Should Kansas City Chiefs fans be worried about WR DeAndre Hopkins' MCL injury? Here's what we know. . .
Wide receiver injuries have been the story for the Kansas City Chiefs this season and that won't necessarily end when the trade to acquire WR DeAndre Hopkins becomes official. If you were unaware, the 32-year-old Hopkins has been playing through an MCL injury during the 2024 NFL season. He missed training camp with what was described as an […]
Wide receiver injuries have been the story for the Kansas City Chiefs this season and that won't necessarily end when the trade to acquire WR DeAndre Hopkins becomes official.
If you were unaware, the 32-year-old Hopkins has been playing through an MCL injury during the 2024 NFL season. He missed training camp with what was described as an MCL strain. Later, Paul Kuharsky of PaulKuharsky.com, reported that Hopkins actually tore his MCL during a practice in late July.
"Thursday the Titans receiver told me just what he’s been recovering from since he last practiced on July 31st.
“I had the MCL tear maybe four and a half, five weeks ago so the thing about those is it takes a whole year for them to heal,” Hopkins told Kuharsky. “Obviously it’s pain at that point.”
He did not have surgery on his left knee. I asked if it’s something that could turn into something that needs surgery,
“I don’t like speaking like that, I’m going to let you speak that,” he said laughing.
As it turns out, this injury was actually considered the best possible outcome for Hopkins.
MCL injury a "blessing in disguise" for new Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins
A to Z Sports Nashville's Austin Stanley and Easton Freeze had an opportunity to sit down with Dr. Colin Looney of the Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee shortly after learning of Hopkins' MCL tear. Looney described an isolated MCL injury as a "favorable" diagnosis compared to other knee injuries. Why? Because he says that most of those injuries heal on their own.
"It's a big, broad, flat ligament," Looney said. "It's got a lot of blood supply and it tends to heal on its own. And even a (grade) three typically can heal on its own. And that's a complete tear. A grade one is a small, partial tear where there's no instability. There's not any sloppiness to the knee at all. A grade two has some mild opening. And the grade three is like, you've seen it where they stress the knee from the side and it really opens up like a hinge."
It's entirely possible that we sit here during Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season and that Hopkins has already recovered from his MCL injury. The grade and severity of the tear were never revealed, but the recovery timelines for each are straightforward.
"On average, a grade one… it's about a five to seven-day injury," Dr. Looney said. "Like, I'll hold an athlete out about a week with a grade one, a football player. And then a grade two… it's about a two to four-week injury… And then a grade three, that's about a six to eight-week in-season injury."
The fact Hopkins has played in every game for the Titans this season might complicate those timelines. But there's no denying he's played in each game, he's had a catch in each game. He's coming off of back-to-back games with the Titans where he played a season-high in offensive snaps (39). It all suggests that he's healthy enough and not being impacted negatively by the injury. Really, the only negative impact has been that he's missed a few practices to receive extra rest.
Could the injury impact how the Chiefs deploy Hopkins in their offense? It might. Hopkins did report "a little soreness" in the Week 7 loss to the Buffalo Bills that saw him sidelined for the fourth quarter of the game.
"You're going to keep a guy who's not 100% on an MCL, you're going to keep him on straight inline routes," Looney explained. "And it's the cutting and side-to-side stuff that's going to put stress on it… so starting out, it's just straight inline running."
Hopkins previously had a torn MCL In 2021 while playing with the Arizona Cardinals. He landed on IR, but the team was hopeful he could return for playoffs after 4-6 weeks. He didn't return for the postseason and the Cards lost in the wild-card round.
Rest assured, Rick Burkholder and the Chiefs' training staff will have to be cautious here. The ramp-up period of learning a new offense could be beneficial when it comes to any recent aggravation of the knee injury.