Fantasy football: Where to draft Tennessee Titans WR DeAndre Hopkins

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Some of the biggest fantasy seasons over the past couple of years have been put up by wide receivers who were acquired by teams that have a clear plan how to fit them into a new offense, including Buffalo Bills WR Stefon Diggs, Philadelphia Eagles WR A.J. Brown and Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill as examples. Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is going to be the latest to test this trend after being released for cap reasons by the Cardinals.

Below, we look at DeAndre Hopkins‘ 2023 fantasy football average draft position (ADP) and where you should draft him.

While with the Houston Texans and his first season in Arizona, Hopkins posted some eye-popping numbers, including 5 seasons with more than 95 receptions and 4 seasons with more than 1,375 receiving yards. The question he faces after two injury-shortened seasons is whether he can return to somewhere close to that glory with a run-first Titans team.

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DeAndre Hopkins’ ADP: 52.69

(ADP data courtesy of MyFantasyLeague.com; last updated at time of this publishing – ADPs continually change as more drafts occur)

This year is the first time in a long time that Hopkins enters the season outside the top 20 wide receivers according to ADP rankings. Two injury-marred seasons will do that.

His current positioning at No. 22 among wide receivers has him checking in behind Denver Bronco WR Jerry Jeudy (51.37) and Green Bay Packers WR Christian Watson (52.01) and in front of Chicago Bears WR DJ Moore (54.60) and Washington Commanders Terry McLaurin (56.84).

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DeAndre Hopkins’ 2022 stats

Games: 9

Receptions | targets: 64 | 96

Receiving yards: 717

Receiving touchdowns: 3

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Where should you draft Hopkins?

Hopkins strung together the two worst seasons of his career over the last two years in terms of receptions and yards, but that is due to missing 15 games in that span — prior to 2021 he had missed just 2 total games across his first 8 seasons in the league.

While he has some age concerns at 31, his current ranking has him as a WR3 in the 6th round in 10-player leagues. That takes a lot of the heat off of needing him to be an every-week starter. If this number holds up, he will be a non-premium-round pick that has a half dozen others cursing under their breath because they wanted him. Given his sheer volume of receptions over his career, he brings a higher ceiling than most in this grouping.

Where he is currently ranked, WR22 should be the absolute lowest point he comes off the draft board and a case can be made that he should be drafted ahead of Watson and Jeudy — both of whom have yet to put up numbers comparable to an average season for Hopkins.

After a career of being an ironman in Houston and Arizona, injuries over the last two seasons have devalued Hopkins, but too far for a guy capable of 100 receptions as being the clear lead dog in the Titans pass game.

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