The Arizona Cardinals are reportedly being bombarded with trade interest in their third overall pick for this month's NFL Draft.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, at least six teams have contacted the Cardinals to gauge their asking price.

Arizona are believed to be open to trading the pick due to the fact that they content with Kyler Murray as their franchise quarterback going forward, and with the top two picks almost assuredly going to be used on quarterback prospects, pick three is viewed as the only chance to trade up and get one of the class' best arms.

The Carolina Panthers recently traded up from pick nine to the Chicago Bears' top overall selection with the clear goal to select their quarterback of the future, and in addition to pick nine they sent away pick 61, a 2024 first-rounder, a 2025 second-rounder, and their top wide receiver D.J. Moore.

It has the potential to be a franchise-altering haul for the Bears, and while the package for what is essentially the third-best quarterback prospect in the class will be significantly less than the price to have your pick of the bunch, a bidding war could be just what the Cardinals need.

If they were to stay put at three and make a selection, the Cardinals would likely take the best non-quarterback on the board, and the consensus there is Alabama edge-rusher Will Anderson.

Anderson would immediately become one of the Cardinals' most valuable players, but a roster with so many holes needs more than one defensive player to get things back on track.

Arizona also hold three more top-100 picks – at 34, 66 and 96 – and four more in the later rounds, so a strong return for their top selection could set the franchise up for a quick turnaround.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will miss the New Year's Day trip to face the Atlanta Falcons due to a knee injury.

Hopkins had been listed as questionable for the Week 17 encounter on Sunday and he was ruled out on New Year's Eve after his injury flared up this week.

He will sit out a seventh game of the season for a Cardinals side that are out of playoff contention.

Hopkins missed the opening six games of the year due to a suspension for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Andre Baccellia has been promoted from Arizona's practice squad in the absence of Hopkins.

The Cardinals confirmed on Friday that David Blough will be the starting quarterback against the Falcons.

 

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward did not gain any respect for star Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins when they matched up on Monday.

The 49ers won the contest convincingly 38-10 as the Cardinals were without starting quarterback Kyler Murray, missing his second consecutive game through injury.

Despite the Cardinals' struggles, Hopkins managed a productive outing, catching nine passes for 91 yards from his 12 targets. Since his return from a six-week suspension for traces of performance enhancing drugs in his system, Hopkins leads the NFL in both targets and catches.

However, speaking to the 49ers' radio broadcast after the win, Ward took the opportunity to trash the five-time All-Pro, calling him "steroid boy".

"D-Hop, he think he a tough guy," he said. "He think he still one of the best receivers in the league, and he really not.

"He was getting locked up. He was doing some dirty things. He tried to clip me, he grabbed me by the throat. He grabbed my facemask on one play, so I don’t respect his game. That’s steroid boy."

Ward, who arrived as a key free agent signing in the offseason from the Kansas City Chiefs, led the 49ers in total tackles in the game, tying his season-high with 10.

It was the third consecutive week the 49ers' defense have not allowed a single point in the second half, leading to three wins on the trot to climb atop the NFC West with a 6-4 record.

The Arizona Cardinals snapped their two-game losing skid by capitalizing on three Andy Dalton interceptions in a 42-34 win over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday.

The Cardinals led 35-17 before the Saints scored two fourth-quarter TDs through Dalton passes, but the damage was done as Arizona improved to 3-4 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Arizona QB Kyler Murray, who was seen shouting at head coach Kliff Kingsbury in the second quarter, completed 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions, along with 30 rushing yards. DeAndre Hopkins sparked his side, returning from suspension for the first time this season for 103 yards from 10 catches.

Cardinals running backs Eno Benjamin, who had 12 carries for 92 yards, and rookie Keaontay Ingram both scored TDs.

The story of the game was Saints QB Dalton, starting for the fourth straight game in Jameis Winston's absence due to a back injury. 

Dalton had thrown only one interception in his previous three starts, but gave away three, including two pick-sixes to Marco Wilson and Isaiah Simmons. He had 30-of-47 passing for 361 yards with four touchdowns, connecting with Juwan Johnson for two of them, but the three interceptions hurt.

The Saints had gone ahead early when Dalton found Rashid Shaheed with a 53-yard TD pass, but the Cardinals worked their way back with 25 second-quarter points. Ingram powered his way in for a TD, before Wilson swooped on Marquez Callaway's tip ball, followed by Simmons' interception return from the 40-yard line.

The game marked the Cardinals' first 40-plus-point game since January 1 2017, breaking the longest streak in the NFL of 87 games.

Larry Fitzgerald does not believe DeAndre Hopkins' PED suspension will have any impact on his long-term legacy.

All-Pro wide receiver Hopkins was this month suspended for the first six games of the 2022 campaign for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

The news served as a substantial blow to the Arizona Cardinals and their hopes of success in the coming season.

But Cardinals legend and former team-mate Fitzgerald rejected talk of the ban tarnishing Hopkins' reputation.

"I don't think so," Fitzgerald said when asked by TMZ if he thought the suspension would taint Hopkins' legacy.

"He'll still be a Hall of Famer. He's talented. He'll work through it.

"It's just some adversity and, you know, he's a tough guy, resourceful, and he'll work his way through it."

The Cardinals may have a tougher time working their way through his 2022 absence.

With Hopkins on the field last year in the regular season, they went 8-2, averaging 30.2 points per game. In the seven games he missed through injury, the Cardinals were 3-4, scoring 21 points per game.

They start their 2022 campaign with an extremely difficult assignment, hosting a Kansas City Chiefs team that has reached the AFC Championship Game in each of the last four seasons.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is to be suspended for six games by the NFL for violation of the league's performance-enhancing drug policy, according to reports.

The 29-year-old required MCL surgery after suffering a knee injury in December's 30-23 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, missing the remainder of the 2021 campaign, including the Wild Card playoff loss to the Rams.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Cardinals will be without Hopkins for the opening six games of the season due to his suspension, which is final after he withdrew his appeal.

The Cardinals traded on draft day for another wide receiver, Marquise Brown, having lost Christian Kirk after the 25-year-old signed a $72million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In the 10 games he did play in last season, Hopkins – a three-time first-team All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selection – managed 42 receptions for a total of 572 yards, with eight touchdowns to his name.

In the 2020 season, his first with Arizona after being traded by the Houston Texans, he recorded 1,407 yards from 115 receptions, and six TDs.

The Arizona Cardinals acknowledged the impact of DeAndre Hopkins' injury-affected outing against the Green Bay Packers in their first defeat of the year, but Kyler Murray said his team should still have played better.

The Cardinals came into Thursday night's huge game against the Packers looking to stretch their unbeaten start to 8-0 – a new franchise record.

Instead, Arizona went down 24-21 to Green Bay, who also improved to 7-1.

A last-gasp Murray interception – his second of the night – decided the game, but the earlier absence of wide receiver Hopkins had restricted the Cards to that point.

Having been dealing with a hamstring injury heading into the Packers game, Hopkins went out for more than two quarters due to the same issue.

Hopkins caught both of his targets for two first downs and 66 yards, but he had averaged 6.7 targets and 4.7 receptions per game throughout the Cardinals' winning run.

The former Houston Texans wideout failed to add to his seven season touchdowns, with Arizona's three scores all coming across the ground.

Unable to look to Hopkins as often as he would like, quarterback Murray threw multiple picks and no TDs in a game for the first time in his career.

But the Packers were also without their elite WR Davante Adams, along with number two option Allen Lazard, and Aaron Rodgers was still able to lead Green Bay to victory.

Murray was reluctant to make excuses, saying: "Obviously, if you take the best receiver in the game out [Hopkins], it makes it a little tough, but I have confidence in everybody out there.

"I don’t want to make it about that. It wasn’t about that. We just didn't play up to our standards."

Coach Kliff Kingsbury was willing to highlight Hopkins' absence, however.

"He's pretty good," he said. "I mean, that's a big part of our offense having that guy."

Crucially, the Cardinals were also missing players on defense. Corey Peters is out with COVID-19 and Rashard Lawrence has a calf injury, while Zaven Collins went out with a shoulder injury late in the first half.

J.J. Watt was surely the team's biggest miss, though, after his own shoulder injury that is set to end his season.

"We've got to get Rashard and Corey Peters back," Kingsbury said. "Obviously, having those two guys out was not ideal with J.J. going out as well. But you can't replace a presence like that."

It's a passing league. You hear it said so often these days about how the NFL has become all about throwing the ball, rather than running it.  

Quarterbacks have dominated the MVP award in recent years, with the last player from another position to scoop the honour coming back in 2012. 

In the 2020 regular season, 18 players topped 1,000 receiving yards. That was actually a decrease from the previous campaign, when no fewer than 29 achieved the feat, but does not necessarily reflect a reverse on recent trends.  

Stefon Diggs led the way in the previous campaign with 1,535 yards. The Buffalo Bills receiver will be expected to be a key component for his team on offense again in 2021, yet no individual has topped the list for two straight years since Calvin Johnson, who managed to do so in 2011 and again in 2012.  

So who are the top contenders to lead the way this time around? Stats Perform takes a look... 

 

Stefon Diggs 

Acquired by the Bills through a trade with the Minnesota Vikings, Diggs enjoyed an outstanding first campaign in Buffalo. He not only led the way for receiving yards but also catches (127) and targets (166), aided by him playing in all 16 games in a year where COVID-19 impacted so many rosters. His 95.9 yards per game ranked second, even though he had just seven plays that went for 25 yards or more. Emmanuel Sanders has arrived during free agency to bolster the receiving group in Buffalo, yet the former Maryland Terrapin undoubtedly remains top of the depth chart and has established a rapport with starting quarterback Josh Allen.  

Calvin Ridley 

Ridley's third year as an Atlanta Falcon saw him emerge as a pass-catching superstar. The 26-year-old had 90 catches from 143 targets, resulting in 1,374 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. According to Stats Perform data, Ridley recorded a big play of 45.1 per cent of his targets, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL among wide receivers. New head coach Arthur Smith got his chance at a top job after impressing in charge of a run-heavy Tennessee Titans offense, but by no means does that mean a receiver cannot prosper in his system. The main reason for Ridley hoping to improve on his previous numbers is the departure of Julio Jones, the franchise legend who did miss games through injury in 2020 but still had 51 catches.   

Justin Jefferson 

Rookie receivers are not meant to settle into NFL life as quickly as Jefferson did with the Minnesota Vikings. The first-round pick selected with the intention of replacing the departed Diggs had 88 receptions for 1,400 yards - surpassing the single-season record by a rookie in the Super Bowl era, set by Anquan Boldin (1,377) back in 2003. That is a particularly impressive achievement when you consider he had just 70 yards combined in his first two games, yet he made up for lost time with seven 100-yard outings in the weeks that followed. Yards after the catch (YAC) will likely need to rise for him to surpass those numbers, considering he averaged 4.6 yards per reception in 2020, putting him down at 27th among receivers. 

Davante Adams 

A contract year, plus a quarterback with a point to prove (again) are potentially the added ingredients required for Adams to have a record-breaking year in what could potentially be his last for the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers is still around after an offseason full of intrigue - and the reigning MVP already fed his top option relentlessly in 2020. Indeed, Adams' average of 10.6 targets and 8.2 receptions per game were the best for any receiver in the NFL, as well as leading the way with 18 touchdown catches and 98.1 yards per outing. His total yardage of 1,374 was tied for fifth, but it should be remembered he played in only 14 games. He recorded a burn, which is when a receiver wins his matchup on a play where he is targeted regardless of whether the pass is catchable, 70.1 per cent of the time and led all receivers with 3.9 burn yards per route. With the benefit of three more games than he had in 2020, Adams is perhaps the favourite to usurp Diggs at the top of the leaderboard.   

Tyreek Hill 

Hill averaged a healthy 14.7 yards per catch and 9.0 receptions a game as part of a high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense. His final total of 87 catches came from 135 targets, showing how he remains a prominent option for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, helping him top 1,000 receiving yards for a third time in four years (he had 860 while playing in 12 games in 2019) and average 3.3 burn yards per route. The Chiefs are coming off a painful Super Bowl loss and may feel they have a point to prove, yet the main concern for Hill's hopes is the presence of a dominant tight end on the roster (more on him to come...). 

DeAndre Hopkins 

In his first year with the Arizona Cardinals, Hopkins set a franchise record for receptions in a season, finishing up with 115 (matching his best season with the Houston Texans, by the way) for a total of 1,407 yards. His 7.2 catches per game ranked third behind only Adams and Diggs, aided by 13 plays that went for 25 yards or more. His YAC number (510) also ranked in the top 10 for all positions, helping him secure a fifth trip to the Pro Bowl. The 29-year-old has missed just two games in his entire career and while he is set to head into his ninth season, there has been little sign of him slowing up in terms of overall output.  

DK Metcalf 

Having gradually emerged in 2019 before making having a noticeable impact in the postseason, Metcalf made a further leap in his second year with the Seattle Seahawks. His big-play ability was demonstrated by his 15.7 yards per catch – Jefferson (15.9) was the only receiver to be targeted at least 120 times and finish with a higher average. Likewise, the Vikings rookie had 16 receptions that went for 25 or more yards, one more than Metcalf managed while working with Russell Wilson. His offseason included a spell on the track, he clocked 10.36 seconds in his 100m heat at the Golden Games and Distance Open in California, but now the focus is back to football, and Metcalf will hope to use that speed to help him improve on his gaudy average of 13.31 burn yards per target from 2020 and take the Seattle offense to the next level.

Best of the rest 

Who else could emerge from the pack? Michael Thomas led the league for receiving yards in 2019 with the help of Drew Brees, only to then endure an unexpected down year last time out. His early trip to the PUP list has likely ended his hopes of regaining the crown before Week 1 has even kicked off. Terry McLaurin had similar numbers to Hill (87 receptions on 134 targets), as well as 486 yards after the catch – a number only topped by four receivers. 

Meanwhile, A. J. Brown topped 1,000 yards for a second straight season with the Titans and trailed only Adams with 3.6 burn yards per route, though he now has former Falcon Jones for company on the roster. Allen Robinson should not be dismissed after having 151 targets on a struggling Chicago Bears offense, while Justin Herbert's emergence with the Los Angeles Chargers helped Keenan Allen average 10.5 targets per outing, second most in the NFL. If a long shot is more your fancy, Diontae Johnson had 88 receptions for 923 yards, but those figures came on 144 targets and Johnson's big-play percentage was a disappointing 21.3.  

Dak Prescott's return to fitness should help the Dallas Cowboys' plethora of receiving options, including Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb, while Matthew Stafford's move to Los Angeles will be expected to pad the numbers for Rams duo Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp.  

The year of the tight end? 

Blocking is still part of the job but catching balls has become a key aspect of life as an NFL tight end: Travis Kelce had the second-most receiving yards (1,416) and Darren Waller (1,196) also made the top 10. Waller actually had more targets out of the pair, while his 576 yards after the catch put him second behind only running back Alvin Kamara in the entire league. George Kittle made it to four figures in 2018 and 2019, only to then see injury ruin his fourth campaign with the San Francisco 49ers, one in which he was open on 90.5 per cent of targets and led all tight ends with 3.9 burn yards per route. Expect him to try and make up for lost time. 

Then there is Kyle Pitts, the rookie selected fourth overall by the Falcons. Despite playing only eight games, he led the FBS in receiving yards (770) as he racked up 96.3 yards per game, averaging 17.9 yards per catch. If he can translate those ridiculous numbers to the pro game, Pitts will become immediately become prominent in Atlanta's offense, potentially taking away some opportunities that could go to Ridley. 

J.J. Watt has revealed he is joining the Cardinals, reuniting him with former Houston Texans team-mate DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona.

Defensive end Watt became a free agent after his request to be released by the Texans - the team who drafted him in the first round back in 2011 - was granted in February.

Speculation over his next destination had been rife since his departure from Houston, but the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year has now confirmed his new home for the 2021 season.

Posting a picture while working out in a Cardinals shirt, Watt simply wrote: "Source: me."

According to sources, Watt will sign a two-year, $31million contract with the Cardinals. It is reported that the deal includes $23m in guaranteed money.

Watt, who turns 32 this month, has only previously played in the NFL for the Texans, who selected him with the 11th pick a decade ago. 

He is the franchise's all-time leader for sacks (101), including posting 20.5 in the 2012 season as he was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year for the first time. 

Watt went on to win the honour in both 2014 and 2015, while he has also been named first-team All-Pro on five occasions, most recently in 2018. 

The former Wisconsin Badger has endured injury issues in his career, though he played in all 16 games this past season, logging 52 tackles, five sacks and one interception. 

Despite having one year remaining on his deal, Watt and the Texans came to an agreement to mutually part ways as the franchise appears set to go through a rebuilding process. 

Watt will be back on the same roster as Hopkins, the wide receiver having been part of a blockbuster trade between Houston and Arizona almost a year ago. 

Hopkins had 115 receptions for 1,407 yards and six touchdowns as the Cardinals posted an 8-8 record in the highly competitive NFC West, not enough to seal a return to the postseason for the first time in five years.

J.J. Watt has revealed he is joining the Cardinals, reuniting him with former Houston Texans team-mate DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona.

Defensive end Watt became a free agent after his request to be released by the Texans - the team who drafted him in the first round back in 2011 - was granted in February.

Speculation over his next destination had been rife since his departure from Houston, but the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year has now confirmed his new home for the 2021 season.

Posting a picture while working out in a Cardinals shirt, Watt simply wrote: "Source: me."

According to sources, Watt will sign a two-year, $31million contract with the Cardinals. It is reported that the deal includes $23m in guaranteed money.

Watt, who turns 32 this month, has only previously played in the NFL for the Texans, who selected him with the 11th pick a decade ago. 

He is the franchise's all-time leader for sacks (101), including posting 20.5 in the 2012 season as he was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year for the first time. 

Watt went on to win the honour in both 2014 and 2015, while he has also been named first-team All-Pro on five occasions, most recently in 2018. 

The former Wisconsin Badger has endured injury issues in his career, though he played in all 16 games this past season, logging 52 tackles, five sacks and one interception. 

Despite having one year remaining on his deal, Watt and the Texans came to an agreement to mutually part ways as the franchise appears set to go through a rebuilding process. 

Watt will be back on the same roster as Hopkins, the wide receiver having been part of a blockbuster trade between Houston and Arizona almost a year ago. 

Hopkins had 115 receptions for 1,407 yards and six touchdowns as the Cardinals posted an 8-8 record in the highly competitive NFC West, not enough to seal a return to the postseason for the first time in five years.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.