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Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was shockingly traded from the Houston Texans to the Arizona Cardinals at the start of the 2020 NFL preseason. Dom Petrillo analyzes the fantasy football impact of this deal on Hopkins, Kyler Murray, Christian Kirk and other WRs in the desert.
In a shocking move at the start of the NFL offseason, the Texans traded star wideout DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for running back David Johnson and a swap of draft picks. What does the trade of DeAndre Hopkins mean? First off, it means Bill O’Brien truly has no idea what he is doing. Besides that, it means a lot for the fantasy outlooks of many players on the Cardinals.
We will dive into the fantasy impact on the Texans in another article. As for Arizona and the Air Raid offense, this means great things in 2020.
Living in the desert is hard enough. Having to root for a bad team like the Cardinals year after year only makes it harder to deal with the heat. Sure, it is a dry heat, but it is still heat. That said, things are looking up as the Cardinals now have a legit WR1 to complement their young wideouts and future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald. Let's take a closer look.
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Breakout Time for Kyler
This move can only mean great things for second-year quarterback Kyler Murray. While many already had him pegged as a key player to break out in year two, this all but guarantees this should be the case. Of course, we saw what happened in 2019 with Baker Mayfield and the Browns, so nothing is truly guaranteed.
The addition of Hopkins is far different than the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. in Cleveland, however. In the first place, Hopkins does not have the off-field baggage coming along with him. He is not a diva and was not basically asked to leave by management as OBJ was. He is also not coming off a season or career rife with injuries. He is instead coming off two incredible seasons in which he played in 31 games, amassing 219 receptions, over 3,000 receiving yards and 18 TD.
Hopkins has thrived even with terrible quarterback play, catching passes from the likes of Tom Savage, Brock Osweiler, Bryan Hoyer, Ryan Mallett and even Brandon Weeden, among others. He only failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards once since his rookie year of 2013 and that was in 2016, the year before Deshaun Watson came to town. With this type of consistent production, Kyler Murray is going to be very happy for a long time.
Other Redbird Receivers
Larry Fitzgerald is not getting younger. He is coming back this season at age 38 and is winding down his career as a complementary piece rather than a featured receiver. At 27, Hopkins is the perfect replacement for him in the offense. He does not play the same position of course, as Fitzgerald lives in the slot. But as a leader in the locker room, Larry Legend should pass the torch to Nuk. In helping Christian Kirk and the other young receivers become professionals, he will become the new man in town.
This will also help Christian Kirk rise into the top-24 conversation at the WR position for fantasy. Many thought he would have a stellar season in 2019. Instead, he failed to deliver what was expected, catching 68 balls for 709 yards and just three scores. But with Fitzgerald manning the slot and Nuk on the opposite side of the field, this will open up everything for Kirk that he could ever want. He should continue to improve and in the coming years as Fitzgerald leaves, Kirk and Hopkins will provide one of the top receiving duos in the NFL for the next half-decade.
Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler had miserable rookie seasons. Isabella's disappointing debut was primarily due to a lack of playing time and Butler due to preseason injury. This move does not lead anyone to expect much from them now either. Yes, Arizona used the four-receiver set more than any other team in the NFL last season, But with a big three like Hopkins, Kirk and Fitzgerald, the production coming from the fourth receiver is not going to be someone worth drafting in your redraft leagues. Their dynasty stock should take a hit, which makes them weak holds in all but deep leagues.
2020 Outlook
In immediate terms, Hopkins is still a top-five receiver. No matter the offense, you feed the beast. Hopkins is clearly the beast. Murray may not yet have the cachet that Deshaun Watson does as an NFL passer, but that could change quickly. As stated earlier, Christian Kirk can firmly be considered a WR2 in fantasy. He is a safe pick in the middle rounds and has a ceiling to be a top-12 guy by season's end. Larry Fitzgerald is a legend, hence the nickname. But in his age-38 season, he is also slowing down. As much as I would love to say he is going to also be a fantasy starter, this won’t likely happen. He is, at best a WR4 in favorable matchups. If you can get him late enough in drafts, he may be worth a flier. But with the hype surrounding the offense with DeAndre Hopkins in town, he is going to go higher than he should in most drafts.
The real winner in this trade is Kyler Murray. Coming off a rookie season in which he threw for 3,723 yards, 20 TD and 12 INT, Murray is now set up for success in 2020 and beyond. With the re-signing of tackle D.J. Humphries and now the trade for Hopkins, Arizona is likely to make an offensive lineman the pick at number eight in April’s draft. This will bolster the line and give Murray the time to find all of his weapons as well as run around and gain yards on the ground. He also has a running back in Kenyan Drake who showed well in his limited time last season when given the chance. Drake was recently given the transition tag, which means he is likely to be retained unless a team overwhelms with an offer the Cardinals don't want to match, which seems unlikely. If Murray was comfortably in the top-10 for quarterbacks entering free agency, he is now in the top-five and could surpass Watson in ADP by the time the season begins.
While free agency has just begun, the early trade for Hopkins could be the most significant addition to any team this offseason. Stars have changed teams in the past. Usually, it comes on the downside of their career or after an injury-plagued or rocky tenure. But this is not the case here. Hopkins will lead this team to the playoffs and maybe, just maybe, give Larry Fitzgerald a Super Bowl sendoff. The quartet of Murray, Hopkins, Kirk, and Drake could be the stack you want in 2020 fantasy football drafts.
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