One of the most ridiculous narratives floating around is DeAndre Hopkins is suddenly washed up now that he’s signing with the Tennessee Titans.
A few days ago, he was praised as the missing piece for several different teams, but now that he’s playing in Tennessee he’s apparently destined for failure because the Titans’ logo is supposedly cursed for life.
I won’t even get into how ridiculous that narrative is, but projecting Hopkins’ downfall is a bold strategy for many, especially when he hasn’t shown any type of real decline in his production or health.
Its funny how everybody wanted @DeAndreHopkins on their team. Now he signs with the @titans He's all of a sudden washed up and cant play. SMH the hate and disrespect is unreal. You know he sees this and he about to make you all eat your words.
— Leonard Firestone (@1LFirestone) July 16, 2023
Apparently, he’s not even as good as Calvin Ridley anymore, who is a very good receiver in his own right, but we’re talking about D-Hop here. Ridley has one year of elite production, while Hopkins has several.
Calvin Ridley better than aging DeAndre Hopkins as a veteran receiver added to the AFC South.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) July 16, 2023
Those two don’t even belong in the same category if we’re being perfectly honest.
Despite missing several games due to an unfortunate PED suspension, D-Hop balled out whenever he was on the field in 2022.
He missed the Cardinals’ first six contests of the year due to the suspension, and then he reportedly sat out the final few weeks of the season to protect himself rather than risk an injury playing meaningless football.
DeAndre Hopkins upset some in the Cardinals organization by sitting out the final two games of the 2022 season even though he was healthy, per sources. It may have been a sticky situation if he remained with the team until the trade deadline.
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) May 26, 2023
If you want to call that selfish, that’s fair, but also consider he was playing for a team that had no shot at the playoffs and, clearly, had no interest in keeping him around.
One thing you definitely cannot say with a straight face is his body is starting to show signs of breaking down. In the nine outings in which Hopkins suited up last year, he produced:
- Seven games of 60 or more receiving yards
- Seven games receiving double-digit targets
- Seven games recording double-digit catches
- Five games with a minimum of 85 yards
- Four games with 90-plus yards
- Two games eclipsing 100-yards
- One game topping 155-yards
- One drop over 95 targets
This @DeAndreHopkins catch was crazy! pic.twitter.com/CNqIuC1QDD
— NFL UK (@NFLUK) November 28, 2022
In total, Hopkins finished the 2022 campaign with 717 yards and three TDs in nine games. Had the star wideout played all year long, his average of 79.6 yards per game would have averaged into a 1,300-yard season.
Even more impressive is the fact that he produced those numbers while his starting quarterback, Kyler Murray, missed four of the games he played, and exited another early after throwing just one pass.
The future Hall of Famer also happens to be coming off a season in which he finished inside the top four in the following categories, per Player Profile:
- First in average cushion (5.71 yards)
- Second in air yard share (43.4 percent)
- Second in win rate vs. man (47 percent)
- Fourth in route win rate (51.8 percent)
- Fourth in target share (29.4 percent)
Since 2020, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has accumulated +15.7 receptions over expected on targets outside the numbers, 4th-best in the NFL in that span.@DeAndreHopkins | #Titans https://t.co/scuJUC5vhB pic.twitter.com/26z9PwlmYl
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) July 17, 2023
Adding to that, the Clemson legend continued to be a consistent threat all over the field.
According to Pro Football Focus, Hopkins received an average grade of 86.9 when targeted on the left side of the field, an average grade of 84.5 when targeted in the middle of the field, and 74.4 on the right side of the field.
*Averages exclude targets prior to the line of scrimmage*
If you’re personally not a fan of the Titans taking this type of calculated risk, so be it. But at the end of the day, Tennessee needed to make a move of this magnitude if it wanted any realistic chance of being competitive in 2023.
In reality, there’s no telling how well this move will play out this season, and it’s always possible Hopkins begins his decline upon arriving in Nashville in 2023.
But some people out there need to stop creating a bunch of false narratives that could easily be disproved with even the tiniest bit of research, especially when it comes to the idea that Hopkins is washed up.
The numbers just don’t support it.
Even if things don’t work out, I’d much rather the Titans swing and miss than sit on their hands while praying for a miracle breakout by the young players already on their roster.
And if you ask me, I’m willing to bet on someone like D-Hop every single time as long as he’s still showing signs of life in his game, which he very much is, and then some.
