Last month, receiver DeAndre Hopkins visited the Titans and Patriots. Since then, he has played the waiting game.
Via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, Hopkins is waiting for another team to enter the mix . If that happens, his value could increase.
Obviously, this implies that neither the Titans nor the Patriots have made him an offer he can’t/won’t refuse. Per Reiss, both teams have indeed made offers — and the Titans have been “more aggressive to this point.”
It’s unclear whether another team will emerge before camp opens. Hopkins could choose to wait until a veteran currently on a team gets injured or displays ineffectiveness, creating on-the-fly interest in his services. If, as many believe, Hopkins isn’t a fan of practice, waiting until the season approaches to sign could be enticing to him.
Still, at some point, he needs to get ready to make an impact right away, especially since his eventual contract will include incentives based on playing time and/or production.
Reiss also notes that, if it ultimately comes down to the Patriots or the Titans, Hopkins could ask himself which one gives him a better chance to reach his incentives and max out his earnings. His experience with Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien could be a plus in that regard.
Last year, the Titans invested a third-round draft pick in quarterback Malik Willis. This year, Willis might not even make the team.
In a mailbag item published at the team’s official website, veteran Titans reported Jim Wyatt writes that Willis’s spot on the 53-man roster “isn’t guaranteed .”
Obviously, incumbent Ryan Tannehill and rookie Will Levis, the 33rd overall pick in the draft for whom the Titans traded up to get, will make the team.
The new rule allowing teams to dress a third quarterback on game day gives Willis an edge, but the rule requires the team to carry the third quarterback on the 53-man roster. Plenty of teams resist investing a regular roster spot on a third quarterback, since that’s one less spot that can be used on a player who is far more likely to play.
Wyatt writes that, in May, he doubted Willis would make it. But Willis, per Wyatt, “outperformed” Levis during the offseason program, showing real improvement over last year.
Willis was thrust into the starting lineup last year, after a Ryan Tannehill injury. The Titans eventually benched Willis for a pair of key late-season games, opting to use journeyman Josh Dobbs instead. Dobbs even got the start in a playoff play-in game to cap the regular season.
The benching of Willis has caused some to speculate that he was picked solely by former G.M. Jon Robinson, and not a favorite of coach Mike Vrabel. Still, if Willis has indeed improved, Vrabel could be inclined to consider keeping him around.
Also working in Willis’s favor is his salary. He makes the second-year minimum of $939,550, and his cap number is only $1.172 million. Quarterbacks don’t come much cheaper than that.
The Cardinals released receiver DeAndre Hopkins on May 26, and he has remained a free agent since.
Hopkins visited the Patriots and Titans, and Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports both teams remain interested. Pelissero added that the sides have had communication this week, but no signing is imminent.
Hopkins wrote on social media Thursday that he will retire when he’s not a 1,000-yard receiver.
“I’ll retire from football when I’m not a 1k-yard receiver,” Hopkins said on threads. “With that said, I was on pace for 1,400 yards last year—one significant injury in 11 years. I might be playing till I’m 37 the way I feel.”
Hopkins, 31, has not had a 1,000-yard season since 2020, having played only 19 games the past two seasons, while missing 15 to a suspension and injuries. He made 106 receptions for 1,289 yards and 11 touchdowns the past two seasons combined.
DeAndre Hopkins doesn’t have a new home yet.
The receiver remains a free agent and continues to wait for the right offer after visits to the Titans and Patriots.
Hopkins, 31, has not had a 1,000-yard season since 2020, having played only 19 games the past two seasons, while missing 15 to a suspension and injuries. He made 106 receptions for 1,289 yards and 11 touchdowns the past two seasons combined.
Hopkins, though, said Thursday on social media that he will retire when he’s not a 1,000-yard receiver.
“I’ll retire from football when I’m not a 1k-yard receiver,” Hopkins said on threads. “With that said, I was on pace for 1,400 yards last year—one significant injury in 11 years. I might be playing till I’m 37 the way I feel.”
From 2017-19, in his final three seasons in Houston, Hopkins was one of the top receivers in the game, earning All-Pro all three seasons. In his first season in Arizona, Hopkins made 115 receptions for 1,407 yards and six touchdowns, which was his last 1,000-yard season and his last Pro Bowl season.
Hopkins, though, is convinced he can return to where he once was.
A normal Independence Day became anything but in July 4, 2009, when word emerged that former NFL quarterback Steve McNair had been murdered.
The news was shocking, the circumstances mysterious. McNair was shot four times. Police ultimately determined that his 20-year-old girlfriend, Jenny Kazemi, killed him before committing suicide.
McNair was only 36 at the time.
Kazemi had purchased a gun the night before the killing. There were, and in some circles still are, questions about whether she actually pulled the trigger, on McNair or on herself. One of the most persuasive arguments we heard at the time was that McNair was shot execution style, with two shots in the head and two in the chest. It always seemed like something a 20-year-old who never before owned a gun would have a hard time accomplishing.
Regardless of the official conclusion or the unofficial suspicions that still linger, McNair’s life ended at a young age in a violent and shocking way on this day, 14 years ago.
A three-time Pro Bowler and co-MVP of the league in 2003, McNair led the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV. Tennessee nearly forced overtime against the Rams, with a McNair pass to receiver Kevin Dyson coming up just short of the end zone. The Titans traded McNair, the third pick in 1995, to Baltimore after drafting Vince Young with the third overall pick in 2006.
In all, McNair spent 13 years in the NFL. Here’s a link
to the episode of A Football Life devoted to him.