The veteran receiver eased in during the Week 8 win, but left a big mark on the Chiefs’ offense.
It’s a lot to ask for a player to contribute to a team he was traded to five days prior to the game. It wasn’t too much for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins; the veteran receiver played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the Week 8 win, taking 23 snaps and accumulating 29 yards over two catches for the offense.
Amazingly, the production is more than Hopkins was able to earn in three of the six games he played with the Tennessee Titans this season. He just scratched the surface as a weapon for the Chiefs and still made two big plays that helped build the lead in the first half.
In a small sample size, Hopkins gave head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes a preview of what is to come. These are the different skill sets he showed:
Beating zone coverage
Entering the week, the Raiders’ defense leaned heavily on zone coverage to defend pass schemes. It was a key factor in Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce having his best game of the season, and it gave Hopkins a chance to show his zone-beating chops early.
Hopkins first took the field for Kansas City on its initial third down, needing seven yards to convert. Lined up alongside wide receivers Xavier Worthy and Mecole Hardman, Hopkins takes off downfield and sees the cushion being given by the play-side cornerback and safety due to the deep threats.
Once Hopkins gets past the second level of defenders, he turns to receive the pass — and Mahomes anticipates it well for an on-time delivery. The successful completion was reminiscent of many plays wide receiver Rashee Rice has made for the Chiefs in his young career.
The lone incompletion thrown Hopkins’ way came against zone, and the receiver-quarterback duo had the right idea. In the second play of this clip, Hopkins aligns in the slot against Cover 2 zone, recognizing that quickly and hustling to the sideline on a corner route. The window is immediately open because the cornerback has flat responsibility, and has his focus on Kelce off the line.
The pass sails and it appears to be a mis-angled route on Hopkins’ part. Knowing the cornerback can recover upfield and potentially make a play on the ball, Hopkins needs a more vertical angle. He has plenty of room downfield with the safety slow to get over.
Anecdotally, Mahomes has typically thrown these routes with a more downfield angle on them. That could be different depending on an offense’s philosophy and scheme and how the coverage unfolds on a particular play. It feels like a pass that will be completed once Hopkins has more repetitions under his belt, and it was still encouraging to see both ends of the pass understand how quickly that pass would develop.
Beating man coverage
With less than 15 seconds remaining in the first half, the Chiefs needed one more chunk gain to solidify a field goal attempt. Hopkins was on the field for the play, and the Raiders turned to man coverage.
Once the veteran knows it’s time to shake a guy off of him at the top of his route, he goes to work from the snap. He initially steps inside to get the defender off balance and out of position as he continues upfield on an outside release. It sets him up to break out at the sticks with plenty of separation from the cornerback.
On this third down in the second half, the Raiders once again trust man coverage across the board. Hopkins is outside left and aggressively moves on his defender to come open over the middle. The quick swim move to fake like he wants to get outside was sudden and fast. By the time, the cornerback got his feet under him to recover, Hopkins was more than a few arm lengths away from the player responsible to guard him.
The pass went to Worthy on the sideline and could have been completed with a sooner throw. Undoubtedly, Mahomes will look to Hopkins more in these situations as time goes on.
Building Mahomes’ confidence
It could be considered a coincidence, but Mahomes played as comfortably and as in control as he has all season against the Raiders. Hopkins’ presence was limited but was not necessarily restricted. He played in important situations like third down, the red zone, and even the two-minute drill.
Hopkins' experience and sure hands will only make Mahomes feel more confident looking for his newest wide receiver down the field. On these two plays, the speed of Worthy takes a lot of attention, and reveal potential throwing windows over the middle to Hopkins as he cuts across.
Mahomes managed the Week 8 game well and wasn’t taking unnecessary chances, but these are routes that Hopkins could see the ball on more when the situation calls for it — especially if he is on the back side, away from the play strength.
The bottom line
Chiefs Kingdom only got a sneak peek of what Hopkins can bring to the offense in Las Vegas, but his snaps showed a lot of potential for his usage to be higher once his snap count increases.
The expectations should be high for what Hopkins can bring to the offense, but his Chiefs debut confirmed lofty goals for the rest of this season. The faster he grows into his new offense, the quicker Mahomes can utilize his entire bag of tricks.
