Patriots interested in DeAndre Hopkins, AFC East rival ‘long shot’ (report)

The DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes are underway.

The wide receiver, who was released from Arizona last week, is currently free to sign with any team of his choosing. On Thursday, the rumor mill was in full effect with several updates.

According to The Athletic, Hopkins is “a long shot” to sign with Buffalo since the Bills don’t have enough cap space. Buffalo has around $1.4 million in cap space, according to overthecap.com. According to the Houston Chronicle, Hopkins would be interested in coming back to the Houston Texans.

That also takes us to the Patriots. ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported that the Patriots are interested in Hopkins. However, it appears the Pro Bowl receiver isn’t close to making a decision and will take multiple visits before signing with a new team.

“There are several teams, including the New England Patriots, that are interested in DeAndre Hopkins,” Russini said on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “We’re going to see over the next few weeks Hopkins taking visits with different teams and then he’s going to make a decision with what’s best for him.”

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Hopkins, who turns 31 next week, is coming off a solid season where he caught 64 passes for 717 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. The five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro is a fan of Bill Belichick, who gave the receiver over-the-top praise last season. Hopkins also knows Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien well. O’Brien was Hopkins’ head coach with the Houston Texans for four seasons.

Although there were stories of dysfunction between Hopkins and O’Brien, the receiver’s former Texans receivers coach, John Perry, told MassLive this offseason that Hopkins would easily play for his former coach again.

Hopkins was subject to trade rumors all offseason, but Arizona couldn’t unload the receiver due to his salary. Although teams won’t have to deal with that big cap hit, Russini said Hopkins would still like to be paid like Odell Beckham Jr., who signed a one-year deal with $15 million in guaranteed money with Baltimore.

“DeAndre Hopkins wants to get paid the type of money that we saw Odell Beckham Jr. get paid. Not that same exact amount, but money is a part of this,” Russini said. “…You look at teams like the Chiefs and Bills, do they have enough money? Would Hopkins be willing to take less to play with a quarterback like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes?”