The Patriots will not be adding to the weapons at the disposal of Mac Jones, at least not anytime soon.
Free-agent Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins picked the Titans over the Patriots on Sunday. The deal is reportedly two years at $26 million with some upside. The reality is it's likely a one-year, $15-million deal with incentives. That gets Hopkins to the level of Odell Beckham Jr.'s deal with the Ravens.
Where does that leave the Patriots?
BEDARD'S ANALYSIS
- We don't know for sure what the Patriots offered but knowing their method of operation and Bill Belichick's strict adherence to the team salary structure (at least on offense; he splurges on defense), New England likely offered Hopkins somewhere around $10 million with the chance with incentives to get to $15 million. The reason? Juju Smith-Schuster will make $10 million in cash this season.
- Of course this is a joke when the Patriots just paid Nelson Agholor $22 million for two bad seasons.
- The Patriots could have had Hopkins if they wanted to. But like we told you from the beginning, Hopkins is a different cat and was going to take the best financial offer, period. The Patriots were never going to get there unless they got desperate, and the writing was on the wall when they extended DeVante Parker.
- Of course, that's also funny because the Patriots could have waived Parker and just applied his $6 million directly to Hopkins. come out the same and won the rights to Hopkins.
- Hopkins being on this team was not going to greatly change the course of the season, so we can't now say this really hurt them. It, however, keeps the offense's margin of error very small. Basically, Jones, Rhamondre Stevenson, Ty Mongtomery/Pierre Strong, Trent Brown, Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki all have to have standout seasons for this offense to have a chance at being good enough to win double-digit games.
- Will the Patriots now go harder after RB Dalvin Cook? It's possible, but they're going to run into the same situation — Stevenson makes less than $1 million and is the starter. How much more can the Patriots offer Cook, who also seems set on maximizing his contract?