Arizona Cardinals star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been suspended six games for PED use as reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Hopkins is coming off an injury-riddled 2021 campaign. He missed seven regular season games and the Cardinals’ playoff game last year due to a hamstring and knee injury. He only appeared in 10 games and caught 42 passes for 572 yards.
Prior to that, he’s a five-time Pro Bowler and five-time All Pro. He was coming off four consecutive such years from 2017-20 before last season. He was traded to the Cardinals from the Houston Texans just two years ago for a package surrounding running back David Johnson.
The Cardinals made a draft day trade with the Baltimore Ravens to acquire wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown. Brown isn’t quite the player Hopkins is, but is a former first-round pick.
Brown is coming off the first 1,000-yard year of his career as he caught 91 passes for 1,008 receiving yards in 2021. His numbers aren’t mind-boggling, but he accomplished that season while playing in a Ravens offense built heavily around the run. The Ravens carried the ball 517 times last year, third in the NFL.
The Cardinals gave up the No. 23 overall pick for Brown who now slots in as the team’s No. 1 wide receiver.