Chiefs coach reveals how WR DeAndre Hopkins can help fix one of the team's most notorious problems
New Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins got his first taste of life in Kansas City on Thursday.Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, and the rest of the offensive coaching staff are delivering a crash course on the scheme, playbook, and overall offense to prepare Hopkins to play in Week 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Thankfully, they seem to have […]
New Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins got his first taste of life in Kansas City on Thursday.
Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, and the rest of the offensive coaching staff are delivering a crash course on the scheme, playbook, and overall offense to prepare Hopkins to play in Week 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Thankfully, they seem to have a lot of faith in his ability as a veteran player to learn quickly, adjust, and adapt ahead of Sunday's game.
Asked if there was something Hopkins does well that will translate for the Chiefs immediately, Nagy pointed to a problem that plagued Kansas City during the 2023 NFL season.
"I'd say, the biggest thing right now is that his hands are phenomenal," Nagy said. "He has really, really good hands. I think he's got some of the least amount of drops in the history of the NFL. The experience that he has, which comes I think with that, is trust."
The Chiefs led the NFL in dropped passes in 2023 with 39 drops on the year per Pro Football Reference. 6.9% of all the passes Patrick Mahomes threw in 2023 were dropped by the intended target, good for a leading rate among quarterbacks in the league.
That problem hasn't been as prevalent during the 2024 NFL season, with just five dropped passes and a 2.9% dropped pass rate, good for 26th in the league. The big fear, however, is that this could change as the injuries stack up in the wide receiver room for Kansas City. They've already lost Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice for long periods, Skyy Moore joined them on injured reserve on Thursday, and JuJu Smith-Schuster is expected to miss time with a hamstring injury.
Hopkins has dropped just 35 passes on 1,465 targets during his 12-year NFL career, boasting a dropped pass rate of just 3.6%. It's not all about being surehanded, though. The sheer amount of football Hopkins has played is expected to be a major benefit in a wide receiver room featuring Xavier Worthy, Mecole Hardman, and Justin Watson.
"So, he’s played in a lot of games, he understands and he’s seen a bunch of different defenses, that’s valuable," Nagy said. "Whether it’s zone or man (coverage), he’s a very good route runner, he understands leverages. One of the things, you see it on tape, you see it in interviews, but then when he’s here, up close and live and in person, you see the confidence and the swagger that he has. I think that confidence can really penetrate, and you feel that with the other players – you’ve got to go out and do it. It’s just that we’re at the beginning stages but he does a lot of good things in zones, too.”
As Nagy says, this is just the beginning for Hopkins in Kansas City. But being sure-handed and football-savvy is a great start that will quickly endear him to the Chiefs Kingdom.
DeAndre Hopkins’ reason for picking No. 8 will make Chiefs fans love him even more
The perfect reason for picking that number.
