DeAndre Hopkins Might Sign for $8 Million? Why No Cowboys Bid?

DeAndre Hopkins might sign for “$8 to $10 million for one year”? That’s it? Where do the Cowboys sign up for that?

FRISCO - There are millions of reasons for the Dallas Cowboys to not bother chasing former Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins, the free agent who hung around and worked out in DFW before launching this week’s free agency tour featuring visits with the Tennessee Titans and the (reportedly “optimistic”) New England Patriots.

To be specific, we count 20 million reasons for Dallas’ lack of participation - our thinking being that “D-Hop” will likely command a new contract that pays him the going rate of around $20 million APY.

But what if our assumption - and maybe a similar assumption that has kept Frisco off Hopkins’ travel itinerary - is way off?

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer is quoting two NFL team executives who thinks the value on Hopkins, at age 31 and arguably entering the free agent pool at an odd time - is a fraction of what we think.

"One said that if he were a free agent in March, he’d still see Hopkins as an $18 million player on a multiyear deal, but 'it’s such a strange time to reach the market; everyone has already spent and allocated,” Breer writes.

And more: “Another (exec) guessed he’d get between $8 million and $10 million on a one-year deal …”

Wait. What? Pending Hopkins really only getting such a low-ball deal, we politely disagree with both execs. 

The exec’s subject of “timing” is nonsense. Plenty of teams have cap room, and every team (including Dallas) can create room if it wishes to.

And “$8 to $10 million for one year”? That’s it? Where do we sign up for that? Or, more pointedly, where do the Cowboys sign up for that?

CowboysSI.com has reported that Hopkins is not a Dallas target, that the Brandin Cooks trade scratches that itch. That reasoning is easy to accept - especially because the Cowboys, who presently have $20 million in cap room … and that and future funds are earmarked for eventual new deals involving Dak Prescott and a host of other standouts.

Indeed, the Jerry and Stephen Jones “salary-cap pie” is designed to only allow for so many “big slices,” and another $20 million guy is a tight fit.

But if DeAndre Hopkins is forced to accept a smaller slice? Why wouldn’t the Cowboys chefs attempt to serve it up?

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