Somers: Hard Knocks, Hurley and Hopkins. Notes and thoughts as we head into the weekend

Cleaning out the notebook, and the mind, heading into the weekend.

The first episode of “Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals,” which aired last Wednesday, was enjoyable and informative.

We learned that Coach Kliff Kingsbury has a large painting of a lion in his home and that he swears a lot. Kingsbury, not the lion.

We learned safety Budda Baker is a good big brother and plays football with the ferocity of a lion.

We were reminded, again, that owner Michael Bidwill is a pilot and owns a plane.

And we found out just how much trouble the Cardinals, who are 3-6, are in right now. Nearly every scene showed a team spiraling downward, with coaches and players appearing incapable of reversing a steep descent.

Hop to the Hall?

In one scene, a very serious DeAndre Hopkins asks receivers coach Shawn Jefferson if Hopkins’ suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances will hurt his chance of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.

Jefferson said he didn’t think so, and I don’t either.

I’ve been on the hall’s selection committee for 17 years, and selectors are reminded yearly that we are to consider only what a player has done on the field, not his conduct off of it. So, a number of players who were suspended by the NFL for various reasons are enshrined, including Lawrence Taylor, Michael Irvin and Bruce Smith.

The six-game suspension will impact Hopkins’ resume from a numbers perspective, but he’s only 30, so there is time to make up for that.

'Hard Knocks': DeAndre Hopkins, Budda Baker among highlights in Episode 1 with Arizona Cardinals

Filling a void

Speaking of Hopkins and numbers, there’s a clause in his contract that would allow him to void the final year, 2024, and become a free agent if he achieved one of the following benchmarks over a four-year period, 2020-24.

—Four consecutive all-NFL selections. (Hopkins missed that a year ago.)

—Forty touchdowns

—Four hundred receptions.

—Five thousand yards receiving.

The suspension obviously hurts Hopkins’ chances of achieving those totals.

He has 16 touchdowns and needs to score 24 over the next 25 games to hit that marker. That’s going to be tough. Hopkins has averaged a little more than half a touchdown per game in his career.

He’s 2,723 yards short of 5,000. That also will be difficult to hit. Hopkins would need to average 109 yards a game, assuming he played in the next 25 regular-season games.

The most realistic benchmark for him to hit is 400 receptions, but that will also be a challenge. He’s 217 short, meaning he would need to average 8.68 catches over the next 25 games. He’s averaged 6.3 receptions per game as a Cardinal, but nearly 9 in three games this year.

In his previous nine seasons, Hopkins never averaged more than 7.2 receptions.

Hopkins will be fine if he doesn't earn the right to void that final contract year. He's due to make $19.4 million in salary next year and $14.9 million in 2024, according to overthecap.com

Hurley looks back. A little

It’s difficult to come up with an athletic program or franchise that was impacted more by the COVID shutdown in 2020 than ASU’s men’s basketball team.

It was coach Bobby Hurley’s best team. The Sun Devils were playing well enough to win some games in the Pac-12 tournament. A third consecutive NCAA bid was inevitable.

The Sun Devils still haven’t recovered. The 2020-21 team had some talent, but no chemistry. It was miserable to watch. The rest of us were free to stop watching, but Hurley was contractually obligated.

It’s interesting he referenced that team Thursday night after the Sun Devils beat NAU by 16 points. ASU led by as many as 35, and according to Hurley, needs to learn how to put a team away.

“Two years ago was dysfunction at its finest,” he said, “and it was just, we had the program on the verge of going somewhere important and no one in that year or last year really did anything to continue to advance the program.”

Hurley didn’t name anyone specifically. If asked, I’m sure he would have started with himself. That’s always been his style.

Trade talk

The Diamondbacks have four young, talented players capable of playing center field. Should they trade one of them to address other weaknesses? And if so, whom?

Those are interesting questions posed in an analysis by our beat writer, Nick Piecoro.

If I’m General Manager Mike Hazen, I’d put two of the four off limits, unless the trade return is overwhelming.

Corbin Carroll appears to be a future star, something the franchise has desperately needed since trading Paul Goldschmidt. And Daulton Varsho has proven himself in the majors.

That leaves Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas. Right now, I’d prefer keeping McCarthy, who hit better last season and was a beast on the bases. But scouting is all about projections, so the experts might have a different opinion. What isn’t debatable is the Diamondbacks need to get this one right.

One last thought

If former center-turned-coach Jeff Saturday turns the Colts around, does that mean the Cardinals should put in a call to Lyle Sendlein if they move on from Kingsbury?

I’m kidding. Sendlein is the last person I would expect to see coaching in the NFL. Well, not the last. That would be Larry Fitzgerald.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Monday and Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: If DeAndre Hopkins can fill stat sheet, he'll make the HOF, more money