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Kansas City adds DeAndre Hopkins

KC brings in new No. 1, again

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)
PlayerGRecYdsTDY/G
Justin Jefferson6039258993098.3
Antonio Brown9266787306894.9
Julio Jones132740109664683.1
Ja'Marr Chase4526837172982.6
Tyreek Hill124717101397681.8
Michael Thomas8356565693679.1
DeAndre Hopkins146876115537679.1
CeeDee Lamb6639551453278.0
A.J. Brown7737959474277.2
Cooper Kupp9256770665176.8
Keenan Allen12483394845176.5
Mike Evans154762116809475.8
Stefon Diggs13681099956773.5
Amon-Ra St. Brown4931535882173.2
Odell Beckham Jr.11056679325972.1
Jaylen Waddle4725133851872.0
Davante Adams150872107819571.9
Julian Edelman7344650522669.2
T.Y. Hilton11550678684168.4
Amari Cooper14066794866067.8
D.J. Moore9746065652967.7
Demaryius Thomas9048460653367.4
Terry McLaurin8037852832566.0
Calvin Ridley6632443583666.0
D.K. Metcalf8237253324365.0
Jordy Nelson6231139973664.5
Chris Godwin10452966903464.3
DeVonta Smith5024031781963.6
Tee Higgins5825736842463.5
Brandon Aiyuk6226939312563.4
Brandin Cooks14868492735762.7
Deebo Samuel6628341221962.5
Emmanuel Sanders11654372154062.2
Jeremy Maclin5525633822361.5
Alshon Jeffery8336249983660.2
A.J. Green11146766814160.2
Doug Baldwin7736346313760.1

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

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