KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Five-time Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins is heading to Kansas City to reinforce a Chiefs’ receiving corps depleted by injuries to Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The 32-year-old Hopkins posted 15 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown in six games with Tennessee this season. The Chiefs will send the Titans a fifth-round pick that can upgrade to a fourth-round selection if certain conditions are met, according to NFL Network.
The Titans are also expected to retain a portion of Hopkins’ 2024 salary. Hopkins is due $3.08 million in prorated base salary plus $2.35 million on incentives considered likely to be earned. That results in a salary cap hit of $5.43 million. The Chiefs entered Wednesday with $4.31 million in available cap space, according to the NFL Players Association public salary cap report.
Hopkins brings a Hall-of-Fame-caliber resume to Kansas that includes three first-team All-Pro honors and two second-team nods in the past 11 seasons. He owns seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his career, including 1,057 yards last year with the Titans.
Hopkins joins tight end Travis Kelce to form a one-two combo at the top of the NFL’s active leaders for career receptions. Hopkins tops the leaderboard with 943 receptions, followed by Kelce with 935. Hopkins ranks No. 2 in receiving yards with 12,528 while Kelce stands No. 4 with 11,573.
The pair also own the longest active streaks in the NFL of consecutive games with a reception. Hopkins has extended his streak to 168 games while Kelce is No. 2 with 164 games. The Hopkins streak ranks No. 10 all-time while Kelce is No. 14.
How quickly Hopkins can acclimate to the Kansas City offense looms as the largest challenge going forward for himself and the club. This is the fourth team for Hopkins in his NFL career but the first time he’s joined a new squad midseason. The Chiefs prioritized experience in the West Coast offense, and Hopkins has played in a variation of the scheme during the past two seasons with Tennessee.
He joins a receiving corps decimated by injuries this season with the loss of Brown and Rice, both of whom are expected to miss most if not all of the 2024 season. Smith-Schuster left Sunday’s win over San Francisco after further injuring his hamstring and is expected to miss at least two to three weeks.
That leaves the Chiefs with just four healthy receivers on the active roster: Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson, Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore. The club also carries four receivers on the practice squad: Justyn Ross, Montrell Washington, Nikko Remigio and Cornell Powell.
