The Arizona Cardinals released DeAndre Hopkins on Friday, months after the wide receiver first surfaced as a trade candidate.

According to a report, the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs were the only teams that engaged in "substantive talks" with the Cardinals about a trade.

Both clubs balked due to financial reasons.

The Arizona Cardinals have officially released DeAndre Hopkins.

The club had been looking to trade the wide receiver.

Arizona will incur a dead cap hit of $21 million in 2023, though there is a chance they could designate Hopkins a post-June 1 cut to spread the cap hit between 2023 and 2024.

The Cardinals acquired Hopkins from the Houston Texans in March 2020.

Former Arizona Cardinals vice president Terry McDonough accused owner Michael Bidwill of cheating, discrimination and harassment in an arbitration claim filed to the NFL last month, according to a report.

One claim involves prohibited communication with former general manager Steve Keim during his suspension.

In 2018, Keim was suspended five weeks and fined $200,000 after being arrested for DUI. According to McDonough, he and then-head coach Steve Wilks were instructed to use burner phones to communicate with the suspended Keim. 

In the filing, McDonough also claimed Bidwill "created an environment of fear for minority employees."

Zach Ertz says he was nearly traded to the Buffalo Bills during the 2021 season.

The Bills suffered an epic loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs that year.

"I was getting traded out of Philadelphia," Ertz said. "There were a couple teams extremely interested, Buffalo being one of them. It was almost a done deal, but it just didn't get over the finish line."

The Eagles ultimately dealt the tight end to the Arizona Cardinals for a fifth-round pick and cornerback Tay Gowan.