Entering the season at 32 years old and dealing with an offseason knee injury, the fantasy football outlook for Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins looks a bit shaky, but he’s been wildly productive over his career.
Below, I’ll explore the veteran’s fantasy outlook and determine if he’s worth taking in your draft in 2024.
DeAndre Hopkins’s Fantasy Profile for the 2024 NFL Season
Waiting on a receiver and taking some later in your drafts is a fantasy football strategy some may opt for, and right now, Hopkins is sitting as WR40, going No. 97 overall in PPR leagues.
Let’s start with the knee injury. He suffered it during this offseason, but there seems to be hope he’ll play in Week 1.
According to Turron Davenport of ESPN, Titans head coach Brian Callahan said Aug. 18 that Hopkins should “be back soon” and “expect to have him back for the season opener.”
Last season with the Titans, Hopkins ran 505 routes, saw 137 targets, caught 75 passes, and went for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns, per TruMedia. It was an excellent season for the veteran, considering the quarterback play, which featured a less-productive Ryan Tannehill and a rookie Will Levis.
However, the Titans made some massive additions this offseason. Hopkins is no longer the sole reliable pass catcher. The team added wide receiver Calvin Ridley on a monstrous $92 million deal, running back Tony Pollard, and another wide receiver in Tyler Boyd.
Levis, as a rookie, averaged 28.3 attempts per game over his nine starts. He completed 149 of 255 passes for 1,808 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions, averaging just 7.1 yards per attempt. However, he wasn’t afraid to throw it deep, as 57 of his 255 attempts (22.4%) went 20+ yards downfield.
Hopkins saw 39 targets on passes 20+ yards downfield, which was close to 30% of those attempts. The problem, though, is that Ridley is also a fantastic deep threat, with 24.2% of his targets in 2023 coming 20+ yards downfield in Jacksonville.
Levis is known for his big arm, so it’s possible we see Hopkins and Ridley both utilize deep areas of the field.
The Titans have a Week 5 bye week.
Is Hopkins a Good Fantasy Pick?
At WR40, Hopkins should be fine there, but there are some other players like Ladd McConkey, Keon Coleman, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Brian Thomas Jr., and Courtland Sutton that I’d rather take a chance on.
Hopkins was productive with this team last year, but the additions of Ridley, Pollard, and Boyd add nearly 300 targets if you use their 2023 finishes.
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Sure, if you take Levis’s average pass attempts from last year and extrapolate it over 17 games, you get 481.1 throws, which is enough to pass the ball around. But I’m not sure the upside is there with Hopkins like it is with the other players I mentioned.
Again, if you take Hopkins at WR40, I think he can return that value, especially if he’s good to go in Week 1, but I’m targeting other players in that range.