It’s hardly a secret that Ravens superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson and five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins have wanted to play together for a while now.
They’ll finally get their chance with Hopkins and Baltimore agreeing to a one-year, $5 million deal worth up to $6 million, according to NFL Network and ESPN. The deal cannot be announced until the start of the new league year on Wednesday afternoon.
The NFL’s active leader in receiving yards with 12,965 over 12 seasons, Hopkins will transition from playing with AFC champion Kansas City to joining the first offense in league history to have eclipsed 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a single season. In 16 regular-season games with Tennessee and the Chiefs last year, the 6-foot-1, 212-pound Hopkins registered 56 catches for 610 yards and five touchdowns. Despite Hopkins’ modest numbers, Pro Football Focus still graded him a very respectable 26th out of 133 qualified wide receivers.
Houston’s 2013 first-round pick out of Clemson, Hopkins has caught 984 passes and 83 touchdowns in 178 career games.
The link between Jackson and Hopkins dates back to the former’s two-year contract saga with the Ravens. Reports in the 2023 offseason revealed the quarterback’s wish to play with Hopkins — who was under contract with Arizona at the time — and Odell Beckham Jr., whom Baltimore signed a few weeks before ultimately inking Jackson to a five-year, $260 million contract on the first day of the NFL draft. The Cardinals released Hopkins later that spring, and the three-time first-team All-Pro selection eventually signed with the Titans for the start of training camp.
General manager Eric DeCosta also tried to trade for Hopkins before the 2020 draft when the Texans dealt him to Arizona.
Of course, the Ravens aren’t expecting the prime version of Hopkins, who was one of the elite receivers in the game from 2014-20 when he recorded at least 1,150 receiving yards in six of seven seasons. But Baltimore was seeking a No. 3 receiver to complement starters Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman and make contested catches on the outside, something Hopkins still showed the ability to do last season. The Ravens’ lack of depth at wide receiver was exposed last January when Flowers injured his knee in the regular-season finale and was unable to play in the postseason, which led to the likes of Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace, and Anthony Miller playing meaningful snaps as Baltimore’s season came to a frustrating end against Buffalo in the divisional round. Agholor and Wallace are pending unrestricted free agents.
When evaluating Hopkins’ 2024 campaign, it’s fair to acknowledge the challenge of playing in a quarterback-deficient offense in Tennessee and needing to learn a new offense on the fly when the Chiefs acquired him before the trade deadline in late October. However, Hopkins was actually better in his first six games playing with Patrick Mahomes when he made 26 catches for 325 yards and three touchdowns. Over his final seven contests that included Kansas City’s postseason run to the Super Bowl, Hopkins saw diminished playing time and made just 18 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
Ultimately, Hopkins doesn’t need to put up big numbers to make this a quality signing for Baltimore, and he’s unlikely to see a ton of targets in a run-heavy offense that already had plenty of pass-catching mouths to feed. But it’s tough not to like what Hopkins could still bring to the table on such an inexpensive contract as the Ravens will now face less urgency to develop second-year receiver Devontez Walker and anyone else they could take in next month’s draft.
Hopkins will also reunite with running back Derrick Henry after the pair played together in Tennessee in 2023.
