Kansas City has won the last two Super Bowls and is undefeated this year, but I wonder if they've ever thought of the time and effort they could have saved by keeping Tyreek Hill around. Instead they've spent the past two years bringing in replacements.
Hill in Miami has averaged over 100 receiving yards per game in each of the last two seasons. Kansas City drafted Skyy Moore in the second round in 2022, Rashee Rice in the second round in 2023 and Xavier Worthy in the first round this year. They traded for Kadarius Toney (gone), signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling (gone), Hollywood Brown (injured) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (gone, returned, injured). And now they've traded for DeAndre Hopkins. Some of these moves would have happened even if they kept Hill around, but they've sure made a lot of moves looking for viable starting wideouts, while a better one is currently plying his trade elsewhere.
But whatever, KC is going for its threepeat, so no one is complaining too much about Hill not being on the roster. (Although maybe Patrick Mahomes wouldn't be killing all of our fantasy lineups.) Anyway...
Now the team has given up a conditional fourth-rounder for DeAndre Hopkins. This much can be said for Hopkins: he's way, way better than all those other guys they've brought in since letting Tyreek go. (With Rice, it's a little early, so we'll see on that one. But he'll be doing well if he has a career anything like Hopkins.)
Over the last 10 years, despite generally working with quarterbacks well below Mahomes, Hopkins has averaged 88 receptions per year, and 79 yards per game, with about a touchdown every other game (76 TDs in 146 contests). Only 6 wide receivers in that time (minimum 200 catches) have averaged more yards per game. One of those guys, of course, is Hill. (Data from pro-football-reference.com used in compiling this table.)
WIDE RECEIVERS, 2014-2023 (MINIMUM 200 CATCHES) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/G |
Justin Jefferson | 60 | 392 | 5899 | 30 | 98.3 |
Antonio Brown | 92 | 667 | 8730 | 68 | 94.9 |
Julio Jones | 132 | 740 | 10966 | 46 | 83.1 |
Ja'Marr Chase | 45 | 268 | 3717 | 29 | 82.6 |
Tyreek Hill | 124 | 717 | 10139 | 76 | 81.8 |
Michael Thomas | 83 | 565 | 6569 | 36 | 79.1 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 146 | 876 | 11553 | 76 | 79.1 |
CeeDee Lamb | 66 | 395 | 5145 | 32 | 78.0 |
A.J. Brown | 77 | 379 | 5947 | 42 | 77.2 |
Cooper Kupp | 92 | 567 | 7066 | 51 | 76.8 |
Keenan Allen | 124 | 833 | 9484 | 51 | 76.5 |
Mike Evans | 154 | 762 | 11680 | 94 | 75.8 |
Stefon Diggs | 136 | 810 | 9995 | 67 | 73.5 |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 49 | 315 | 3588 | 21 | 73.2 |
Odell Beckham Jr. | 110 | 566 | 7932 | 59 | 72.1 |
Jaylen Waddle | 47 | 251 | 3385 | 18 | 72.0 |
Davante Adams | 150 | 872 | 10781 | 95 | 71.9 |
Julian Edelman | 73 | 446 | 5052 | 26 | 69.2 |
T.Y. Hilton | 115 | 506 | 7868 | 41 | 68.4 |
Amari Cooper | 140 | 667 | 9486 | 60 | 67.8 |
D.J. Moore | 97 | 460 | 6565 | 29 | 67.7 |
Demaryius Thomas | 90 | 484 | 6065 | 33 | 67.4 |
Terry McLaurin | 80 | 378 | 5283 | 25 | 66.0 |
Calvin Ridley | 66 | 324 | 4358 | 36 | 66.0 |
D.K. Metcalf | 82 | 372 | 5332 | 43 | 65.0 |
Jordy Nelson | 62 | 311 | 3997 | 36 | 64.5 |
Chris Godwin | 104 | 529 | 6690 | 34 | 64.3 |
DeVonta Smith | 50 | 240 | 3178 | 19 | 63.6 |
Tee Higgins | 58 | 257 | 3684 | 24 | 63.5 |
Brandon Aiyuk | 62 | 269 | 3931 | 25 | 63.4 |
Brandin Cooks | 148 | 684 | 9273 | 57 | 62.7 |
Deebo Samuel | 66 | 283 | 4122 | 19 | 62.5 |
Emmanuel Sanders | 116 | 543 | 7215 | 40 | 62.2 |
Jeremy Maclin | 55 | 256 | 3382 | 23 | 61.5 |
Alshon Jeffery | 83 | 362 | 4998 | 36 | 60.2 |
A.J. Green | 111 | 467 | 6681 | 41 | 60.2 |
Doug Baldwin | 77 | 363 | 4631 | 37 | 60.1 |
I'm interested in Hopkins with Kansas City, obviously. I was interested in JuJu two weeks ago (and I'm not too thrilled about using my waiver priority on him, since this move means Smith-Schuster will probably be unusable whenever he returns). That being said, he's 32 years old, and if he does hit -- and again, I think he will -- he'll be beating the odds for all the other guys they've brough in the last few years. But: He has a better track record than all the others.
--Andy Richardson