Deshaun Watson says that he "would love" to have former Houston Texans teammate DeAndre Hopkins join him with the Cleveland Browns.

Hopkins was recently released by the Arizona Cardinals, clearing the way for him to join another team for the upcoming season.

During a Browns charity golf tournament, Watson hinted that he's informed Cleveland's front office that he would like for the team to make a run at Hopkins.

"That's kind of out of my range of things," Watson said. "All I can do is make a call and see what happens."

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.

When Jimmy Garoppolo signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, he failed his physical due to the foot injury he suffered during the 2022 season. Garoppolo had to rework his contract and also underwent surgery.

As originally negotiated, Garoppolo had an $11.25 million signing bonus and a base salary of $11.25 million for 2023. The foot injury resulted in the Raiders removing the signing bonus, with the full $22.5 million becoming base salary in 2023.

He won’t get any of it until he passes a physical. In the interim, the Raiders can cut him “for any reason related” to Addendum G.

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.

Ron Rivera says Chase Young understands why the Washington Commanders failed to pick up his fifth-year option.

The defensive end was eligible for an extension that would have paid him $17.452 million. 

Rivera said earlier this offseason that he wondered whether not picking it up would motivate Young, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft. Young suffered a torn right ACL and a ruptured patellar tendon in 2021.

"He gets it, he understands," Rivera said of the fifth-year option. "He'll come in and give everything he's got."

Over the past few seasons, Patrick Mahoes has dropped to seventh in the NFL among quarterbacks in annual salary.

Mahomes became the NFL's highest-paid player in summer 2020 when he signed a 10-year extension worth $450 million. No player has since topped that contract in terms of total value, but six other quarterbacks have passed him in average pay.

"I've always said I worry about legacy and winning rings more than making money at this moment," he said. "We see what's going on around the league, but at the same time, I'll never do anything that's going to hurt us from keeping the great players around me. So it's kind of teetering around that line."

Mahomes will likely fall further down when Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert sign long-term deals. 

"You just want to do whatever to not hurt other quarterbacks [financially]," Mahomes said. "Whenever their contracts come up, you want to keep the bar pushing [higher].

"It's not about being the highest-paid guy; it's not about making a ton of money. I've made enough money where I'll be set for the rest of my life. But at the same time, you got to find that line where you're making a good amount of money but you're still keeping a lot of great players around you so you can win these Super Bowls and you're able to compete in these games."

Mahomes said it was a difficult balance between the two.

"I think it is for all these guys," he said. "I think you see the guys that are getting paid this last offseason -- they're trying to find that right spot.

"If you look at the greats in the league, they find that right spot where they're getting paid a lot of money but at the same time keeping a lot of these great players around. ... I understand you look at the team and you've got guys like Chris [Jones] and [L'Jarius] Sneed and even Travis [Kelce] -- all these guys that you need to keep around you to have these great teams. But at the same time, you want to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

Mahomes has won two Super Bowls to go with a third Super Bowl appearance and has at least reached the AFC Championship Game every season since he became Kansas City's starter. Mahomes has also won two regular season MVPs.

Justin Fields will be eligible for a contract extension after the 2023 season, but the quarterback insists he's more worried about winning games.

All rookies are extension eligible after their third season, while teams can exercise fifth-year options on first-round draft picks.

"I'm not worried about contracts, I'm worried about wins," Fields said. "I could care less."

Fields completed 60.4% of his passes for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 15 games for the Chicago Bears in 2022.

Austin Ekeler, who requested a trade this offseason, is now staying with the Los Angeles Chargers with close to $2 million in incentives added to his deal this season, according to a source.

Ekeler, 28, will be a free agent after the 2023 season.

Brandon Staley had said that he expected Ekeler to attend the team's mandatory minicamp, which begins June 13.

In March, Ekeler told Chris Long on the "Greenlight" podcast that he is "so underpaid right now" and expressed a desire to sign a long-term extension, whether with the Chargers or another team.

Geno Smith isn't changing his mindset despite receiving a three-year, $75 million contract from the Seattle Seahawks in March.

This time last year, Smith was competing for the Seahawks' starting job.

"In my mind, no," he said, when asked if things feel much different from last year. "If it is different, I just want to work hard and be better. That's really it. But in my mind, I keep the same mentality. Drew [Lock] and I and [undrafted free agent Holton Ahlers] -- we're competing our butts off and that's competition every day. We're trying to see who's the best quarterback out there on the field every single time."

He has played the past six seasons on one-year deals, many of them for at or near the minimum salary.

"It's still year-by-year," Smith said. "I've got to look at it like that. It's one year at a time for me. My celebration was I picked up my baby and hugged him up and then I went to the weight room and got back to work. Just got to stay in it. I'm just trying to keep working and focus on ball."

Jadeveon Clowney is open to a reunion with the Houston Texans.

The defensive end is a free agent after spending the past two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. The Texans selected Clowney with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL draft

"It would be nice," Clowney said in an interview with KRIV-TV.

"All my family is here. Friends here. The guys I work out with can help me take care of my body a lot better being right up under them. ... You never know. You never know what will happen. You never know what's in front of you. I see what they've got here. They're putting the pieces together. I'm a big fan of their new head coach [DeMeco Ryans]."