Should the Jaguars Pursue DeAndre Hopkins?
Sometimes in the NFL, overkill can truly be a real thing -- especially at wide receiver. But should that stop the Jacksonville Jaguars from pursuing the new top player on the market in free-agent DeAndre Hopkins?
Hopkins was released by the Arizona Cardinals on Friday after they failed to trade him for picks during the course of the offseason, which likely stems more from his big-money deal with Arizona and less to do with his performance.
So with the former Pro Bowler and All-Pro now available without the cost of draft picks added into the equation, should the Jaguars look into adding him?
It makes sense to theorize, especially after Dave Burns and John Gambarado of the ‘Burns & Gambo Show’ noted that the Los Angeles Chargers and Jaguars could be primary contenders for the wideout’s services in January.
“Yeah, I’ve been told several times over the course of the last five or six weeks that it’s very possible that he’s gonna ask out, that he’s not happy, that he’s going to want to go somewhere else,” Gambarado said.
“I’ve even heard today from people very close to the situation that, you know, that the preferences for him would be the Jaguars and the Chargers. The Jags because he could be, you know, with Lawrence (QB Trevor Lawrence) and Pederson (Head Coach Doug Pederson). Could be his best shot at a title to go with one of those teams. You know, the problem is that each guy has a highly-paid wide receiver. The Jags have Kirk (WR Christian Kirk), then the Chargers with Mike Williams (WR Mike Williams). Maybe they get off of (WR) Keenan Allen. It’s just a preference I’ve heard from people close to Hopkins that that’s two teams he would like to go to, but we gotta see how it plays out.”
The Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence also match what Hopkins has himself admitted he is looking for in a quarterback: "a QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him and pushes not only himself but people around him.”
With the Jaguars already having a top-10 offense in 2022, the expectations are for the offense to be even better in 2023. And after some contract restructurings over the last month, the Jaguars have ample cap space to add a veteran like Hopkins.
The question is whether the Jaguars can afford to do from a resources standpoint. The Jaguars have enough cap space to take one more swing in free-agency. Taking that swing on Hopkins would mean the Jaguars would likely be out of the veteran pass-rusher market, and there is no question that the Jaguars need to add a pass-rusher more than a wide receiver.
Then there is the fact the Jaguars are fourth in spending at wide receiver already with $41,963,527. The Jaguars already have big investments in Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, while Calvin Ridley and Evan Engram will also be pushing for bigger deals moving forward.
In short, there are already not enough footballs to go around in the Jaguars' offense. There are too many mouths to feed as is. This is a good problem to have, but it may step over the line if the Jaguars added a target-dominant wide receiver like Hopkins.
Hopkins would undoubtedly give the Jaguars one of the most dangerous offenses in the NFL; in fact, the Jaguars would likely have the league's best wide receiver room if they added the former Cardinal and Houston Texan.
But the Jaguars also have to consider the fact they already made their bed at wide receiver. If the Jaguars never traded for Ridley, then maybe a Hopkins signing makes more sense. But for now, it seems like nothing more than a pipedream.
