Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke to reporters during Thursday’s press conference. He was able to officially address the acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins and his plan to get the multiple-time All-Pro up to speed with the playbook.
“He’s (DeAndre Hopkins) a veteran player. You’ve seen just about everything over 12 years,” said Reid. “He’s a good space player, so he’s very good at understanding how to work in space. At the same time, he’s a tough matchup because of his size, arm length – (he’s a) big body that knows how to kind of play that low post area.”
Hopkins had 15 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown in his second season with the struggling Tennessee Titans. He moves to a veteran group led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes on offense and former Houston Texans teammate Justin Reid as one of the leaders on defense who spoke highly of him to the coaching staff.
“He’s a smart guy. He understands football, likewise. Justin (Reid) knows him probably better than anybody, just having been with him those years (in Houston), so that’s exciting. I mean, that’s a good thing.” said Reid. “We’ve got a lot in right now and we’re just trying to get him acclimated with meetings here. We’ll see how things go at practice, but you can tell he’s a very focused guy, and he’s intelligent.”
Reid is optimistic that Hopkins will catch on quickly and possibly be ready for this Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“You start kind of from the bottom, the snap-count part of it, and you work your way up through,” said Reid. “He’s seen enough. He’s been around it long enough to where it’s more the dialect than the language that he has to learn.”
Hopkins has an impressive career resume that includes 943 catches for 12,528 yards and 79 touchdowns. He spent most of his time in Arizona and Houston before signing with Tennessee in 2023.