It’s been quiet so far for the Panthers today as the legal tampering window has opened ahead of free agency. The rest of the NFL has gone completely berserk, though.
To recap, Austin Hooper is about to become the highest-paid tight end in the league, the Bears may finally do something right at quarterback and Bill O’Brien has at last reached his peak form. The biggest headline of the day is that the Texans have traded wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals in exchange for running back David Johnson.
When Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. heard the news, he shared his disbelief with a classic Chappelle’s Show skit GIF.
On the surface, this trade looks really bad. When you take a closer look, it gets even worse.
Not only are the Texans trading one of the league’s elite wide receivers for a running back with a bad contract, they’re also not getting nearly enough in terms of draft capital. According to Adam Schefter, Houston is getting a second-round pick in 2020 plus a fourth-rounder in 2021. Meanwhile, Arizona gets a fourth-rounder this year in addition to Hopkins.
Ouch.
Arizona gets a true WR1 and the Cards can double up next month and take advantage of a deep wide receiver class. This is all great news for their second-year quarterback Kyler Murray, who lacked for weapons as a rookie. He should be an early favorite to win Most Improved Player next year.
On the other side, Deshaun Watson deserves better. Just awful.
