DeAndre Hopkins' winding offseason journey took another turn Friday when the Arizona Cardinals released the veteran wide receiver, the team announced.

The former All-Pro had two years remaining on his contract with large cap hits. They were $29.9 million in 2023 and $25.5 million in 2024, according to OverTheCap.  Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Cardinals did not designate this move as a post-June 1 cut. That means the Cardinals will clear $7.38 million in cap space this year, eat the remaining $22.6 million in dead money and Hopkins will be off Arizona's books next season.

>>READ: Fantasy Football Reactions, Fallouts from Hopkins Release

There were previous reports that Hopkins wanted to be traded, but he recently posted a video saying maybe that wasn't true. He wasn't at Cardinals OTAs beginning on Monday, instead working out in Toronto, The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov reported.

Earlier this week, Hopkins told the IAMATHLETE podcast five quarterbacks he would like to play with, and Arizona's Kyler Murray was not among them.

>>WATCH: Hopkins Seems to Bash his QB Kyler Murray

The 33rd Team analyst Greg Jennings identified a couple of teams that would make sense for Hopkins to sign with.

"Buffalo is a realistic option when you're trying to make a push in a division and a conference that is stacked with a ton of talent," the longtime NFL receiver said. "You saw it wasn't enough with Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs."

That isn't the only option, however.

"DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs would be another cheat code and path to the Chiefs being the favorite to win the Super Bowl."

The Cardinals, meanwhile, head toward the 2023 season with Murray expected to miss the beginning of the season because of a knee injury he suffered in Week 14. The Cardinals had the worst odds to win the Super Bowl (200-1) as of Friday. They seem focused on building toward 2024 after clearing out Hopkins' contract and acquiring the Houston Texans' first-and-third-round 2024 draft picks during April's draft.

Hopkins, a four-time All-Pro – twice a first-teamer – who turns 31 next month, registered 64 receptions, 717 yards and three touchdowns in nine games last season. The NFL suspended him for the first six games without pay for violating its Performance Enhancing Drug policy.

In 10 seasons — seven with Houston and three with Arizona — Hopkins has 853 receptions for 11,298 yards and 71 touchdowns. He is a five-time Pro Bowl pick.