Arizona Cardinals taking $22.6 million dead money hit in 2023 was a smart idea

Now that DeAndre Hopkins has been officially released, the Arizona Cardinals will take the full $22.6 million in dead cap this season as opposed to splitting it.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk criticized the Arizona Cardinals once more, and if anyone’s keeping track, it’s now the third time he’s had an issue with the way the Redbirds front office conducts business. This time, he implied that the Cardinals would have been better off splitting Hopkins’ $11.3 million in dead cap across 2023 and 2024. 

But why? Why would a team looking to get younger while simultaneously shedding the burden of the previous team’s mistakes wish to prolong it when the entire goal here is to revamp the football team with homegrown talent?

In that regard, it makes 100 times more sense to just release Hopkins, take the $22.6 million hit in dead cap this season, and put it in the rearview. It gives the Cardinals more cap space to work with for 2024, allowing them more flexibility so general manager Monti Ossenfort can bring in more players to fit his vision in 2024 without the burden of $11.3 million in dead cap hanging over his head when there is clearly enough cap space to cover the costs this year. 

Arizona Cardinals needed to shed Hopkins’ dead cap this season

At this point, if Ossenfort wanted to sign players currently on the roster to contract extensions following the season, he can do that with more flexibility. With an additional $11.3 million staring at him next season, he’s stuck making difficult decisions of who to extend, and who he could and couldn’t sign the following offseason. So once again, getting it out of the way was the right call.

2023 was all about setting the stage, putting some much-needed building blocks in place, and as mentioned, negating mistakes from the Keim regime. Ossenfort has done just that, and he took another step in that direction regarding Hopkins’ release and the massive $22.6 million in dead cap that came with it. 

Overall, it was a genius move on Ossenfort’s part. And with more cap flexibility next season as a result, you will finally see the Arizona Cardinals build a team the right way. 

Source: Cardinals officially release DeAndre Hopkins by Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk.com