As the football-following world waits for more word on the future of receiver DeAndre Hopkins, Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon dropped an apparent hint on social media.
“GM of the year?” Judon tweeted.
It’s unclear what he meant, or whether he was even referring to Hopkins. Some have interpreted it as Judon giving himself that title for engineering a potential (and maybe eventual) Hopkins acquisition by the Patriots.
Judon then posted a funny gif with a retweet of someone who said “not yet you haven’t done anything.”
Who knows what it means? But it was on a quiet June weekend three years ago that the Patriots stunned everyone by signing quarterback Cam Newton, out of the Carolina blue.
Signing Hopkins would be nearly as surprising, even though the pursuit of Hopkins is known; no one knew the Patriots were talking to Newton. For Hopkins, as Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston recently said during an appearance on WEEI, there are questions about chemistry.
“I think people in the building are still wary, to an extent, of the culture fit,” Curran said. “How much does he want to practice, what kind of hoops are the Patriots themselves gonna have to jump through to accommodate the way he likes to approach the game?”
Regardless, it wouldn’t have gotten this far if the Patriots weren’t interested. The most curious development is that others haven’t jumped in, given that Patriots coach Bill Belichick has decided that Hopkins is worth pursuing.
Then again, after four straight seasons without a postseason win, maybe Belichick’s imprimatur doesn’t mean what it once did.
