Albert Breer Details KC Chiefs’ Offseason Timeline With DeAndre Hopkins
The Kansas City Chiefs' offseason list of needs is relatively slim considering that the team is the reigning NFL champions, but general manager Brett Veach is currently placing a great deal of faith in a mostly unproven wide receiver room. Star wideout DeAndre Hopkins has been linked to the Chiefs for months as a result, and some context was added to the franchise's reported pursuit of the 31-year-old receiver this week.
In his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column on Sports Illustrated, senior NFL reporter Albert Breer provided his latest intel and thoughts on a variety of topics league-wide. One of them was Kansas City's tie to Hopkins, which dates all the way back to earlier this spring when the former Arizona Cardinals receiver had some minor trade buzz while he was still on the team. Breer reported that before April's 2023 NFL Draft, the Chiefs were trying to iron out a trade deal that would send Hopkins to Kansas City to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes:
Kansas City and Arizona worked on a trade to make Hopkins a Chief right before the draft. Those talks tailed off when Beckham got a deal with $15 million in base pay (with upside to $18 million), and Hopkins decided he wouldn’t take less than that.
The hefty one-year deal that Odell Beckham Jr. got from the Baltimore Ravens threw a wrench into the Chiefs' plans so, according to Breer, they opted to select former SMU receiver Rashee Rice with pick No. 55 in the draft. They also took the money they were hoping would be designated for Hopkins and instead spent it on Donovan Smith so he could (presumably) serve as the team's starting left tackle this coming season:
At that point, the Chiefs were determined to add a receiver, but that didn’t mean they were going to spend for one—so they took the money earmarked for Hopkins, gave it to former Buccaneers left tackle Donovan Smith, and drafted SMU wideout Rashee Rice in the second round. And now they’ve had six good weeks with Rice in the building.
Since the draft, Veach and company haven't done much more to solidify the Chiefs' receiver room. Rice was an in-draft pickup, and Richie James got added into the fold a couple of weeks before the draft began. If Kansas City felt coming into the draft that it needed another receiver, it's worth questioning whether Rice fulfilled that self-imposed need or not. After all, there isn't a sparkling track record of rookie wideouts thriving in an Andy Reid-led offense.
Over the past couple of months, the Chiefs have been lumped into just about every discussion revolving around Hopkins. Despite initial speculation from others that teaming up with Mahomes made the most sense for Hopkins winning and having a featured role, the multi-time Pro Bowler has visited with the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans without scheduling anything with Kansas City just yet. Breer notes that as the rest of the offseason unfolds before training camp, the Chiefs will evaluate where they're at in terms of needing a receiver. A Chris Jones extension could hypothetically free up the money needed to sign Hopkins:
When the team gets back from vacation, they’ll go back through the roster, and debrief on the results of the spring and, at that point, it’s possible they decide they need more help at receiver, and use cap space generated through a Jones deal to get one. Or they could decide Rice filled that need. Either way, they’ll work through it, and such post-spring discussions among other teams will probably smoke out another suitor or two for Hopkins, which could move his price tag a little bit.
The Hopkins market is a difficult one to establish. There was rumored to be a very finite number of suitors interested in trading for him when he was still with Arizona, and no club has splurged for him on the open market yet. Beckham's contract may indeed play a role in this, as well as the nature of many teams either not having much money to spend, already having patched up their holes at wideout, or both. The Chiefs will soon determine where they stand regarding this situation, but it's been made perfectly clear that they've had eyes for Hopkins for quite some time.
