Andy Reid on DeAndre Hopkins Trade, Timeline to Play: 'Why Wait, Right?'

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid discussed the team's acquisition of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and explained how (and how quickly) KC's new receiver will fit into the offense.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) heads to the field before a game against the Green Bay Packers at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. / Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After telling the media that he knew "nothing" regarding a pending DeAndre Hopkins trade on Wednesday, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid returned to the podium on Thursday to admit that he, perhaps, wasn't the last one to find out that the three-time All-Pro wide receiver would be making his way to Kansas City.

With the trade officially announced by the team on Thursday morning and no more fears of any sort of tampering allegations, Reid took questions from the media regarding KC's new offensive weapon.

"We're excited to have him here and join in with that receiving corps," Reid said during his opening statement. "Again, he's been a proven player, working those spots that JuJu [Smith-Schuster] and Rashee [Rice] did."

In light of Kansas City's injury-riddled wide receiver room, Reid was asked if Hopkins brings any specific skill set the team had been lacking before the move.

"Not necessarily 'lacking,' but I think he's a good, veteran player who's seen just about everything over 12 years," Reid began. "He's a good space player, so he's very good understanding how to work in space. At the same time, he's a tough matchup because of his size, arm length, big body that knows how to play that low-post area very well."

As a mid-season acquisition now joining a famously intricate offense, what's reasonable to expect from Hopkins in the first few days and weeks of his time in Kansas City? Reid was asked how soon Hopkins could see the field for the Chiefs.

"Well, it could be this weekend, we'll just see how he picks [it] up, I've got to get him on the practice field," Reid said with a laugh. "Why wait, right? If he can handle it, without putting him in a bad position."

Reid went on to explain that the Chiefs have "a lot in right now" in terms of the offensive playbook, meaning that Hopkins is playing catch-up in meetings while he attempts to get acclimated in Kansas City's offense. Asked how much Hopkins would have to learn to get a significant workload against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Reid explained what the onboarding process will be like through the next few days and made an apt analogy for why the veteran is in position to ramp-up more quickly than most.

"You start kind of from the bottom of just the snap count part of it and work your way up through," Reid said. "But he's seen enough. He's been around it long enough to where it's more of a dialect than a language that he has to learn."

Read More: After DeAndre Hopkins Acquisition, How Aggressive Could the Chiefs Be at the Trade Deadline?