With their passing game struggling in the wake of a season-ending injury to top wide receiver Rashee Rice, the Kansas City Chiefs are finalizing a trade to acquire five-time Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins, according to an ESPN report.
League sources tell ESPN the Tennessee Titans would send Hopkins to the Chiefs for a conditional fourth-round draft pick.
Hopkins is in the final year of a two-year deal he signed with the Titans last July. He caught 75 passes for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns last season, but suffered a torn ligament in his knee over the offseason and has started slowly in 2024.
Through six games, Hopkins, 32, has just 15 catches for 173 yards and one score.
Despite being the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team, the Chiefs have not been the offensive juggernaut from years past. Injuries have played a major role, with offseason acquisition Marquise Brown going on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and Rice suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. In addition, starting running back Isiah Pacheco has been out since Week 3 with a broken fibula.
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The Chiefs have had a top-6 passing offense every year since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback in 2018, but this year the team is averaging just 221.5 passing yards through six games — 12th-best in the league.
Mahomes has been atypically mistake-prone as well, throwing eight interceptions to just six touchdown passes.
Hopkins would give the Chiefs offense a potential big-play threat they don’t currently have.
Drafted by the Houston Texans with the 27th overall pick in 2013, Hopkins quickly emerged as one of the NFL’s best receivers.
He has four seasons of more than 100 receptions and he led the league in 2017 with 13 touchdown catches. Over his 12-year career, Hopkins has 943 receptions for 12,528 yards and 79 TDs.
(This story has been updated with new information.)
