3. Lack of money for the NY Giants
The Giants are a bit thin when it comes to salary cap space, as they are listed at having $3.8 million in space, according to Over the Cap. Now, the Giants could create some cap space if they were able to re-work some deals, such as signing Saquon Barkley to the long-term deal everyone is hoping for and lowering the $10.01 million the current franchise tag would give him.
The Giants could also either extend Adoree' Jackson, or convert some of Jackson's salary into a signing bonus, which was a recent idea of Pat Traina of Sports Illustrated.The Giants could also get creative and try to sign Hopkins to a long-term deal and make his cap number for 2023 extremely low and fit under the current salary cap. Whether that's possible or not is something for the Giants front office and cap experts in East Rutherford to figure out.
But let's say Hopkins is looking for a deal similar to what Odell Beckham Jr. got with the Baltimore Ravens, which was around the $15-18 million per season range. Can the Giants afford that, even if they shuffled some deals around some contracts and money?
Given that was what Hopkins was making with the Cardinals and the Giants decided to pass on trading draft assets for him, plus assuming the rest of the contract Hopkins was under with the Cardinals, it would be a safe bet that the Giants weren't and may not be looking to pay that.