Brian Daboll addresses Giants potential interest in DeAndre Hopkins

DeAndre Hopkins may be one of the best free agents on the market right now and the Giants are one of the names that has popped up in connection with the wide receiver. It isn’t known if the Giants have reached out to Hopkins about his services, but his availability has led to speculation since general manager Joe Schoen has spent a great deal of time this offseason trying to upgrade his receiver group.

Head coach Brian Daboll kept his comments rather vague when he was asked about Hopkins prior to Wednesday’s OTAs.

“Like last year, anytime there’s someone that’s available that’s a free agent, I’d say Joe and his staff are gonna look into it, research it,” Daboll said. “We talk about a lot of different players. So regardless of who it is, that’s part of our job is to make sure we’re doing our due diligence.”

The Giants are still in need of a No. 1 receiver going into this season despite the upgrades already made. New York traded for tight end Darren Waller and signed wide receiver Parris Campbell.

The Giants also drafted Jalen Hyatt out of Tennessee during the NFL Draft last month.

Daboll’s comments didn’t point to much, but the Giants coach didn’t shoot down the idea either. He did try to play it coy when the topic was first brought up by reporters on Wednesday.

It’s clear that the Giants have been working to give quarterback Daniel Jones the best possible weapons to succeed after they signed him to a four-year contract extension earlier this year. Hopkins has dealt with plenty of injuries over the past two seasons, but he had been a steady 1,000-plus-yard receiver for the majority of his career.

He racked up 1,407 yards in 2020 on 115 receptions. During the course of his 10-year career, the four-time Pro Bowler has recorded 11,298 yards and 71 touchdowns.

Hopkins was released by the Arizona Cardinals last week and is at the top of most teams’ lists that are in need of wide receiver help. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs both reportedly tried to trade for Hopkins before the Cardinals eventually released him.

The Giants have roughly $3.8 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap.com.

DeAndre Hopkins next team odds

Buffalo Bills: +300

Kansas City Chiefs: +400

Baltimore Ravens: +650

New York Jets: +700

New England Patriots: +900

Los Angeles Chargers: +1,000

Jacksonville Jaguares: +1200

Detroit Lions: +1200

Philadelphia Eagles: +2000

Cleveland Browns: +2000

Odds courtesy of DraftKings

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