Deandre Hopkins is a FA

[Gerry Green]

2 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Uhh I mentioned the only WR's I knew by name were DJ/Robby/TMJ. I remember #15 I just didn't know his name.

 

 

 

Just riding your butt. It was one of those, "I thought it, so I said it" kinda deals. lol

 

Side note, my nephew, and more than a few Huddlerz loves that; if he can think it, it can happen game. Man, he has a wild imagination for a 10 year old. 

[tukafan21]

Hopkins is visiting with the Titans?!?!

What the hell?!?!

I'm sorry, but if he's looking to contend for a title and play with an established quality QB, in what world do the Titans and Tannehill fit that criteria?

[jb2288]

8 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Hopkins is visiting with the Titans?!?!

What the hell?!?!

I'm sorry, but if he's looking to contend for a title and play with an established quality QB, in what world do the Titans and Tannehill fit that criteria?

the other teams have cooled off on him. when a player says "i want to play for a contender" they mean all things being equal. If the Titans are going to pay him 18M and the bills or chargers offer 10M he's going to the titans. very few players will actually take a big pay cut to pay for a contender 

[tukafan21]

1 hour ago, jb2288 said:

the other teams have cooled off on him. when a player says "i want to play for a contender" they mean all things being equal. If the Titans are going to pay him 18M and the bills or chargers offer 10M he's going to the titans. very few players will actually take a big pay cut to pay for a contender 

I don't think that's really the case in this specific situation though.

I don't expect Hopkins to sign a multi-year contract with anyone, not at this point with him getting cut so late in the FA season.  His best bet, assuming he still believes in his ability, is to sign a 1 year deal, prove he can stay healthy and play at an elite level, and then cash in next spring with a bigger 2-3 year deal.

Taking less money this year to play with a better QB/team to showcase himself would help set himself up for a bigger payday next year than going to a team with questionable QB play like the Titans.

If we're talking 18 million for one year compared to like 3-5 million, then yes, maybe he's taking the money, but if it's 18 to play with a crap QB or 10 to play with an elite one (while also contending for a SB this year), then I think he'll take the less money for sure.

Which frankly is what I'm hoping happens and he ends up here next year.  If Bryce balls out and shows we have a real shot at contending on his rookie contract, coming back home to the Carolina's to be Bryce's #1 target as Chark is on just the 1 year deal, would make a lot of sense, particularly as we'll have the money next year to make some FA splash signings.

Edited June 7, 2023 by tukafan21

[RJK]

Everybody other than dumb fans and Hopkins realizes he’s not worth 18 mil a year. If he wants to play for a chance at a ring he’ll need to take a cheaper contract 

[jb2288]

2 hours ago, tukafan21 said:

I don't think that's really the case in this specific situation though.

I don't expect Hopkins to sign a multi-year contract with anyone, not at this point with him getting cut so late in the FA season.  His best bet, assuming he still believes in his ability, is to sign a 1 year deal, prove he can stay healthy and play at an elite level, and then cash in next spring with a bigger 2-3 year deal.

Taking less money this year to play with a better QB/team to showcase himself would help set himself up for a bigger payday next year than going to a team with questionable QB play like the Titans.

If we're talking 18 million for one year compared to like 3-5 million, then yes, maybe he's taking the money, but if it's 18 to play with a crap QB or 10 to play with an elite one (while also contending for a SB this year), then I think he'll take the less money for sure.

Which frankly is what I'm hoping happens and he ends up here next year.  If Bryce balls out and shows we have a real shot at contending on his rookie contract, coming back home to the Carolina's to be Bryce's #1 target as Chark is on just the 1 year deal, would make a lot of sense, particularly as we'll have the money next year to make some FA splash signings.

I don’t think so. Dude is 31 he’s going to take all money he can get this year 

[tukafan21]

6 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

We have the 2nd most capspace in the league. If we want him we can realistically outbid just about all teams.

 

Coaching staff must feel real good about our WR's. Im shocked we haven't expressed any interest so far.

We don't have the 2nd most cap space in reality though.  Yes, technically at this moment we do, but we also still haven't signed Bryce or Mingo yet, they'll take up a little over $8 million of the cap.

I'm not against signing Hopkins in general, however if we did it, I wouldn't be on board with giving him a big 1 year deal, I'd only be okay if it was a 2 or 3 year deal to make sure he's here for multiple years.

Worst thing we could do would be give him big money for this year, using up much of the cap we have left, and then him leaving next year.  If that were to happen, we'd be much better off just saving the cap to roll over into next year for some big FA splash signings. 

The problem with signing him is that it does hurt our chances to develop both TMJ and Mingo this year unless Chark can't stay healthy.  Hopkins, Chark, and Thielen would absolutely be the top 3, whichever of the other two fell to #5 on the depth chart would struggle to get snaps and we need to develop those two and see what they might become with Bryce.

Honestly, if we could sign Hopkins and trade Chark for maybe a CB or DE, that would be my most ideal scenario in terms of going after Hopkins this year.  But in general, my preference would be that he signs a 1 year deal somewhere this year, and then Bryce balls out and he wants to come home and play with him next year after Chark's one year deal is up.

Edited June 7, 2023 by tukafan21

[jb2288]

9 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

We have the 2nd most capspace in the league. If we want him we can realistically outbid just about all teams.

 

Coaching staff must feel real good about our WR's. Im shocked we haven't expressed any interest so far.

Yeah it’s tough. If you believe TMJ and Mingo are the future you absolutely let BY build chemistry there instead 

[jb2288]

48 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Man we have to stop pushing this narrative that signing Hopkins prevents growth from the younger WR's.

 

Hopkins helps Young more than any of the young WR's. If the goal is to win you sign Hopkins. We are not in a rebuild.

 

Also you do realize having Hopkins gives those young WR's single coverage?

 

If they are good they will flourish with those single coverage opportunities.

I think the point is if you bring in Hopkins the expectation is he's the 1. Where the coaching staff may truly believe TMJ or Mingo can be the 1 given the opportunities. It's not an unrealistic concern

[USDepartmentOfSavagery]

No. We need to save that cap space. Burns needs to be signed and that cap space can be better allocated next year and the year after when we are really in contention to compete. Chinn, Brown and others will need to be resigned in the near future too.

Edited June 8, 2023 by USDepartmentOfSavagery

[tukafan21]

1 hour ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Man we have to stop pushing this narrative that signing Hopkins prevents growth from the younger WR's.

 

Hopkins helps Young more than any of the young WR's. If the goal is to win you sign Hopkins. We are not in a rebuild.

 

Also you do realize having Hopkins gives those young WR's single coverage?

 

If they are good they will flourish with those single coverage opportunities.

It's not a narrative that signing Hopkins would prevent growth from the younger WRs, it's just a fact.  If we sign Hopkins, he's on the field for almost every offensive snap next year unless injured or just needs a play off for a breather and almost every one of those snaps would be stolen from TMJ or Mingo.

And having Hopkins wouldn't give those young WRs single coverage as they're not going to be getting doubled as is, and with Hopkins here, they can't get single coverage if they can't get on the field because of Hopkins, it's not like he'd be eligible as a 12th player for us.

Right now, Chark is the #1 outside, Thielen is in the Slot but probably the #2 target, with TMJ or Mingo the other outside starting WR and the #3 target, with the other being #4 on the depth chart and will spell the 3 starters as needed.

We bring Hopkins on board, and one of those two will see VERY limited snaps, while Hopkins takes around 150-160 targets if he stays healthy for the full season while Chark operates as the #2 all year.  That's 150+ targets that would mostly have been spread between TMJ and Mingo, as Chark's targets as the #1 or #2 outside WR would likely be pretty similar anyways.

Let's just say without Hopkins, TMJ and Mingo would end up splitting 100 of those targets, that's more than TMJ had all of last year (47) and only has 77 in his two year career.

So in essence, if we signed Hopkins, both players would likely end up losing about a full season's worth of targets and experience than if Hopkins isn't signed here.  Whoever ends up with the #4 spot probably gets about 50 targets on the year instead of around 100, while whoever ends up the #5 ends up with maybe 25ish instead of 75 or more.

Your argument would be correct if we didn't have Chark, it absolutely would open things up for TMJ and/or Mingo.  But with Chark, it then helps open things up for Chark and Thielen while significantly limiting the snaps that would fall to TMJ and Mingo.

We're not a SB contender this year, and yes, Hopkins likely helps Bryce develop a tad faster, which is our main goal.  I think it would hinder the growth of TMJ and Mingo more than it would help Bryce and thus hurt us more in the long run.  

Edited June 8, 2023 by tukafan21

[Harbingers]

40 minutes ago, USDepartmentOfSavagery said:

No. We need to save that cap space. Burns needs to be signed and that cap space can be better allocated next year and the year after when we are really in contention to compete. Chinn, Brown and others will need to be resigned in the near future too.

Ditto. 

[LinvilleGorge]

46 minutes ago, USDepartmentOfSavagery said:

No. We need to save that cap space. Burns needs to be signed and that cap space can be better allocated next year and the year after when we are really in contention to compete. Chinn, Brown and others will need to be resigned in the near future too.

What's that gonna do for the young QB we just mortgaged the future of the franchise on to trade up to #1 overall to draft?

[LinvilleGorge]

4 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Nobody wants a #1 WR it seems. They putting their trust in some unknown young guys.

 

I hope Mango lives up to the hype! I would hate to have a realistic chance at Hopkins and we put our faith in the young guys and they don't live up to expectations.

I'm not begging to sign Hopkins but the arguments that we shouldn't because it'll hamper our current WRs' development or hamper our ability to spend on D just doesn't make any sense. We heavily relied on the development of KB and Funchess while spending our asses off on D during Cam's career and the end result was that Cam never played with a high level NFL WR outside of Smitty early in his career.