After months of speculation, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has officially signed with the Tennessee Titans, which means we can finally break down his fantasy football value in 2023. The Titans don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to signing aging Hall of Fame wide receivers, but will Hopkins break this trend, or will he be the next version of Randy Moss and Julio Jones?
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Fantasy Football: DeAndre Hopkins With the Tennessee Titans
DeAndre Hopkins the Player
It should go without saying that, with very few exceptions, a player like DeAndre Hopkins cannot be valuable for fantasy football if they are not good at actual football. Hopkins is obviously much closer to the end of his career than the beginning, seeing as he’s entering his age-31 season. Additionally, it is a little worrisome that the wide receiver has played in a total of 19 games over the past two seasons. Even if you don’t hold his suspension against him, he still has missed time to injuries. We know the cliff comes fast for NFL players, and there is a chance Hopkins meets the end of his professional career sooner rather than later.
With that disclaimer out of the way, based on last year’s measurables, DeAndre Hopkins should have a few more years left in his tank. Last year, Hopkins posted a ridiculous 29.4% target share and a 43.5% air yards share. Both marks were near the top of the league, which proves that he still has the ability to earn valuable targets, and he made the most of those opportunities. Despite working with Colt McCoy and a wildly inaccurate Kyler Murray, Hopkins was still the WR9 on a points-per-game basis. While his 72.9 PFF grade wasn’t quite as impressive, it was still good enough to make him the 33rd-best receiver in the league by that metric.
The idea of DeAndre Hopkins is nice, but upon further review of his 2022 film it’s clear he’s washed.
Nobody should be foolish enough to pursue this player who is clearly on the decline. Simply not worth the risk. pic.twitter.com/efvYAgBQUq
— Easton Freeze (@eastonfreeze) June 9, 2023
All of this is one long way to say that, while DeAndre Hopkins probably won’t be an All-Pro in 2023, he still has what it takes to be a productive fantasy football weapon in the right environment. The only question now is whether or not the Titans provide said environment.
DeAndre Hopkins Fantasy Football Situation
The Tennessee Titans have a well-earned reputation for running the crap out of the football. Last year, the team had the 28th-highest pass rate in the league, and their -10.6% pass rate over expectation was the third-lowest in football. This makes sense, as Derrick Henry will always be the focal point of Mike Vrabel’s team, and Ryan Tannehill is much better when he doesn’t have to win football games all by himself. Even with a reliable offensive weapon like Hopkins, the Titans will still feature one of the most old-school offenses in football.
The silver lining to this is that the Titans have absolutely no existing target competition. DeAndre Hopkins should have no trouble being the top fantasy football option here, as he is easily the best passing weapon in this offense. Treylon Burks showed some flashes last year, but it’s far too early to project him as anything other than a solid real-life WR2. In many ways, Hopkins and Burks have a chance to be a poor mans’ version of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. These two should be good enough to keep the offense moving at a decent pace, which should lead to a decent amount of scoring opportunities.
Ultimately, DeAndre Hopkins will probably be a low-end WR2 for fantasy football. He proved that he can still play during the 2022 season, but there are too many red flags to justify a higher ranking. Tennessee’s conservative passing attack puts a major cap on his ceiling, and Hopkins’ advanced age is an added risk that guys like Jerry Jeudy just don’t have to deal with.
Main Photo: Michael Chow – USA Today Sports
