Memorial Day weekend started with a Friday evening declaration from the Cardinals that they have delivered beneficiary DeAndre Hopkins.

However, they have not yet released him officially. Clearly, the association made Memorial Day weekend a four-sunrise, without any exchanges posted on Friday.

The fact that the claiming deadline for the waiver requests that were initiated on Thursday is not on Friday but on Tuesday lends credence to this presumption.

Therefore, the Cardinals still have the option to trade Hopkins technically. It wouldn’t be whenever a group first altered its perspective on cutting a player when the news he was being cut started a late exchange market.

The issue is that nobody needs to take on his agreement. He’d have to consent to another arrangement, or the Cardinals might have to want to pay a portion of the compensation, fundamentally purchasing a draft pick.

It is still extremely unlikely. However, until Hopkins is officially released, it is not impossible.

His release will be finalized at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, making it much more likely that he will be able to sign with any team. It is unknown which team will play, when, and how much he will be paid.

What’s more, except if the Cardinals choose to defer the move until Friday, the Cardinals will take a $22.6 million cap charge for 2023. They could hold back $11.3 million this year if they wanted to by waiting until Friday in case they wanted to spend it later.

Clearly, they do not. They need to kick everything to 2024, regardless of whether quite possibly’s the cap space could be utilized for a veteran player who could open up not long from now.

Which demonstrates their lack of concern for 2023. They’d keep more cap space around otherwise. For good measure.