ARIZONA — Professional football player or not, it’s human nature to wonder if the grass is actually greener elsewhere.

In his own words, former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins believes that to be the case with the Tennessee Titans as year two with the organization approaches:

“I love Tennessee. I love what Miss Amy (Adams Strunk, the Titans owner) is doing,” Hopkins told The Tennessean’s Nick Gray. “I think this is the happiest I’ve been in any organization, so I’ll just let that speak for itself.”

Hopkins was released by the Cardinals last summer after months of trade speculation with the Cardinals. New general manager Monti Ossenfort made the decision to cut Hopkins and wipe the slate clean, allowing the former Houston Texans star to hit the open market while getting his salary completely off the books in 2024 by absorbing all of the $22.6 million cap hit last season.

Hopkins visited with a handful of Super Bowl contenders before inking a two-year, $26 million deal with the Titans before the start of last season. He caught 75 passes for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns.

Hopkins’ tenure in the desert could be viewed in a few different lights. On one hand, the Cardinals did get strong production out of their star wideout with some exciting memories attached. Arizona needed another prominent pass catcher for Kyler Murray, and more times than not, Hopkins rose to the occasion.

On the other, Hopkins played just 19 games his final two years in the desert and was notably suspended for PED use, something he wholeheartedly denied both during and after the suspension.

There were also reports he sat out the final two games of the 2022 despite being healthy. In the months leading up to his release, Hopkins was extremely impartial on wanting to remain in Arizona in podcasts and on social media.

Not all the shade was directed at Arizona, however. The Texans traded him for scraps ahead of the 2020 season, a move that’s still discussed in low light to this day.

When asked about Hopkins’ contract, Titans GM Ran Carthon offered this:

“He’s one of the guys that’s on our team, and we’ve talked about a number of guys on the team to have those conversations,” Carthon said.

“One thing I appreciate about D Hop is, if you guys have gotten to know him, D Hop is straight forward and D Hop and I, we can have some straightforward conversations, and we have and we do. And so D Hop knows how we feel about him, and I think that’s a big thing, especially for a veteran at this stage of his career.

“I think the way he’s shown up here, the way he’s bought into a new staff, kind of shows how he feels about us and what we have going.”

If Hopkins is as happy as he says he is, he could very well stick around with the Titans.

There’s another proposal on the table to build a pipeline from Lake Powell, but the water wouldn’t go to St. George.

Arizona lawmakers this month introduced legislation that would fund a pipeline to bring water from Lake Powell to three tribes with Colorado River rights. The $5 billion deal — negotiated by the tribes, the federal government and the state of Arizona in May — includes $1.75 billion for the pipeline, and now needs approval from Congress.

The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024 is crucial to the many tribal communities in northeastern Arizona that lack access to drinking water, said Rep. Juan Ciscomani, an Arizona Republican who sponsored the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Those of us in the West understand that water claims are inadequate without the infrastructure needed to move the water,” Ciscomani told the House Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday. “Investing in our water infrastructure is more important now than ever with the persistent drought affecting the Colorado River and all communities that rely on it as well.”

The Arizonans have introduced the settlement during a tense time for Colorado River decision-making.

The seven Western states that depend on the river’s water — including Utah — are negotiating how to use its water after 2026, when current agreements expire. Facing persistent drought and a future with less water to go around, the states disagree on who should have to cut their Colorado River water use, and by how much.

The Upper Basin states — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming — claim that they don’t need to reduce their use. Rather, they argue that the Lower Basin states — Arizona, Nevada and California — should bear the brunt of cuts.

But 30 Native American tribes in the Colorado River Basin have rights to its water, too, though many of those rights haven’t been adjudicated.

The proposed iiná bá—paa tuwaqat’si pipeline from Lake Powell would be built by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which owns and operates water infrastructure across the country. The water would go to the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, settling their Colorado River water rights.

It’s not the first time a pipeline has been proposed to move water from the second-largest reservoir in the country. There has been a 20-year push to build a pipeline from Lake Powell to Washington County, the fastest-growing part of Utah. But a stalled permitting process, enduring drought and significant opposition have prevented the project from materializing.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that the legislation and pipeline would “secure the necessary resources to provide water to Navajo communities while at the same time resolving the most significant outstanding water claims in the State of Arizona.”

In all, the tribes would gain access to 56,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water each year.

Utah’s representatives aren’t yet speaking on the legislation and how it would affect the Beehive State’s Colorado River use.

Reps. Celeste Maloy, Blake Moore and Burgess Owens, as well as Sen. Mike Lee, did not respond to a request for comment. Spokespeople for Rep. John Curtis and Sen. Mitt Romney said they did not have a statement, as did the Colorado River Authority of Utah.

The legislation would also give the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe the ability to lease their water rights, which are more valuable than gold in the arid Southwest.

The tribes could lease their water to growing cities like Phoenix and Tucson, “providing a badly needed water source for central Arizona during a time in which their water supplies have already been significantly cut due to Colorado River shortage,” said Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton from Arizona, who also sponsored the legislation.

But the water leasing aspect of the settlement violates the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the foundational document for sharing the river. The compact says that each basin is entitled to 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year without extra transferring.

At least some of the water sent to the Lower Basin tribes under the proposed settlement is from the Upper Basin. Leasing that water across basin lines isn’t something that the century-old compact — which also barely mentions tribes — didn’t consider.

Congress would have to grant special permission to make that leasing possible. But in ongoing, heated Colorado River talks, the Upper Basin states have made it clear that they don’t want to send any extra water downstream to the Lower Basin.

“Utah is committed to living within our means on the river, but we also expect others to do the same,” said Amy Haas, executive director of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, in March. “We are protecting our water users and defending every drop of our entitlement.”

U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Krysten Sinema — an Arizona Democrat and an Arizona Independent, respectively — introduced the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act on July 8.

Reps. Ciscomani and Stanton were joined by Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva and Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert to introduce the bill in the House on the same day.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired left-handed reliever A.J. Puk from the Miami Marlins, the team confirmed Thursday.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the news.

The D-backs gave up two prospects in the deal, infielder Deyvison De Los Santos and center fielder Andrew Pintar.

In 32 appearances for the Marlins across 44 innings, Puk has a 4.30 ERA and 1.34 WHIP for Miami. The 6-foot-7 29-year-old began his career with the Oakland Athletics, where he spent three seasons before playing the last two for Miami. Puk was originally the sixth overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft by Oakland.

Some context on Arizona’s acquisition of A.J. Puk: Since moving back to the bullpen after starting the season in the rotation, he has a 2.08 ERA over 30.1 innings with 33 strikeouts and opponents are slashing .159/.204/.252. In a market with good relievers, he is one of the best.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 26, 2024

Puk adds another lefty to the bullpen rotation alongside Joe Mantiply. Reports suggested Arizona would look toward relief help and left-handers specifically at the deadline. The D-backs are 28-18 since the start of June and firmly in the wild card race, certifying them as buyers this deadline, while the Marlins declared as sellers very early after dealing Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres in May.

Puk is under team control through the 2026 season.

De Los Santos has been perhaps the biggest story in the D-backs’ minor league system this year. He mashed 14 homers and 37 RBI in just 38 games at Double-A, earning a quick move up to Triple-A. He has continued to destroy baseballs there, posting 14 homers and 47 RBI in 49 games for an OPS of .926. De Los Santos is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the D-backs’ 14th best prospect.

Pintar has an .852 OPS in the minors across three different organizations this year after debuting in the minors last year. MLB Pipeline puts him down 30th in the D-backs’ farm system.

To make room for Puk on the 40-man roster, the D-backs designated relief pitcher Joe Jacques for assignment. Jacques was claimed off waivers in late April. He pitched primarily in Triple-A Reno, sporting a 3.63 ERA in 22.1 innings and 19 appearances.

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