The Heart of the Cards: DeAndre Hopkins is traded to Arizona
DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in a shocking turn of events on one of the busiest NFL free agency periods in recent memory. The news dropped that David Johnson was traded to the Houston Texans, but nobody could have expected Hopkins would be then be reported as part of the deal!
The Texans gave up Hopkins and a fourth-round pick in 2020 for David Johnson, a second-round pick in 2020, and a fourth-round pick in 2021.
The community-wide consensus is this was a major win for the Cardinals, and I would suggest it’s a major win for dynasty owners as well. So what’s all the excitement about?
DeAndre Hopkins
Hopkins finished in the top five fantasy wide receivers each of the last three years. He’s one of the best receivers in the NFL and was just shipped to one of the most pass-happy teams in the league. This is good news for him and the players surrounding him.
He received a ton of targets in Houston, but one detail that gets overlooked is his targets decreased by more than 10 every year over the last three years. He’s also scored fewer touchdowns each of the last three seasons, and his yards-per-target decreased almost two full yards from 2018 to 2019. Maybe he was due for a change of scenery.
Whatever the case, I doubt Hopkins will struggle to find targets with Arizona’s propensity to pass the ball. They don’t call it the “air raid” offense for nothing.
Arizona runs 3WR sets 37% of the time and 4WR sets 26% of the time. They have three or four receivers on the field 63% of the time, which is by far the highest rate in the league. Will there be competition for targets? Sure, but not enough to affect his fantasy value. Arizona passed the ball more than Houston last year (554 attempts) with a rookie quarterback at the helm. Their offense wasn’t very good, so we should see even more attempts and production in 2020.
Nobody expected Hopkins to be traded, but this should come as a pleasant surprise considering his declining success, compared to prior seasons, with the Texans. He’s just 27 years old and will immediately be slotted in as the WR1 even with long-time Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald coming back for another season. His value just spiked, so this is no time to buy up Hopkins shares in dynasty leagues. However, it could be the perfect time to sell if you’re a team in rebuild mode.
What does this all mean for Kyler Murray?
Good things, that’s what! Murray’s receivers now include DeAndre Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, and Andy Isabella. Fitzgerald and Hopkins are going to be a tough duo to defend and all to Murray’s benefit. He finished as the fantasy QB7 in 2019 but was largely propped up by his rushing production (544 yards and four touchdowns). His rushing opportunities should only increase with teams having to place more focus on the pass catchers.
The addition of one of the best receivers in the NFL should help Murray grow as a passer. He will now be learning from two of the best to ever do it. Not to mention they will be mentoring the young standout, Christian Kirk. These are all great signs for the second-year quarterback.
Murray just got a considerable boost in dynasty value. I suggest all owners test the market and see what you can get for him.
Keep an eye out for my upcoming article discussing how the DeAndre Hopkins trade affects the receiving corps in both Arizona and Houston!
Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts or would like to discuss, you can find me on Twitter @WillieBeamanDFF.
