Deshaun Watson wants a DeAndre Hopkins reunion in Cleveland
Deshaun Watson expressed his hope and desire to reunite with his former Houston Texans teammate DeAndre Hopkins, but this time in a Cleveland Browns uniform.
Watson made his comments Tuesday afternoon, at the Browns Foundation Golf outing at Westwood Country Club in Rocky River, Ohio. Those comments come after Hopkins was cut by the Arizona Cardinals on Friday morning. Since his release there have been rumors circulating about where the five-time Pro Bowl receiver will land, and with these comments, Watson has put his bid in the race, telling Cleveland.com:
“Me and D-Hop, we just naturally talk. We’ve been talking since the Houston days, and whenever he was in Arizona, we were always talking. He’s always been a brother of mine since I was coming out of high school. Our connection, our relationship has always been great. And I know there’s a lot of things swirling around in the media about him possibly coming to Cleveland. For me, my answer to that is, of course we’d love to have him.”
Watson and Hopkins are both former Clemson Tigers, and played together for the Texans from 2017-19. During that tenure, Hopkins caught 315 passes for 4,115 yards, and 31 touchdowns. Hopkins made the Pro Bowl and first team All-Pro for all three seasons he was with Watson.
Though Watson was not on Hopkins’ list of the top five quarterbacks of whom he’d like to play with, which he disclosed on the "I AM ATHLETE" podcast, Cleveland could still be a great fit.
On Tuesday morning, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Hopkins hired agent Kelton Crenshaw of Klutch Sports to represent him. This news comes after reports surfaced that the NFL Players Association showed that Hopkins was unrepresented, which raised some issues with teams who were interested in signing the star receiver. Hopkins hiring Crenshaw hints that the receiver is looking to make a deal soon.
Finances and an already full wide receiver corps are big obstacles in the road for a Watson-Hopkins reunion. Cleveland has only about $6.7 million in salary-cap space, per Spotrac, so in order to sign Hopkins, who reportedly expects a “significant” contract offer, the Browns would have to maneuver and restructure their cash in order to get close to Hopkins’ asking price.
On top of that, this offseason the Browns added Elijah Moore and Marquise Goodwin to their wide receiver corps that is led by Amari Cooper. Cleveland also drafted wideout Cedric Tillman out of Tennessee in the third round last month.
