DeAndre Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald retiring together would be a disaster

With the sudden threat of DeAndre Hopkins potentially retiring along with Larry Fitzgerald, the Arizona Cardinals could be hurting at the wide receiver position.

Mark this off as an unforeseen problem. Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins recently decided to declare to the world that he is on the anti-vaccine side of things, and then deleted it. Of course, screenshots were grabbed of his Twitter post before it was taken down. But he basically threatened to retire over the new NFL COVID-19 policies about having to forfeit games due to unvaccinated players.

This is not an article debating what Hopkins should do, it’s about how his potential decision to retire would absolutely hurt the Cardinals. While there have been some NFL coaches who have left their role for the season due to the league’s vaccination rules, we have yet to see a player cite anything related to the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols as their reason to retire.

Hopkins is currently under contract with Arizona, and Larry Fitzgerald is still a free agent. We’re at that time of the year where we need an answer from Fitzgerald on what he intends to do. It’s only fair to the Cardinals, at this point, so plans can be made.

Depth behind DeAndre Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald leaves little to be desired for Arizona Cardinals

Here’s the list of wide receivers currently on the roster who would replace both Hopkins and Fitzgerald (sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it?).

• Christian Kirk
• Rondale Moore
• A.J. Green
• KeeSean Johnson
• Rico Gafford
• Isaac Whitney
• Andy Isabella
• Andre Baccellia

The only ones I’d feel comfortable with playing are Green and Moore. Kirk and Isabella have struggled over their careers in Arizona, and the others on this list are so unknown it’s hard to get a read on their skills.

Trying to imagine what Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury would do with these players in 2021 is very hard to do. While anyone can run a bubble route, missing Hopkins and his kind of athleticism is something that you can’t always go out and find.

The impact of losing Hopkins would also affect Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray as he enters that proverbial and all-important third year as an NFL signal-caller.

If Hopkins and Fitzgerald do end up retiring before the upcoming season, it would be such an Arizona Cardinals moment that would show just how snake-bitten this franchise is.