For the third consecutive season, the Kansas City Chiefs are trading for a receiver ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline.
The Chiefs agreed to acquire veteran wide-out DeAndre Hopkins from the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, Oct. 23, ESPN first reported. Kansas City will send Tennessee a fifth-round pick that can conditionally become a fourth-rounder if Hopkins reaches certain benchmarks.
Hopkins, 32, was a first-round pick in the 2013 NFL draft out of Clemson and has produced seven 1,000-yard seasons while playing with the Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and Titans. He racked up 75 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023, his first year with the Titans, but has seen his numbers tail off in 2024 (15 catches, 173 yards, one touchdown in six games).
Hopkins is the latest big-name receiver to be traded before the 2024 NFL trade deadline on Nov. 5. The New York Jets acquired Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of Week 7 just hours before the Buffalo Bills traded for Cleveland Browns receiver Amari Cooper.
Why did the Chiefs ultimately set their sights on Hopkins? Here’s what to know about Kansas City’s marquee addition.
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Why did the Chiefs trade for DeAndre Hopkins?
The Chiefs traded for Hopkins amid a swath of injuries to their wide receiver room. They lost No. 1 target Rashee Rice for the season in Week 4 to a torn ACL while free-agent signee Hollywood Brown, who was expected to be the team’s No. 2 receiver, suffered a sternoclavicular injury in the preseason. Brown has just a ‘slim’ chance of returning from that malady in the postseason, per The MMQB’s Albert Breer.
Add in that JuJu Smith-Schuster, who took over Rice’s role as the top slot-man after his injury, is dealing with a hamstring injury and Kansas City was thin at receiver outside of rookie first-round pick Xavier Worthy.
The Chiefs also had a goal not to surrender a top-100 draft pick as they attempted to acquire receiver help, Breer reports. That made Hopkins a better fit for the team than a player like Adams, especially since the Chiefs were already familiar with Hopkins after courting him as a free agent in 2023.
It also helped Kansas City’s cause that Hopkins is playing on a relatively cheap expiring deal. He will carry a cap-hit of just over $8 million for the rest of the season, per Spotrac.com. The Chiefs have just $4.15 million in cap space, per OverTheCap.com, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to restructure a contract or two to create the space necessary to afford Hopkins.
And Hopkins’ contract will come off the books ahead of the 2025 season, when the Chiefs project to have $27.2 million in cap space. That will give them the flexibility to either re-sign Hopkins if things work out or target another high-end receiver if they so desire.
Either way, acquiring a proven, productive receiver like Hopkins looks like a low-risk move for the Chiefs. They have bolstered their receiver depth chart and should now have a solid three-man group of Hopkins, Worthy and Smith-Schuster once the latter returns from his hamstring injury.
As for Hopkins, he gets to play for a playoff contender and challenge for a Super Bowl ring for the first time in his career. That makes this an appealing landing spot for him.