How much money will DeAndre Hopkins lose during his six-game PED suspension?

Arizona Cardinals star DeAndre Hopkins was recently suspended by the NFL for six games for violating the league’s performance enhancement drug policy. As per Yahoo! Sports, Hopkins missing six games means that he will forfeit his salary during the suspension. Currently, Hopkins was scheduled to make $6.65 million in salary, which comes out to about $369,000 per week for an NFL 18-game regular season. Over the course of six games, the total salary lost would be $2.2 million.

DeAndre Hopkins’s suspension will affect the Arizona Cardinals’ salary cap

News of DeAndre Hopkins’s suspension already affected the Cardinals as they traded for quarterback Kyler Murray’s former Oklahoma teammate Marquis “Hollywood” Brown. Per the NFL’s policy for suspended players, the Cardinals will receive that cap space back because they will not have to pay his salary during his suspension for the 2022 season. So that $2.2 million not paid to Hopkins will go back to the Cardinals’ cap space.

That being said, the Cardinals will not receive that cap space until the regular season begins, so any moves made with regard to the extra cap space cannot occur until after the season starts. Overall, Hopkins’s cap hit will decrease from $17.95 million to $15.73 million after his upcoming suspension.

DeAndre Hopkins is coming off an injury-riddled 2021/2022 season where he missed the latter portion of the regular season and the Wildcard playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams. After a hot start to the regular season, the Cardinals fizzled down the stretch, most of which could be attributed to losing Hopkins to a leg injury.

The Cardinals themselves face uncertainty in the offseason, with Murray hoping for a new extension as the team looks to build on last year’s fast start and hope to break through in the playoffs. Head coach Kliff Kingsbusy also signed an extension, and the team is bringing back running back James Conner, wide receiver A.J. Green, and tight end Zach Ertz, while adding Hollywood Brown to the mix. The offense loses wide receiver Christian Kirk and running back Chase Edmonds.

The NFC West looks to be different with former Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson traded to the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers dealing with wide receiver Deebo Samuels’ trade request. The division will be competitive as the defending champion Los Angeles Rams hope to run it back to the Super Bowl.