that Hopkins will take less to go there.''
That's a lot of ... words. Hopkins will or he won't or he might or he might not.
Players talk often about wanting to win more than they want money. PFT's knotted take aside, Buffalo obviously has a better Super Bowl shot than do the Patriots or the Titans. (Now, the Chiefs are a different story.) But at 31, Hopkins has more than earned the right to "choose what he wants to choose.''
Want one last "big" contract? Nothing wrong with that. Want to end the "DeAndre Derby" by hooking up for a "big'' Super Bowl bid? Buffalo would like D-Hop to know that there's nothing wrong with that, either.
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