3 reasons DeAndre Hopkins should consider retirement as job search quiets

DeAndre Hopkins was shockingly released by the Arizona Cardinals during the 2023 NFL offseason. The franchise was initially seeking a trade partner for their superstar wide receiver. After failing to find a legitimate option, they opted to outright cut him from their roster.

Hopkins can now sign with any team that offers him a new contract ahead of the 2023 NFL season. He was expected to have a large market of interested teams, especially considering his massive production on the football field, but it hasn't quite worked out that way so far.

As mandatory minicamps have all officially opened up and teams are preparing to begin their training camps in just a few weeks, DeAndre Hopkins remains a free agent. Even more concerning is the fact that there have been almost no reports of interested teams stepping forward to directly offer him a contract for the 2023 NFL season.

While a couple of teams have apparently inquired about signing Hopkins, a deal doesn't appear to be imminent at this point in the 2023 NFL offseason. He reportedly still intends to continue a destination this year, but maybe it's time to start considering the possibility of retirement instead. Here are three reasons why it could be an option for him.

#1 - DeAndre Hopkins is already one of the highest-paid WRs in NFL history

DeAndre Hopkins has totaled a massive $111.58 million during his career from his team contracts alone. This doesn't include all of his income from endorsements and other business ventures.

Just four wide receivers in NFL history, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones, AJ Green, and Calvin Johnson, made more on their career contracts than Hopkins. While he has yet to win a Super Bowl ring, he's surely made generational wealth during his ten-year career.

#2 - DeAndre Hopkins' recent injury history

It's no secret that the NFL features an extremely violent and physically demanding game. Injuries are a major part of it, both in the short-term as well as the long-term complications. Most players begin to severely break down over time.

Hopkins has shown recent evidence that his body is beginning to feel the toll of a decade-long career, especially as a wide receiver with an aggressively physical playing style. After remaining mostly healthy and rarely missing any time for the majority of his career, recent seasons have been a bit of a different story.

Since the start of the 2019 NFL season, Hopkins has been forced to be sidelined and miss games with various injuries on five different occasions, not including his PED suspension. This is a significant increase from the one total game he missed in his entire career to that point. The NFL seems to have taken its beating in Hopkins, so now may be a wise time to step away before things get any worse.

#3 - DeAndre Hopkins can go out on his own terms

It's relatively rare for NFL players to truly choose when they end their careers. Often times they are told it's over by outside forces. This includes extreme drops in production to a point where no team wants them anymore or serious injuries that they can no longer overcome. Sometimes, these things can happen suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, such as Julio Jones recently for example.

DeAndre Hopkins is currently in a place where he's nearing the back part of his career but is still somewhat in control of his narrative. While warning signs that the end is near have begun to pop up over the last couple of years, he can choose to go out now before the market eventually makes that decision for him.