The Beatdown gang consider if the Ravens should sign WR DeAndre Hopkins
On Friday, the Arizona Cardinals released wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Now, the Baltimore Beatdown gang react and decide if it’s in the best interest of the Baltimore Ravens to pursue the star veteran pass catcher.
To afford pondering the acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins is bizarre. The Ravens are consistently a team hoping to net a star like Hopkins. But after an offseason of overhauling their wide receiver room, it makes more sense to spend the cap space they have remaining elsewhere. The defense needs final additions, rather than a surplus at wide receiver. Edge rusher and cornerback are greater needs.
Of course, Hopkins being a Raven would be a net positive, but the Ravens have Odell Beckham Jr., Rashod Bateman and rookie Zay Flowers ready to fit the mold. But if the injury bug strikes one or more of these talents, it makes sense to have Hopkins. Isn’t that strange to read? The Ravens should have a star like Hopkins for the injury risk? This is all unfamiliar territory.
Right now, the Ravens are a Marlon Humphrey injury from Rock Ya-Sin being their No. 1 cornerback. They need greater depth, but I’m uncertain what they can really do outside of signing Marcus Peters at this time. — Kyle Barber
For the first time in who knows how long, the Ravens actually seem set at wide receiver. With that being said, how often does a receiver of Hopkin’s caliber become available in late May? Baltimore has other needs to fill right now, such as another cornerback or edge rusher, but any players at those positions still on the market come with obvious warts and concerns. Hopkins has stated that he would like to play with quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens should have the ability to make a deal work, but there are ramifications to adding another alpha receiver.
While Baltimore will surely pass a decent amount more under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken, it would be foolish to not capitalize on this offenses rushing attack with the best dual-threat quarterback in the league and a hungry J.K. Dobbins in the backfield with a strong offensive line upfront paving the way. With tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely to go with the highly-paid Odell Beckham Jr., Rashod Bateman, Zay Flowers, Nelson Agholor, and Devin Duvernay at wide receiver, targets will already be stretched thin, and given the alpha mentality of many wide receivers, adding another player to take away even more targets could potentially prove problematic, especially for a young player such as Bateman who will be looking to establish himself as a true No. 1 wide receiver in this league before his rookie contract nears a close.
I am quite torn on whether the Ravens should pursue Hopkins. Having too many mouths to feed at wide receiver sounds like a great thing on paper, but given the other remaining needs on the roster and the potential to upset certain current players by signing Hopkins, I will lean towards staying away from adding another big-name receiver right now. As much as I want Jackson to have an endless supply of weapons, there are other factors to consider when putting together a football team in the NFL, for both the upcoming season and future implications. — Dustin Cox
In my opinion, signing Hopkins right now would be a waste of cap space without another move. With depth and talent issues still around at Edge, cornerback, left guard, and even safety, using cap space on another wide receiver without releasing or trading a big name creates an unneeded log jam.
If the Ravens roster was already set everywhere else, going for Hopkins and getting an embarrassment of riches after years of failure at receivers would make sense. But as of right now, the Ravens still need to bring in one of Justin Houston, Jadeveon Clowney, Leonard Floyd or even Yannick Ngakoue to sure up the edge room. And adding Marcus Peters or Adrian Amos to sure up the secondary should be considered as well. Until then, more additions at wide receiver should be ignored. — Zach Canter
Before the draft, adding Hopkins made sense. The Ravens were thin at receiver and adding a proven star in Hopkins would have allowed Baltimore to pursue another position in the draft. However, Hopkins wasn’t dealt, and the Ravens used their first round pick on Zay Flowers. As the team knows well after last year, you can never have too many receivers, but adding Hopkins would give the Ravens an unnecessary surplus of riches at the position. Baltimore has never shied away from being bold and adding talent to the team, but it makes more sense for them to reinforce the edge or cornerback position before spending big money on another receiver. — Stephen Bopst