DeAndre Hopkins Reportedly Passes Cardinals Physical After Trade from Texans

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins reportedly took another step toward becoming an official member of the Arizona Cardinals on Monday. 

According to James Palmer of NFL Network, the four-time Pro Bowler passed his physical after being traded to the NFC West team from the Houston Texans in one of the most shocking moves of the entire offseason to this point.

Durability has never been much of a question for the Clemson product since Houston selected him in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. He has missed a grand total of two regular-season games since entering the league and has never appeared in fewer than 15 contests in a single year.

While remaining largely healthy, Hopkins has established himself as one of the best wide receivers in the league.

He has never finished with less than 802 receiving yards in a season and surpassed the 1,100-yard mark in five of the last six years. He finished the 2019 campaign with 104 catches for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns and figures to be part of a dynamic offense in Arizona if quarterback Kyler Murray takes a leap after finishing the 2019 campaign as the Offensive Rookie of the Year.

It seems as if someone like that would have been the ideal pairing with quarterback Deshaun Watson in Houston for years to come, but the Texans elected to trade him and a fourth-round pick to the Cardinals for running back David Johnson, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.

Per Mike Sando of The Athletic, one executive went as far as to say, "The Hopkins thing was a joke. How the David Johnson contract was included in the deal just astounds me."

According to Spotrac, Johnson will make $10.2 million in base salary with a cap hit of $11.2 million in 2020 and $7.95 million in base salary with a cap hit of $9 million in 2021. 

While Houston traded for Brandin Cooks as something of a replacement for Hopkins, it is difficult to envision him fully replicating the 27-year-old's impact in the offense.