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In case you forgot, the Houston Texans used to employ one of the three best wide receivers in football. Then they traded DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals for David Johnson and a second round pick after Hopkins, despite having three years left on his current contract, requested a new deal, which he used as a way to push himself out of Houston to a new team.
Hopkins’ new team, the Arizona Cardinals, obliged and made Hopkins the highest non-paid quarterback in the NFL. Hopkins signed a two-year contract extension worth $54.25 million, meaning Hopkins gets $42.75 million guaranteed, including a $27.5 million signing bonus.
Sources: The #AZCardinals are making star WR DeAndre Hopkins the highest paid non-QB ever, giving him a 2-year contract extension worth $54.5M in new money -- $27.25M per year. Hopkins, who did the deal himself, gets $42.75M guaranteed at signing.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 8, 2020
More on DeAndre Hopkins’ agreed upon contract extension with the #AZCardinals: The last year is voidable, which could turn this contract into a 1-year deal worth $39.585M at some point. He got a $27.5M signing bonus, a large sum in a pandemic. https://t.co/kYJZ4qOygt
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 8, 2020
The contract extends Hopkins’ current contract by two years and bumps up his yearly salary from a bargain (because of the time and place when Hopkins signed his first contract extension back in 2017) to make him one of the highest paid players in the NFL again.
Despite the contract extension, this in no way gives Bill O’Brien a pass for the trade of Hopkins. Hopkins had zero leverage, yet O’Brien took one of the first offers he got and failed to get back value matching Hopkins’ talent and production. The Hopkins trade was bad then. It was bad when they turned the resources into Ross Blacklock, Brandin Cooks, and David Johnson. Even after Hopkins’ new extension, it still looks bad now.