The Arizona Cardinals released DeAndre Hopkins on Friday, ending a tenure in the desert that lasted three seasons and a total of 35 games for the former All-Pro.
Though among the most productive wideouts -- he was the fifth-most heavily used wide receiver in the league (34.8% of the Cardinals' receiving yards) for the weeks that he played in 2022 -- Hopkins was scheduled to have a cap hit of $30.8M this season, which would've been the highest for any wide receiver in the NFL. His $14.45-million salary -- though not guaranteed -- was prohibitive for interested teams that wanted to rework his contract or requested Arizona to pay part of the salary.