Titans Superstar Named Trade Candidate for Steelers
The Tennessee Titans revamped their wide receiver room this offseason by adding veterans like Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd to compliment DeAndre Hopkins. Another AFC team has been hoping to add a receiver this offseason and Hopkins name was mentioned as a potential target.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a void at their wide receiver spot since trading away Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers on March 12.
The San Fransisco 49ers, who Tennessee defeated in week 1 of the pre-season last week 17-13, and their star receiver Brandon Aiyuk have been the main storyline of the NFL offseason.
The 49ers have attempted to extend Aiyuk but he doesn't want to be on the team anymore, requesting a trade and refusing to show up to training camp. Naturally the Steelers, among other teams like the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, and Washington Commanders, have been in trade conversations with the team.
The Patriots had a deal in place and even offered Aiyuk an extension to become a top-5 highest paid receiver in NFL history, but Aiyuk doesn't want to play for them, so the Steelers did the same thing but Aiyuk does want to play for them. The latest update is that the 49ers will try one more time to extend Aiyuk but if that's unsuccessful then he's on his way to Pittsburgh.
Where does DeAndre Hopkins play into this? Well Pro Football Network released a list of other wide receivers that Pittsburgh can target if the Aiyuk deal falls through, and Hopkins was on that list.
Hopkins is one of the all-time greats with 3 All-Pro 1st team nominations, 2 All-Pro 2nd teams, 5 Pro-Bowls, a career 12,355 receiving yards (which is 23rd all-time), and 78 touchdowns (which is 35th all-time).
He's only spent one season with Tennessee and it was a pretty good one, totaling 75 receptions for 1,057 yards and 7 touchdowns.
The Titans and Steelers have played 81 times but have lost the last 5 meetings, giving Pittsburgh the leg up with a 49-32 all-time record, so I'm not sure how willing they would be to trade him to a rival.
Other names on the list include the Denver Broncos Courtland Sutton, Seattle Seahawks Tyler Lockett, Cleveland Browns Elijah Moore, New York Giants Darius Slay, Houston texans Robert Woods, and Dallas Cowboys Brandin Cooks.