3 reasons the Cleveland Browns should avoid DeAndre Hopkins
By Greg Newland
With the Cleveland Browns fully in offseason mode, the rumor mill is already swirling with big-name players being linked. It’s hard to believe that a star player would be enticed to come to Cleveland after three years of failure, but having Deshaun Watson as the quarterback will certainly help lure some guys in.
There’s no doubt that Andrew Berry will be motivated to make some moves, as his reputation is on the line after giving up six picks and a fully guaranteed $230 million contract for Watson. The big thing to watch, will he get more aggressive feeling that his seat could be warmer and warmer if the team has a fourth straight disappointing season in 2023.
The hot name right now is DeAndre Hopkins. With Kliff Kingsbury out, it appears that Hopkins won’t return to the Cardinals and will be released or traded. Watson and Hopkins have a history together in Houston, but the Browns should be careful on this one. Here are three reasons to avoid a Hopkins trade.
Reason No. 3 to avoid DeAndre Hopkins: OBJ 2.0
Slow down just a moment if you think that I’m calling Hopkins the same type of guy that Odell Beckham was for the Cleveland Browns. All wide receivers have a little diva in them, but nothing jumps off the chart as a red flag for Hopkins.
My concern with adding Hopkins is your limiting targets for your other main players like Amari Cooper and David Njoku. If Donovan Peoples-Jones has another strong offseason you could throw him in there as well. Then with limited targets, frustration comes and then acting out follows —as we saw with OBJ.
My point is, the Browns could really use an upgrade at wide receiver that would move DPJ to the third guy, or just a strong candidate to upgrade the third receiving position. However, I don’t think that the Browns need a complete overhaul of the position by adding a superstar like Hopkins.
If Cooper was getting eight targets in 2022, do you really want to see them drop in half to make sure Hopkins gets the ball? There’s only one ball on the field at a time, and only one position player can take the handoff or catch from the quarterback each play.