Inside the Titans’ Recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins

During his visit in June, Tennessee felt the receiver’s energy for the place, confirming he’d be engaged for a 10th year in the NFL.
Inside the Titans’ Recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins
Inside the Titans’ Recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins /
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The Titans’ need at receiver drove their recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins. The wild thing is, before this, the franchise’s leader in career touchdown catches was the head coach—Mike Vrabel’s 10 is more than any of his players. So there’s no question they could use someone with Hopkins’s experience, and it won’t hurt second-year man Treylon Burks to get the chance to see a former All-Pro at ground level.

That’s why the Titans did what they did to get him.

When Hopkins was on his visit in June, the team brought him to dinner. The brass got him in a suite at CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium. It was a very real recruitment, and one aimed at making sure the fit was there for both sides—and obviously that part worked out.

DeAndre Hopkins decided to join the Titans, signing as a free agent after his release from the Cardinals.
The Titans will have to manage Hopkins's workload during the week leading up to gamedays :: Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports

Over those couple of days, the Titans felt Hopkins’s energy for the place, confirming that he’d be probably engaged for his 10th year in the league, and they learned how deep his relationships with some of the guys on their roster run. That added to what they saw on tape, which was a receiver who’s still got top-shelf hands, and one capable of being the outlet for Ryan Tannehill that the team lacked in the weeks leading up to camp.

Now, there is the issue of managing his practice workload—Hopkins, going back to Houston, has gotten allowances from his teams to take routine days off from on-the-field work during the season, as part of how he prepares his body with a lot of mileage on it up for game day each week. But Vrabel’s always helped vets in that way, so it should be less of a problem for the Titans than it might have been for others.

So does this mean Hopkins is going to turn around and catch 100 balls? No. But waiting until the start of camp, as I see it, probably would’ve opened the door up for the Chiefs to get back in—after they got Chris Jones done (we’re still waiting)—and that might not have ended well for the Titans. Doing it this way erases that risk, and helps to give an offense that still has holes (namely, along the offensive line) something to lean on, even if the line isn’t what it used to be.

(Good on Hopkins, too, for getting the money he did at this point in the calendar.)


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Albert Breer
ALBERT BREER

Albert Breer is a senior writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated, delivering the biggest stories and breaking news from across the league. He has been on the NFL beat since 2005 and joined SI in 2016. Breer began his career covering the New England Patriots for the MetroWest Daily News and the Boston Herald from 2005 to '07, then covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News from 2007 to '08. He worked for The Sporting News from 2008 to '09 before returning to Massachusetts as The Boston Globe's national NFL writer in 2009. From 2010 to 2016, Breer served as a national reporter for NFL Network. In addition to his work at Sports Illustrated, Breer regularly appears on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, FS1 with Colin Cowherd, The Rich Eisen Show and The Dan Patrick Show. A 2002 graduate of Ohio State, Breer lives near Boston with his wife, a cardiac ICU nurse at Boston Children's Hospital, and their three children.