Pro Football Focus this week published a list of the best 50 players in the NFL entering the 2022 season. PFF’s grading and PFF’s wins above replacement (WAR) metric are primary factors that went into their ranking, with more weight given to the most recent season.
With that said, former Clemson and current Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins checked in at No. 31 on PFF’s ranking of the 50 best players in the NFL right now.
Hopkins played only 10 games last season due to a hamstring injury and then a season-ending MCL injury that he suffered in Week 14 in December, and he will have to sit out the first six games of this season as he serves a six-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
Hopkins, a five-time Pro Bowler, had missed a total of just two games in the first eight years of his NFL career prior to last season. He finished the 2021 season with career lows in catches (42) and receiving yards (572), but still led the Cardinals with a team-high eight receiving touchdowns.
Over the previous four years, Hopkins had recorded no fewer than 96 catches or 1,165 receiving yards in any season.
“An injury cost Hopkins much of the 2021 season, and a suspension will cost him the beginning of the upcoming one,” PFF’s Sam Monson wrote. “Before that, we saw a four-year stretch where he was as good as any receiver in the game. Hopkins dropped just nine passes over the past four seasons and caught at least 45% of contested targets in each of those years, and he continues to dominate despite the Cardinals’ offense doing little to scheme him favorable matchups.”
Over his NFL career (2013-21), Hopkins has amassed 789 receptions for 10,581 yards and 68 touchdowns.
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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