The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl without a star wide receiver, but they could reportedly make an elite offense even scarier by acquiring DeAndre Hopkins.
NFL insider Benjamin Albright told PHNX Cardinals that Kansas City is the "primary suitor" for Hopkins. He doesn't know the draft compensation the Cardinals would receive, but he said it's more likely they get a second-round pick than a first.
After the 2022 season, theScore's Jordan Schultz reported that the Cardinals plan to trade Hopkins this offseason.
Arizona hired a new general manager and head coach after a disappointing four-win season, and Hopkins is set to make $19.45 million (with a $30.75 million cap hit) in 2023. The Cardinals could seek a clean slate by moving the three-time All-Pro wideout, who turns 31 in June.
Hopkins began his Cardinals career by tallying 1,407 yards and six touchdowns in 2020. However, multiple lower body injuries limited him to 10 games in 2021, and he served a six-game suspension to start the 2022 season for violating the NFL's PED policy.
Yet he remains an impact player when on the field. Hopkins totaled 474 receiving yards in six full games with quarterback Kyler Murray last season.
Now imagine what he can accomplish when catching passes from Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs flourished without a star replacement for Tyreek Hill, but they could still benefit by solidifying the position this offseason. JuJu Smith-Schuster is a free agent after garnering 78 catches for 933 yards on a one-year deal. The depth chart features several talented question marks in Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Adding Hopkins could be great news for Kansas City, but terrible for all opposing defenses.
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Originally Posted by Megatron96:
As a group, the Chiefs WRs caught just 13 TD passes.
For the sake of comparison, DEN had 10, LAC had 14. ANd as we know, LAC's WRs were injured most of the season.
That’s actually a pretty remarkable stat considering Mahomes had over 40 TD passes last season. No matter what, he was getting it in the end zone to somebody. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
I can find multiple examples of guys that got hurt at an old age and were never anywhere close to the same. I can find multiple examples of elite guys that fell off when they turned 30+. I can find multiple examples of 30+ year old receivers that continued producing at a high level for several years, but in all of those examples that player didn't have back to back season ending injuries at 29 and 30 years old. So here's an exercise for someone that wants DHop
Please find me an example of a WR who produced under those same scenarios. Guy that's over 30, so 31 or older and had multiple injuries between 27 and 30.
Also I keep reading that he had 700 yds in 9 games and how good he was, but how good was he really? Let's compare Hopkins and Juju from last year.
Hopkins
9 games - 96 targets/64 receptions/717 yds/11.2 ypc/3 TDs
Juju
16 games - 101 targets/78 receptions/933 yds/12 ypc/3 TDs
11.2 ypc is the worst of Hopkins career
Juju only had 5 more targets and greatly out performed the dude.
The only thing impressive is that Hopkins was able to fit in almost a full years worth of targets into 9 games. Hopkins numbers last year are the result of a shitty QB and no other person to throw the ball to. Hopkins led them in receiving and played just over half the season. Marquise Brown isn't a bad number 2, but he and Hopkins only played 4 games together.
This would be such an incredibly bad trade that I know it isn't even realistic. Brett Veach isn't a fan hoping a guy can come here and regain his former glory. He's extremely smart and a realist.
Originally Posted by Spott:
That’s actually a pretty remarkable stat considering Mahomes had over 40 TD passes last season. No matter what, he was getting it in the end zone to somebody.
That seems like exactly what was expected from TC on how the offense would look. Beyond Mahomes and Kelce there was not going to be one go to guy. The ball was going to spread around. Taking advantages of mismatches a diverse set of skillsets the offensive scheme creates on the defense.
It is exactly why you see. 13 TD's from the WR's, 16 TD's from the TE's and 12 from the RB's. Pretty damn balanced offensively. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Spott:
That’s actually a pretty remarkable stat considering Mahomes had over 40 TD passes last season. No matter what, he was getting it in the end zone to somebody.
It's absolutely remarkable. Even with Travis accounting for 13 of them, it's incredible.
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
I can find multiple examples of guys that got hurt at an old age and were never anywhere close to the same. I can find multiple examples of elite guys that fell off when they turned 30+. I can find multiple examples of 30+ year old receivers that continued producing at a high level for several years, but in all of those examples that player didn't have back to back season ending injuries at 29 and 30 years old. So here's an exercise for someone that wants DHop
Please find me an example of a WR who produced under those same scenarios. Guy that's over 30, so 31 or older and had multiple injuries between 27 and 30.
Also I keep reading that he had 700 yds in 9 games and how good he was, but how good was he really? Let's compare Hopkins and Juju from last year.
Hopkins
9 games - 96 targets/64 receptions/717 yds/11.2 ypc/3 TDs
Juju
16 games - 101 targets/78 receptions/933 yds/12 ypc/3 TDs
11.2 ypc is the worst of Hopkins career
Juju only had 5 more targets and greatly out performed the dude.
The only thing impressive is that Hopkins was able to fit in almost a full years worth of targets into 9 games. Hopkins numbers last year are the result of a shitty QB and no other person to throw the ball to. Hopkins led them in receiving and played just over half the season. Marquise Brown isn't a bad number 2, but he and Hopkins only played 4 games together.
This would be such an incredibly bad trade that I know it isn't even realistic. Brett Veach isn't a fan hoping a guy can come here and regain his former glory. He's extremely smart and a realist.
.
Hopkins played for a dumpster fire of a franchise guy snags atleast 80 balls here and goes over 1k [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
It's absolutely remarkable. Even with Travis accounting for 13 of them, it's incredible.
question is, is it sustainable?
Depends on how much the 12 and 13 sets remain primary sets in the red zone. And how much teams continue to leave the flats vulnerable with the way they play D. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Spott:
That’s actually a pretty remarkable stat considering Mahomes had over 40 TD passes last season. No matter what, he was getting it in the end zone to somebody.
It is a great stat. Kelce had 12 and McKinnon had 9, so that gets you to 34. Juju only had 3 and MVS 2. Heck even Gabe Davis had 7. Bengals receivers combine for 25. All signs pointing to Veach finding the upgrade they need. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Titty Meat:
Hopkins played for a dumpster fire of a franchise guy snags atleast 80 balls here and goes over 1k
Hopkins has only played in 19 games in the past two seasons. Not worth the risk of sending picks to Arizona for a player who will only be on the field for half the games.
KC already has two WRs (assuming JuJu comes back) that cannot stay healthy a full season. Dumb to spend that much capital on a third.
Odell would make more sense as he would be cheaper and no draft pick compensation.
Odds are he would be available about the same number of games as Hopkins. [Reply]
Originally Posted by penguinz:
Hopkins has only played in 19 games in the past two seasons. Not worth the risk of sending picks to Arizona for a player who will only be on the field for half the games.
KC already has two WRs (assuming JuJu comes back) that cannot stay healthy a full season. Dumb to spend that much capital on a third.
Odell would make more sense as he would be cheaper and no draft pick compensation.
Odds are he would be available about the same number of games as Hopkins.
JuJu was coming off an injury when we signed him. Hopkins is a superior player to JuJu. Your argument is kind of a fallacy though you point out Hopkins availability and then suggest Odell Beckham who's missed even more time the past 2 seasons. [Reply]
Hopkins requires custom gloves bc his hands are so big.
Hopkins apparently holds some kind of pseudo-record for having caught 100+ consecutive in-game passes where the ball at least touched his hands without dropping a single one.
The Chiefs scored 27 or less points in no less than 11 games, including the playoffs, in 2021/7 games under 27, 2020/7 games, 2019/6 games under 27 (didn't count the week 17 loss as Pat and most of the starting offense sat out or played limited minutes), in 2018/3 games under 27 points.
So, yeah, KC was the number 1 scoring offense in 2022, that is true.
But they also scored less than 30 points/game almost twice as often than in any other season led by Mahomes. So really what happened is that the league scored fewer points in 2022.
Originally Posted by penguinz:
Hopkins has only played in 19 games in the past two seasons. Not worth the risk of sending picks to Arizona for a player who will only be on the field for half the games.
KC already has two WRs (assuming JuJu comes back) that cannot stay healthy a full season. Dumb to spend that much capital on a third.
Odell would make more sense as he would be cheaper and no draft pick compensation.
Odds are he would be available about the same number of games as Hopkins.
I’m not gung ho to acquire Hopkins, but if we’re being fair … half of those games were missed because of suspension, half due to injury.
This isn’t an “ailment of the week” situation by any means. [Reply]