Arizona Cardinals wide receiver is one of the best at his position in the NFL. He is arguably the best. Where does he rank compared to others around the league?
Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield ranked the top 15 outside receivers in the NFL. Hopkins is naturally on the list. However, he doesn’t quite make the top spot.
He ranked No. 2 behind Davante Adams of the Green Bay Packers.
One of the terms that gets thrown around in wide receiver evaluation is “winning at the catch point.” Now, you might think you know where I am going with this, as that trait is certainly a calling card with DeAndre Hopkins. But no, I am not talking about the Hail Murray play in Arizona’s win over the Buffalo Bills.
I’m talking about moments like this:
Winning at the catch point.
The ability to beat press is another trait that evaluators salivate over, and here is an example of Hopkins doing just that:
Not only does Hopkins have the upper body strength to shrug off the press with an arm swipe, he then subtly uses an arm bar at the top of the route to get separation and pull in the throw.
In the year ahead I’ll be looking to see if Kliff Kingsbury moves him around in the formation. Late in the year Steven Ruiz of For the Win pointed out that the Cardinals were much too static with Hopkins’ alignments. Down the stretch it seemed like they were making the necessary adjustments:
If that continues into 2021, the Cardinals could be very dangerous.
What is crazy to think is that Hopkins did what he did with no real offseason and, according to some, getting used in very simple ways.
It would seem that the Cardinals will do different things with him than they did a year ago, although you can’t dispute the production he had in the role he was asked to play.
What is next for Hopkins?
You have to think he will be every bit as good as he was last season.
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