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          Source: DeAndre Hopkins, Arizona Cardinals agree to 2-year extension worth $54.5 million

          • Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff WriterSep 8, 2020, 04:54 PM
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              Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University. You can follow him via Twitter @joshweinfuss.
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          DeAndre Hopkins has his deal, and the Arizona Cardinals have their star wide receiver for the foreseeable future.

          Hopkins signed a two-year extension with the Cardinals worth $54.5 million, including $42.5 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to ESPN.

          The Cardinals announced the extension later Tuesday but did not disclose terms, tweeting a photo of Hopkins signing the deal and congratulating him.

          The deal keeps Hopkins in Arizona for five years -- through the 2024 season -- and $94 million total, for an annual average of $18.8 million, meaning he's likely to be the heir apparent to Larry Fitzgerald's role with the franchise.

          Hopkins told reporters later Tuesday that the deal also includes a no-trade clause and a no-franchise-tag clause. He revealed that he negotiated most of the deal on his own without an agent, saying there "was a lot of reading, a lot of nights staying up late learning the language and terminology of everything."

          Hopkins also tweeted a photo of himself signing the deal, referring to himself as "Agent Hop."

          When asked why he wanted to negotiate the deal himself, Hopkins said he wants to be part of a front office after his playing days are over.

          "It's ownership and me believing in myself and my abilities to study the terminology of contracts and me knowing where I want to be after football," he said. "I know that one day I want to be part of an organization to help build it, so I feel like this was a good time to learn and study everything that hopefully one day I'll be doing. So, I think also just showing other players that you can get things done yourself."

          The financial figures of the deal were first reported Tuesday by NFL Network.

          The Cardinals landed Hopkins and a fourth-round draft pick in a March blockbuster trade with the Houston Texans, who received running back David Johnson, a second-round pick and a 2021 fourth-round pick. In acquiring Hopkins, the Cardinals also inherited his contract, which had three years remaining on the five-year, $81 million deal he signed with Houston in 2017.

          Hopkins, 28, had been seeking a new deal at the time of the trade and reportedly was trying to restructure his existing contract with the Texans. Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said multiple times this offseason that the team hoped to sign Hopkins to a long-term deal and that the sides were engaged in ongoing talks.

          Hopkins was scheduled to earn a base salary of $12.5 million in 2020, which was the sixth-most for wide receivers in the NFL this season behind Cincinnati's A.J. Green, Indianapolis' T.Y. Hilton, Buffalo's Stefon Diggs, and Cleveland's Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.

          Since being selected 27th overall in the 2013 NFL draft, Hopkins has put together a résumé that has early signs of being Hall of Fame-worthy despite having caught passes from 10 different quarterbacks.

          Hopkins has the third-most receiving yards and catches, second-most touchdowns and most targets in the NFL since 2013. He also has the third-most receiving yards since 2017 with 4,115, behind only Atlanta's Julio Jones and New Orleans' Michael Thomas.

          Hopkins had 1,165 yards and seven touchdown catches last season -- his third straight 1,000-yard season and his fifth in six years.