Laddie Morse
The addition of DeAndre Hopkins was a brilliant move by the Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach. When Hopkins signed a 2-year, $26 M deal with the Tennessee Titans, including $9.815 M signing bonus in the 2023 offseason I doubt that he had any idea that he’d be traded away to the Chiefs by this trade deadline. Veach made that trade by giving away a 2025 5th-round pick which could become a 4th-rounder if the Chiefs reach Super Bowl LIX and Hopkins plays 60% of snaps as a Chief, and the Titans will pay $2.5 million of Hopkins’ remaining $8 million salary. Spotrac.com shows that K.C. will only have to pay out $739.444 to Hopkins this season.
.
Sidenote: It’s crazy to think that the Titans had DeAndre Hopkins, Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown, all on their roster over the last three years… but they’re all gone now.
.
.
.
If you ask most Chiefs fans, they’ll tell you they’re tired of the close games. They’d like to see a blow out. In fact, predicted a blowout in the last game vs the Buccanners, 38-to-13. It didn’t make me very happy, but what it did make me was, ANNOYED!
There are other ways fans could be annoyed involving the Chiefs. After a recent game of the CHIefs Andy Nesbitt of Sports Illustrated penned a piece called, “Troy Aikman’s Line About Refs After Missed Call Late in Chiefs’ Win Annoyed Fans” in which he quoted announcer Troy Aikman as saying:
.
“I think maybe these officials are ready to go home
because that looked like definite contact before the
ball arrived. I can’t blame them if they do want to go
home.”
.
.
.
.
There are different kinds of “destroyed” uses that’s for sure. DeAndre Hopkins “destroyed” me whe he caught a TD and broke out into a “Remember the Titans” dance:
.
.
He also “destroyed” me when he caught a long one from Patrick in triple coverage:
.
(0:05)
.
.
.
.
I don’t think it really matters where DeAndre Hopkins lines up, it could be in the slot, as Chase Daniel suggests, or it could be outside. DHop will be effective no matter where he’s utilized. Here’s Chase Daniel’s take right after DHop was traded to the Chiefs:
.
(1:25)
.
.
Tom Childs of ArrowheadPrice wrote a piece called, “The Chiefs Deployed DeAndre Hopkins Perfectly” in which he said:
.
“The Chiefs brought in DeAndre Hopkins as a guy
who could simply win one-on-one. He doesn’t have
to be explosive — just reliable. That vision came to
life in Week 9; he caught eight of his nine targets
for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Only one of his
8 grabs came on a pass more than a dozen yards
downfield.”
.
.
.
The 2024 season started out with TE Travis Kelce playing the primary decoy so that Patrick Mahomes could target other wideouts. Then, along came DeAndre Hopkins and the last two games, Kelce’s numbers have ballooned.
Since both Travis Kelce and DeAndre Hopkins will eventually end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it’s reasonable to assume opposing teams will either double Kelce or double Hopkins. Oh boo-hoo… another thing for Mahomes to read quickly and make up his mind which one will get the ball.
During the last game — the game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — the passes thrown to Travis Kelce plus those thrown to DeAndre Hopkins equaled nearly 65 percent, actually 64.7. When the Chiefs had second year man, Rashee Rice, still available, he could play that role: The yin to Kelce’s yang. Now it’s one of the best WRs to ever pull on a jersey. I’m just gald it’s a red and gold jersey.
When DeAndre Hopkins does have the ball thrown his way, it’s a thing of beauty.
.
(0:31)
.
What do you think?
.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
.