DeAndre Hopkins Could Be the NFL's Best Agent
DeAndre Hopkins got a new contract extension from the Arizona Cardinals on Tuesday. He negotiated the deal himself and it is stunning. He will be the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history and given the concessions he won, he might just be the league's best agent.
Sources: The #AZCardinals are making star WR DeAndre Hopkins the highest paid non-QB ever, giving him a 2-year contract extension worth $54.5M in new money -- $27.25M per year. Hopkins, who did the deal himself, gets $42.75M guaranteed at signing.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 8, 2020
Hopkins' new two-year extension will be tacked onto his existing three-year deal. It will pay him $54.5 million, with $42.75 million guaranteed at signing. The deal will pay him $27.25 million per year and brings his total five-year compensation to $94 million. While that all sounds great, there are even more crazy details.
Hopkins can void the final year of the new extension, which could, in essence, make it a one-year extension worth an absurd $39.585 million. The signing bonus alone was wroth $27.5 million. As Ian Rapoport pointed out, that's a big total in the middle of a pandemic. On top of all of that, Hopkins scored a rare concession in NFL contracts: a no-trade clause. If he decides he loves Arizona, the team won't be able to move him.
It's incredible Hopkins was able to negotiate this deal on his own. The 28-year-old is a top three receiver in the NFL, so he was going to get a big contract, but this is something else. He has single-handedly blown the roof off the wide receiver market. The $27.25 million per year he received in his new extension is 24 percent higher than the $22 million per year Julio Jones got.
At $27.25M per year, DeAndre Hopkins has raised the WR market by nearly 24%. Julio Jones was the highest paid at $22M per year.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) September 8, 2020
Hopkins is going to be a lot of fun to watch in Kliff Kingsbury's offense with Kyler Murray throwing to him. He could be on the verge of putting up video game numbers. But it's hard not to feel like Arizona got taken for a ride by a savvy negotiator here. Without even knowing how the next five years play out, it's obvious Hopkins is the big winner in this deal.