Former Cardinals Stay Says Team is Tanking

Former Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu reacted on Twitter to the news of DeAndre Hopkins being released on Friday.

Author:
Ryan Sanudo
Publish date:
May 28, 2023 4:43 PM EDT

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Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals' decision to release DeAndre Hopkins on Friday would set social media ablaze.

Many were surprised by the Hopkins release given the trade speculation that developed in the offseason.

Still, the soon-to-be 31-year-old wide receiver was under contract with the Cardinals through the 2024 season. He also had a cap hit of $30.75 million for this year.

Arizona chose to release Hopkins as a pre-June 1 designation and will take on a $22.6 million cap hit in 2023.

That caused New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu to react to the news.

"They tanking fasho fasho," Mathieu wrote on Twitter.

Drafted by the Cardinals in 2013, Mathieu made one Pro Bowl in 2015 before being released in 2018 after refusing to take a pay cut. He would then take less money ($7 million) to play for the Houston Texans, where he joined Hopkins for one season.

And it appears that Mathieu believes the Cardinals aren't looking to be competitive in 2023 — especially after the Hopkins release.

It's clear that the Cardinals are under a rebuild with first-year head coach Jonathan Gannon and new general manager Monti Ossenfort. Arizona will be without Kyler Murray for at least the start of the regular season due to his injury. The franchise has also not overspent on any outside free agents.

Still, it's seemingly apparent that the Cardinals have done the right thing with Hopkins, who clearly wanted to move on. Arizona finished 4-13 last season and had already lost some of their top talent in free agency.

It'll now be worth monitoring which team signs Hopkins, who has five All-Pro nods with five Pro Bowl appearances in his career.