Arizona Cardinals sign Brandon Smith, release Auden Tate

The Arizona Cardinals made some new moves to their wide receiver room Monday as the team released wideout Auden Tate and signed former Dallas Cowboys receiver Brandon Smith.

Arizona is parting ways with Tate after they signed him to their practice squad on January 4. Tate never played a down for the Cardinals, but had spent the previous five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, and Philadelphia Eagles.

Smith on the other hand joins the Cardinals following a successful spring season in the XFL. Smith only appeared in four games for the D.C. Defenders this season, but the 6-foot-2 wideout was still able to get his hands on eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Smith spent the last two seasons prior to his XFL stint on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad after signing with Dallas as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa following the 2021 NFL Draft. And although hasn’t made an impact in a regular season NFL game yet, he made an amazing toe-tap touchdown catch for the Cowboys in the preseason last year versus the Seattle Seahawks.

The Cardinals’ biggest change to their receiving corps this offseason was the recent release of five-time Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection DeAndre Hopkins on May 26. Hopkins has spent the last three seasons with Arizona following a seven-year tenure with the Houston Texans and is currently seeking a new destination ahead of the 2023 season.

Smith likely won’t be able to match the production of Hopkins, but can hopefully make some dazzling plays like he has in the preseason and in the NFL. He joins a wide receiver room headlined by Hollywood Brown and Rondale Moore, but an offense that will likely be without franchise quarterback Kyler Murray as he continues to rehab following his season-ending knee injury from last year.

LeGarrette Blount, Matthew Judon join in on recruiting DeAndre Hopkins to New England

An online campaign to bring free agent DeAndre Hopkins to New England is gaining steam this week. After one Twitter user posted a screenshot of a direct message he sent to Hopkins offering the former Cardinals receiver $500 to the charity of his choice if he would sign with the Patriots, several Patriots players jumped on board with the effort.

Patriots edge rusher Matthew Judon replied to the initial tweet and tagged Hopkins to let him know he’d match the $500 donation.

Former star running back and three-time Super Bowl champion LeGarrette Blount responded, ‘I’ll match that as well,” tagging Judon and Hopkins.

I’ll match that as well @man_dammn @DeAndreHopkins https://t.co/y35pzQ1dDM

— LeGarrette Blount (@LG_Blount) June 11, 2023

Hopkins is fresh off of a visit to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Next on his quest to find a new home is New England. He’s set to visit this week, and now he has a hefty charity donation to think about as he weighs his options.

Patriots players aren’t the only ones getting active in their recruitment of “Nuk.”

On3’s Nikki Chavanelle contributed to this report