Philadelphia Eagles: Passing on DeAndre Hopkins is a Cardinal sin

The Philadelphia Eagles prioritized the wrong number 10 this past March.

For a small, strange period of time, Bill O’Brien had complete control over the Houston Texans, and for… some reason, he got really, really weird with it.

How weird? I’m talking trading two firsts and a second for Laramy Tunsul, moving on from Jadeveon Clowney for a third-round pick only to trade said pick for Duke Johnson, and trading a second-round pick for Brandin Cooks’ massive contract weird.

But one move above all others will forever haunt the ex-GM indefinitely as he attempts to relaunch his career outside of the Lonestar State: Trading DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for David Johnson and a second-round pick.

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Now, in theory, the idea to move on from Hopkins tracked. He was coming off his third-straight All-Pro season and was looking to be paid like the top-tier receiver he’d proven time and time again to be through the first seven years of his career. Despite having decent enough auxiliary weapons like Will Fuller, Hopkins was far and away Deshaun Watson‘s favorite target and routinely accounted for 20-25 percent of the team’s total offensive production. It seems beyond obvious to move on from that guy for a second-round pick and an oft-injured running back, especially after trading a Day 2 pick for another running back not one year prior.

Oh wait, that actually doesn’t make any sense at all – my bad.

But why, you may ask, is this relevant to the Philadelphia Eagles?

Because Carson Wentz, not Kyler Murray, could be benefiting from one of the best wide receivers in the game instead of a handful of bizarre Jalen Hurts trick plays that have statistically ended in fumbles about as often as positive yardage.

Now I know, I know, I like Hurts as much as the next guy, but when you have a chance to land a superstar like Hoskins a month before the draft, why on earth would you pass on it? Heck, based on what the Cards surrendered to O’Brien, the Eagles may have been able to get Alshon Jeffery off their books too, as older, injury-prone vets appear to be a favorite of the former Penn State head coach.

I don’t want to get too deep into the ‘what if’ rabbit hole, but if the Eagles already had Hopkins under contract going into draft weekend, they probably wouldn’t have needed to use their first-round pick on Jalen Reagor and could have instead focused on a player like Patrick Queen or Jaylon Johnson who would look really, really good in midnight green right about now. Or hey, the Eagles could have still picked Reagor, and literally every other pick they made, and would still be head and shoulders better off than their current receiver-less plight a month into the regular season.

Through four games, Hopkins leads the league in receptions at 39 and is on track for just shy of 1,600 yards if he continues along at his current clip. While it’s hard to imagine Doug Pederson giving Hopkins that many looks in his weirdly uncreative, spread-the-ball-around system, it’s hard to imagine Wentz not looking Hopkins’ way more often than not, especially when the play is breaking down.

Next. 3 key numbers worth paying attention to in Week 5. dark

In the NFL – and really, life in general – sometimes an opportunity will appear ever so suddenly and disappear forever just as fast. Wide receivers like DeAndre Hopkins don’t become available every day because ‘football minds’ like Bill O’Brien are seldom given carte blanche to rebuild a roster in his image regardless of a player’s jersey sales. Had Howie Roseman taken advantage of BOB’s borderline unhealthy desire to cut loose Hopkins for pennies on the dollar, maybe he’d be helping Carson Wentz put together another MVP-caliber season, instead of preparing to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15 with Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals.

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