Arizona Cardinals: Why I can’t wait to watch Hopkins’ ex-teammate play
By Sion Fawkes
During his time with the Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins was part of a dynamic duo with quarterback Deshaun Watson.
For a while now, I’ve been talking about how Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is unable to produce at an elite level and win games without DeAndre Hopkins. Well, Murray may not be the only quarterback connected to Hopkins in that regard.
Enter Deshaun Watson, who hasn’t played a regular season down since 2020. In his first season without Hopkins, Watson won a lot of championships – in fantasy football, that is. Thousands of fantasy owners reaped from Watson’s 4,823 passing yards, 33 touchdown passes, 444 rushing yards, and three rushing touchdowns.
Watson, from a numbers standpoint, looked like an elite NFL quarterback. Only one problem: The guy led his team to a 4-12 record! We all know about Watson’s recent history, stemming from his refusal to play in Houston to his facing roughly 30 serious off the field allegations leading to some to insist he never plays another down of football.
What will Arizona Cardinals Hopkins’ ex-teammate look like in Cleveland?
But I’m interested in seeing Watson play this year. As I write this, he will miss another three contests because of his 11-game suspension, at which point Cleveland (3-5) may fall out of playoff contention.
Still, it will be interesting to see what Watson’s six-game trial run will look like, assuming he doesn’t face further league discipline from even more recent allegations. Will he lead the Cleveland Browns to a few wins and pump up the fanbase known for their Wait ’til next year catchphrase?
Or, will he show the entire NFL universe that the Cleveland Browns did the most Browns thing ever and trade three first round picks for a bust because he has no real talent at receiver in Cleveland besides Amari Cooper? Who, in all honesty, is not on Hopkins’ level. Few are.
And I’m sure Hopkins will be tuning in to see how his old buddy fares in the Forest City. With a better coach in Kevin Stefanski than what the Cardinals are currently dealing with in Kliff Kingsbury, maybe there is hope for Hopkins’ ex-teammate?
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Or maybe Watson’s 4-12 outing in Houston during the 2020 season was a foreshadowing of things to come? That Hopkins was the one responsible for the Texans success when the two were together in Space City. Stay tuned, because we are about to find out as light continues to turn away and the days grow ever shorter.
(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)
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