In order to land free agent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, the Tennessee Titans will need to stand out from the crowd.

Hopkins has already been on a visit to Foxborough for meeting with the New England Patriots brass. According to recent reports from Sal Paolantonio on ESPN Radio, the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers are now expressing interest as well.

The more teams that are involved, the worse things look for the Titans. With more competition, it becomes more difficult for Tennessee to set themselves apart and win Hopkins over. But the Titans do have one thing working in their favor.

The Titans can offer Hopkins opportunity in ways none of his other current suitors can. Hopkins is a 31-year old veteran that has limited options as a free agent because he was released in late May after many teams had already built their rosters and used their salary cap space. Perhaps the best thing Hopkins can do now is play on a one-year contract in 2023 and earn himself a handsome contract from a Super Bowl contender next offseason.

In order to do that, Hopkins will need to put up some big numbers and publicly display how dominant he still is. More targets lead to more receptions and yards, and the Titans can offer Hopkins more targets than anyone.

Titans players combined for 436 targets in 2022. The team's two leaders in that stat were Robert Woods (91) and Austin Hooper (60), both of whom are no longer with the team. In total, 205 of the Titans' 436 total targets from a year ago went to a player who is not on the 2023 roster. That's 47 percent of the total targets up for the taking this fall.

Free agent addition Chris Moore should account for some of those, and Treylon Burks, Kyle Philips, and Chig Okonkwo can be expected to see an increase in looks as well. But there's more than enough room for Hopkins to come to Music City and be a primary option in the Titans' offense with a reliable veteran quarterback throwing him the football 100+ times. 

The Browns already have Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cedric Tillman, and Elijah Moore on their roster. Could Cleveland make room for Hopkins? Absolutely. But would he be guaranteed the same high quantity of looks in that offense? I doubt it. The same thing could also be said of the Buffalo Bills, who have Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Dawson Knox, and rookie Dalton Kincaid.

New England has JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, and a massive question mark at quarterback for this season. Then there's Carolina, who appear to have quarterback figured out but added Adam Thielen, DJ Chark, rookie Jonathan Mingo, and tight end Hayden Hurst this offseason.

At the end of the day, joining the Titans is a really unique opportunity for a player in Hopkins' position. Pairing up with a reliable quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and being the primary option for a team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs is really all you can ask.

If I'm the Titans, I'd use my biggest weakness (lack of wide receivers) as a weapon throughout this process. That's how Tennessee can separate from the pack and land the most coveted free agent on the market.

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