{"id":646348,"date":"2026-05-04T03:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646348\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T03:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:11:10","slug":"nfl-wr-deandre-hopkins-wants-to-return-to-afc-north-but-not-the-baltimore-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646348\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL WR DeAndre Hopkins wants to return to AFC North, but not the Baltimore Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL<\/a> offseason will transition to minicamps in June, followed by training camps in July. However, several free agents still remain on the market as they decide their next moves for 2026.<\/p>\n

Former All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins<\/a> is one of those players. After spending the 2025 season with the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, he remains unsigned.<\/p>\n

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Hopkins has expressed interest in returning to the AFC North in 2026, though not necessarily with the Ravens. Instead, he appears eager to join the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE: 5 expiring NFL player contracts to watch for ahead of training camp<\/a><\/p>\n

Reports<\/a> indicate that Hopkins wants to team up with quarterback Joe Burrow<\/a>. While he may no longer be at his peak, Hopkins still provides reliable production as a pass catcher.<\/p>\n

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If Hopkins accepts a significant pay cut to join Cincinnati, he would line up alongside Ja\u2019Marr Chase and Tee Higgins<\/a>, forming one of the league\u2019s most dangerous receiving corps.<\/p>\n

That group would complement an already solid depth chart that includes Andrei Iosivas<\/a> and Charlie Jones<\/a>. If this scenario materializes, the Bengals could quickly re-enter Super Bowl contention.<\/p>\n

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Cincinnati has missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, largely due to Joe Burrow\u2019s health and inconsistent defensive performance.<\/p>\n

MORE: Las Vegas Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza pushing through first challenge in NFL<\/a><\/p>\n

This offseason, the Bengals have taken steps to address those issues, including trading for All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter<\/a> Lawrence.<\/p>\n

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If the defensive line improves and the secondary stabilizes, the unit could take a significant step forward compared to recent seasons.<\/p>\n

Add Hopkins to the offense, and the Bengals could become a serious force in the AFC North. The key question remains whether the organization has mutual interest.<\/p>\n

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If so, Hopkins would need to consider a team-friendly deal, as the Bengals currently rank among the lowest in available salary cap space.<\/p>\n

Still, for a player of Hopkins\u2019 caliber, Cincinnati could find creative ways to make a deal work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL offseason will transition to minicamps in June, followed by training camps in July. However, several free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[42382,99842,5462,1742,49,48,95038,10391,1740,8826,20944,69914,2213,1736,514,117939,82,3152,31568],"class_list":["post-646348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-afc-north","tag-andrei-iosivas","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlie-jones","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-deandre-hopkins","tag-dexter","tag-dj-turner","tag-joe-burrow","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-nfl","tag-oren-burks","tag-sports","tag-tee-higgins","tag-wide-receiver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}